The Off-grid Appliance Market

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Introduction

Around 1.2 billion people worldwide lack access to electricity and another 1 billion people have an unreliable grid connection (sometimes receiving as little as 2 hours of electricity per day). [1] [2] In 2014, 27 billion USD were spent in Africa and Asia on lighting and mobile phone charging with kerosene, candles, battery torches or other fossil-fuel powered technologies. [3] All of these technologies are outdated, costly and energy inefficient as well as causing negative health and environmental impacts.

With growing consumer awareness, falling prices and better access to finance, off-grid appliances powered by clean energy have a huge potential to grow and meet the energy demand of the off-grid population. According to a report from IRENA (2015) some 20 million households have access to electricity through solar home systems, 5 million households through renewables-based mini-grids and 0.8 million households through small wind turbines. [4]

These numbers are likely to increase. The sum spent on off-grid appliances is expected to rise from around 500 million USD today to 4.7 billion USD in 2020. [5] Currently the most popular off-grid products are small appliances such as solar lanterns and solar lights. However, there is a growing market for other, significantly more energy intensive, appliances such as TVs, refrigerators, fans and solar pumps. According to GOOGLA, 47 million households in Africa and Asia that are not connected to electricity enjoy an annual income of 3650 – 18250 USD. These households are capable of affording not only simply solar lanterns, but also other appliances such as Solar Home System (SHS). [6]

Access to energy not only improves the quality of life, but also aids in conducting various income generating activities. Therefore, there is a huge potential for manufactures to produce off-grid appliances based on clean energy, not only for daily use, but also for income generating purposes. [7]


Off-grid Appliances

Traditionally electrical appliances run off Alternative Current (AC), since they are designed to be connected to the grid. However, with the emergence of solar powered isolated grids and stand-alone systems, Direct Current (DC) appliances could become the better alternative. A solar system typically generates DC current which can easily be stored in batteries. Therefore, having appliances which run on DC system reduces the need to convert AC to DC, which in turn reduces costs as well as electricity losses. [8]

For more information on the differences between AC and DC, as well as further details regarding grid connections, have a look at the articles ‘Technical Aspects of Grid Interconnection’ and ‘DC Mini-grids’.


PicoPV Products

Due to falling costs and growing consumer awareness the PicoPV market is growing rapidly and according to GOOGLA, 44 million PicoPV products were already sold as of mid-2015. Solar lanterns account for 97 percent of reported sales, but companies are also experiencing an increasing interest in PicoPV systems with multiple lights. These are now becoming more accessible to consumers as a result of financing concepts such as PAYG.

Market Trend:

There is a growing recent market for PicoPV systems. The number of off-grid solar manufactures has increased by 7 folds in the past 5 years. ‘Many of the early start-up companies are based in the USA and Europe, but large Asian electronics manufactures also play an important role in the market. [9]

 

TVs

TVs[JH1] [JvB2]  improve the quality of life by providing access to information as well as entertainment. In some communities, they are also viewed as a status symbol. In many rural areas there is an increasing demand for low cost TVs with large screens. Many consumers may also trade their savings for larger screen sizes. In terms of technological advancements, there have been dramatic improvement in efficiency and cost.

Market Trend:

The off-grid TV market has the potential to grow at a rate of 25% annually and, according to estimates, the annually spending on off grid Televisions could reach up to 3.1 billion USD in 2020. [10]

  1. ↑ GIZ, “Photovoltaic for Productive Use Applications: A Catalogue of DC Appliances,” 15, accessed June 10, 2016, https://energypedia.info/wiki/File:GIZ_(2016)_Catalogue_PV_Appliances_for_Micro_Enterprises.pdf.
  2. ↑ LEAP. “The State of The Off-Grid Appliance Market,” 2016, 12. http://www.cleanenergyministerial.org/Portals/2/pdfs/Global_LEAP_The_State_of_the_Global_Off-Grid_Appliance_Market.pdf
  3. ↑ World Bank Group, “Off-Grid Solar Market : Trends Report 2016,” 2016, 2.
  4. ↑ IRENA, “Off-Grid Renewable Energy Systems: Status and Methodological Issues,” 2015, 1, www.irena.org/DocumentDownloads/Publications/IRENA_Off-grid_Renewable_Systems_WP_2015.pdf.
  5. ↑ LEAP, “The State of The Off-Grid Appliance Market,” 22. http://www.cleanenergyministerial.org/Portals/2/pdfs/Global_LEAP_The_State_of_the_Global_Off-Grid_Appliance_Market.pdf
  6. ↑ World Bank Group, “Off-Grid Solar Market : Trends Report 2016,” 6.
  7. ↑ World Bank Group, “Off-Grid Solar Market : Trends Report 2016,” 6.
  8. ↑ GIZ, “Photovoltaics for Productive Use Applications: A Catalogue of DC Appliances,” 23.
  9. ↑ World Bank Group, “Off-Grid Solar Market : Trends Report 2016,” 10.
  10. ↑ LEAP, “The State of The Off-Grid Appliance Market.”
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