![]() We agree these are important priorities to help the sector collectively meet Sustainable Development Goal 7, access to affordable and clean energy.īut, at the same time, these businesses need to be commercially sustainable. The report concludes with a call for more financial innovation to increase reach and affordability. It’s also worth noting that this finding is based on a smaller sample of companies where repeated data points were available over time – we hope that future research can help to better understand the finding and test its robustness. While this may be a concerning trend, a big caveat is that they may still reach larger absolute numbers of low-income customers – which is what we think matters most from an impact perspective. It also finds that as companies grow, they appear to focus less on the poorest consumers as a proportion of their customer base. Certainly good progress – but there’s room for more growth. A little over a third (37 per cent) of off-grid customers surveyed live in poverty (based on the World Bank’s $3.20 a day definition), compared to an average national poverty rate of 60 per cent across the countries involved. Households report significant reductions in kerosene use after gaining off-grid access.īut the report also finds that the sector is not reaching as many of the poorest customers as it potentially could be. Added to this, the climate impact is significant. The consistent message from customers is that energy access is making a positive difference in their families’ lives, with 88 per cent reporting that their quality of life has improved thanks to the off-grid product or service they purchased.Īnd some of these customers are using this energy access to contribute to income generation one fifth of customers use their off-grid products for income-generating activities, including kiosks, shops and restaurants. So what impact does energy access through off-grid solar have on consumers? The report finds that the impact story is a largely positive one. In a sector where a lack of available data is a significant challenge, this is a meaningful contribution, and we hope it will be useful for investors, companies, and others with an interest in this area. This was no small undertaking – it includes data from across 17 countries and involved nearly 35,000 customer interviews. That’s why we commissioned 60 Decibels to aggregate and share, for the first time, data collected on 49 off-grid solar companies in a new report – “Why off-grid energy matters” – launching this week at the Global Off-Grid Solar Forum & Expo in Nairobi. Because it’s through this detailed understanding of impact that we can become better investors. Although the impact of providing energy access on people’s lives – including through off-grid solutions – may seem obvious, it’s important to better understand and quantify exactly what this means. ![]() Off-grid energy solutions, such as solar home systems and mini-grids, are the most efficient way to provide energy to over half of these people. Roughly 600 million people in Africa lack access to electricity. I’m looking to invest in developing countries.Why off-grid energy matters…and how it can matter even more - British International Investment
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