Richa GoyalSERC has received a research grant from UNCDF’s CleanStart Programme to conduct a yearlong study in Uganda. This study aims to explore
- solar energy product adoption patterns for off-grid rural users and if flexible consumer financing methods can help enable adoption of higher levels of access
- if the use of off-grid solar products leads to improved communication by supporting the use of mobile phones and other similar devices
- if, given the rise of mobile banking and pay-as-you-go sales models in the off-grid solar sector in East Africa, these solar products have the potential to increase access to mobile banking and similar digital financial services.
The adoption process of energy solutions by rural off-grid populations from basic lighting products to more sophisticated off-grid power systems is often explained by using the concept of an ‘energy ladder’. A ladder suggests a linear process of adoption involving substitution of inferior technologies with superior ones as users move up the rungs of the ladder. However, it is likely that while substitution does occur in some cases, energy adoption frequently involves fuel and technology “stacking”, in which new technologies are obtained but the original technologies are also retained.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, only 14 percent of people have access to grid electricity; however, nearly 70 percent now have access to mobile phones. While the demand for use of mobile phones is high in these regions, they often lack access to electricity and end up paying steep fees for phone charging services in the local market. A symbiotic relationship exists between increasing access to electricity in Africa and expanded use of information, communication and banking services using a mobile phone.
Our research team, which is led by Arne Jacobson, Richa Goyal, and Meg Harper, will take a rigorous look at these assumptions. We plan to initiate activities in March with a preliminary field visit to Uganda. The research initiative is jointly managed by UNCDF’s CleanStart Programme and Kat Harrison, Associate Director of Impact at Acumen, and is supported by the Global Off-Grid Lighting Association, GSMA and the World Bank Group.
