Entrepreneurialising solar lanterns to solve energy poverty in India – Potential and limitations

Abstract

This paper presents two solar lantern projects in rural Rajasthan, India, and examines success and limitations of entrepreneurialising development model in providing energy services in rural communities. Training local villagers to become entrepreneurs could provide job opportunities, improve livelihoods by clean energy and create a sense of project ownership.Without adequate support from donors and NGOs, any serious technical break-down of solar lanterns would undermine the incomes of entrepreneurs, and that would affect continuity of services. This paper promotes a genuine bottom-up approach in energy service provision, by getting entrepreneurs and villagers involved at the beginning of projects.