For bottom of the pyramid households, powering their homes or small businesses using a small renewable energy system that is not connected to the electricity grid — called a stand-alone system — makes economic sense. In remote locations, stand-alone systems can be more efficient and reliable than grid electricity.
As we strive to ensure all households have access to high-performing appliances, enabling technologies that will play a crucial role in scaling:
Research and Development:
Improving and innovating technologies is crucial to improving the efficiency and affordability of appliances. From 1960 to 2020 solar panel efficiency has gone from 14% to 47.1% and costs per megawatt-hour of electricity from 2010 to 2019 has dropped from $378 to $68.
Research through data:
With more reliable data on appliance energy savings and interoperability with other technologies, manufacturers can use this data to improve their products and help make them more efficient. Remote monitoring systems are playing an important role to get access to this data. The beneficiaries as well as manufacturing companies are now able to capture the data remotely, 24/ 7 and use it to make the appliances efficient.
Encouraging demand through subsidies:
With higher demand and mass adoption, the off-grid sector can be made more widely accessible to a larger audience. Bulk procurement models reduce fixed costs (i.e., manufacturing and distribution costs and sales overheads) and lower bulk prices by 20–40%. If governments subsidise off-grid energy solutions, the ones affected the most by poor energy infrastructure can benefit from such solutions.
Pay as you go:
The upfront cost for off-grid solar solutions can be steep for economically backwards sections.
Flexible payment plans allow one to make the switch and helps increase mass adoption. DDSolar has a flexible EMI plan which allows beneficiaries to pay over time. The savings in electricity and increase in customers eventually ends up paying off the refrigerator itself!
In conclusion, the off-grid energy sector needs technological advancement in order to grow and flourish. Together, we can make the leap towards cleaner, greener and cheaper energy solutions to help sustain and preserve our planet. DDSolar is doing its part by making off-grid energy solutions easily accessible to a larger group of people for large-scale adoption.
