TITLE:
Networks and the Diffusion of Off-Grid Solar Technologies
AUTHORS:
Kartikeya Singh
KEYWORDS:
Energy Access, Decentralized Energy, Diffusion, Entrepreneurship, Solar, India
JOURNAL NAME:
Low Carbon Economy,
Vol.8 No.2,
June
22,
2017
ABSTRACT: Nearly 1.2 billion people on the planet still lack
access to electricity, 250 million of whom reside in India. Off-grid solar
technologies can help meet some of the energy needs of these people but have
faced a variety of financial, technical, and political barriers. Pro-poor
innovation, led by emerging enterprises such as Green Light Planet (GLP), holds
the key to understanding how low carbon technologies such as off-grid solar
might achieve scale. This case study builds on prior research examining what
factors affect the ability of an off-grid solar firm to achieve scale in India
by examining the most successful company in terms of unit sales. Through that
extensive research of the off-grid market in India, it was revealed that GLP
far outsold other companies in its class around 2015. One of the factors
affecting its ability to scale is the fact that its products are modular and
require little to no financing for the customers. This case study further
reveals that the company’s main innovation is the business model, which relies on
networks of sales agents operating under a system of sales targets, incentives
and boosters. By shifting the responsibility of making sales to last-mile
entrepreneurs, the company leverages its network to continuously move inventory
off the shelf and into the hands of customers.