Hundreds of Companies to Capture Africa's Solar Lighting Market

With the declining prices of LED lights, batteries and solar panels, and innovations in business plans, millions of households in Africa and elsewhere will be able to abandon kerosene lamps and switch to cleaner, safer lights. . For many of them, this means that there is no need to rent a charger and you can charge your phone directly. In Africa, the use of mobile phones is becoming more common.

Advances in technology have opened up a vast new market for solar power generation. About 1.3 billion people around the world have no way to use the Internet. Although these people are very poor, they are paying more for lighting than those in rich countries, because the kerosene lamps they use are inefficient. In most parts of the world, solar power is usually more expensive than conventional power plants, especially after taking into account battery costs. For some people, solar power is economically viable because it costs half as much as kerosene.

Hundreds of companies are snapping up this market.

Richard Van Luwen is Senior Director of the UN Foundation's Energy and Climate Group. She said: "This industry has experienced explosive development. In the past five years, earth-shaking changes have taken place."

She said that the reason for this sudden interest is the relatively cheap LED lights. Not long ago, the solar panel power needed to drive light bulbs should be 20-30 watts, because people can only afford incandescent bulbs. LED lights are much more efficient. Nowadays people only need to use solar panels with a power of only a few watts to meet the lighting needs.

However, these technological innovations are not enough to open the market. The high-quality LED system contains a pair of lamps and a battery that can store several hours of lighting power, worth less than $50. This system can recover costs within two years, but its down payment is still too expensive for many people.

In order to enable consumers to purchase this system, several companies have proposed several payment options. One of them is Eight19 in Cambridge, England. The customer will have to pay $10 for the solar lighting system in the first phase. The system includes a 2.5 watt solar panel, 2 LED dome lamps and a lithium-ion phosphate battery pack. After that, they will pay for the amount of electricity generated per week.

Every week, users spend $1 to buy a scratch card from a local vendor. There is a number in the scratch card. The user sends this number to Eight19 for certification. Eight19 will send the customer an authentication code that the customer can enter on the battery pack's keypad. After the verification is sent, the electronic lock included in the device will power the LED or the phone charger within one week.

There are also several companies, including major telecom operators, who are trying similar methods to “pay as much as you like”. The reason why Eight19 Company is different from others. One of the reasons is that after the customer pays the cost of the device (usually 18 months), he/she can also purchase a larger device, which includes a larger solar panel, a larger battery, and more. The lights are enough for a small radio to work. Eight19's CEO Simon. Branfield. Garth explained that in this way, customers only need to spend money originally spent on kerosene or money spent on telephone charger rental, and they can gradually obtain enough for a refrigerator or a money-making device (such as a sewing machine). electricity.

Eight19 tested hundreds of customers and began working with the non-governmental organization Solar Aid on a project that plans to sell 4,000 devices. Solar Aid will help with the sale.

But Eight19 is still just a small player. More famous companies, such as D. Light, has sold more than 1 million solar lighting systems. For this, Branfield. Gasth saw tremendous growth. He said: "The poorest people are paying asymmetric high prices for their own needs. Solar power is very promising in this market."