Energy poverty and perceptions of solar power in

marginalized communities: Survey evidence from Uttar

Pradesh, India [1]
 Willingness to pay is positively associated with knowledge and
awareness of solar technology.
 Solar entrepreneurs cannot sell enough products and services in areas
with low levels of awareness, while levels of awareness remain low
because solar entrepreneurs are not selling products and services.
 Off-grid electrification has become an increasingly attractive and popular
solution to energy poverty in India.
 Besides price and availability, convenience is the only concern that could
undermine solar technology sales in unelectrified habitations.
 Willingness to pay depends on several characteristics, with monthly
household expenses and literacy proving important.
 level of trust among the respondents in local companies and government
authorities were very low.
 Levels of interest in solar power are high and perceptions of the quality of
technology unambiguously positive.
 If people do not trust that private companies provide a good electricity
service, the demand for solar technologies e especially larger solar
systems for productive loads e could be lower than under high levels of
trust.
 levels of trust in the local companies were low in the study sample,
indicating a potential explanation for why government leadership.
 Unless solar entrepreneurs can convince rural villagers that they are
honest and conduct business with integrity, it will be hard for them to
penetrate the rural markets at the “base of the pyramid.
 solar entrepreneurs must work hard to create trust among their customers
and commit to delivering high-quality services and products, along with
excellent customer service.

The prospects of decentralised solar energy home systems in

rural communities: User experience, determinants, and impact
of free solar power on the energy poverty cycle [2]
 Grid expansion alone would not be adequate to provide universal energy
access and reliable supply in India.
  Off-grid energy systems are increasingly becoming competitive to main
grid distribution due to the falling price of solar technology and evolving
business innovations.
 The emerging financial and product innovation has not been able to scale-
up and overcome an inherent path resistance to decentralised solar
energy.
 Some of the path limiting factors in the adoption of decentralised solar in
rural areas include high cost; lack of financial support; limited awareness;
poor consumer engagement; poor quality services; and lack of targeted
approach to serve rural poor.
 Annual income, level of education, members studying in the household,
duration of solar use and mode of procurement significantly affected the
desire to procure more solar power in households using off-grid solar
technologies in rural Uttar Pradesh.
 Customer satisfaction and use of solar home system positively affect the
continued or additional use of solar power.
 Households that have received solar home system free of cost are less
inclined to procure or want more solar power suggesting the progression
up energy ladder is not linear or path determined.
 Households below or near the poverty line may step backward on the
energy ladder once their initial solar PV system approaches its useful life.

Is off-grid residential solar power inclusive? Solar power

adoption, energy poverty, and social inequality in India [3]
 Urpelainen [1] When surveyed more than 1500 unelectrified households
from marginal communities of Uttar Pradesh, India and found that despite
recognizing its benefits, the respondents exhibited little interest in solar
power adoption due to their lack of trust in the private sector’s
effectiveness in delivering the energy service.
 Yadav, Davies, and Sarkodie [2] surveyed 249 free-SHS recipients in
seven districts of Uttar Pradesh and revealed that they were not inclined
to invest money to augment their electricity access.
 High income, wealth, and education were common characteristics of solar
power adopters.
 ACCESS survey covering six states—Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand,
Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and West Bengal: 9% of households adopted
solar power (i.e., SHS and/or solar lanterns) in 2018, five percentage
points (pp) higher than the adoption rate in 2015. The growth rate in
 adoption was driven primarily by solar lantern uptake with less than 1 pp
growth in SHS adoption.
 households with access to grid electricity used solar power to fill the
supply shortfall
 Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes were significantly less likely to
adopt solar power than General Castes
 the lowest income groups were significantly less likely to adopt solar
power than relatively higher income groups.
 agricultural and non-agricultural day laborers were significantly less
likely to adopt solar power than self-employed agricultural farmers,
salaried jobholders, and business owners.
 Factors determining the adoption and retention of solar power systems are
cost, technology awareness, availability of alternative technologies,
supply uncertainty due to weather variability, socio-economic factors, and
service characteristics.
 government subsidies significantly boost solar power adoption.
 Perceptions about renewable energy sources play a crucial role in solar
power adoption. common negative perceptions about solar power include
unreliability and high cost and a perception that solar power is ‘fake’
electricity
 Consumers also face technical and maintenance issues related to SHS,
which make their use burdensome in areas where technical assistance are
not easily available.
 households that adopted SHS owned significantly more electronic
appliances than non-adopters.
 solar power adopters who received subsidized or free devices were less
likely to rate their energy source as expensive.
 solar power adopters who had access to the grid were significantly more
likely to rate their energy source as adequate.
 While grid connection had a much lower upfront cost than SHS, it had
ongoing monthly usage costs, while solar power did not.
 solar power adopters were more likely to rate their energy source as more
affordable than non-adopters. adopters had a higher user satisfaction for
cost than non-adopters, but the large upfront cost could be a barrier to
uptake, particularly for poor households.
 Grid connected households with fewer hours of service and lower service
reliability were significantly more likely to adopt solar power than those
who received a better quality of service.
  solar power was used primarily for lighting as adopters had significantly
more light bulbs than non-adopters.
 While adopters consider solar power more affordable than other energy
sources, particularly grid electricity, low-income and marginalized
households were significantly less likely to adopt solar power due to the
high upfront cost of equipment.
 households employed in salaried jobs and/or own businesses were more
likely to have relatively higher education levels than day laborers,
allowing them to access information about solar power. It is likely that
these occupation groups used energy for income generation activities,
education, and other productive work
 An important takeaway from our results is that the grid-connected
households rated their energy source as significantly more reliable and
adequate when grid connection was coupled with solar power than those
who used only grid electricity.
 The drawback of off-grid solar power is the high upfront cost which, in
the absence of government support or subsidy, is a barrier for energy
access, particularly for low-income households who need to access solar
energy the most.
 The awareness gap was also significant among socio-economically
disadvantaged sections, highlighting the importance of promotion,
awareness, and outreach programs for solar power, particularly among
marginalized groups.

The adoption and use of solar mini-grids in grid-electrified

Indian villages [4]
 Mini grid use among non-farm enterprises is significant, but low among
rural households.
 Lack of reliable grid-power supply in surveyed villages is a key driver of
mini-grid use.
 Mini-grid connections were primarily used to meet basic lighting and
cooling energy demand.
 Rural enterprises adopt alternatives to grid-electricity at a much higher
rate than rural households.
 Users held positive perceptions towards mini grids on account of all
service attributes except one: affordability.
 While the lack of affordability was an important deterrent to adoption of
mini-grids among rural households, rural enterprises were using mini-
grids despite their relatively higher per unit costs.
  Provision of reliable power supply for productive purposes has not been
the focus of grid-based rural electrification in India.
 Mini grids could play a role in providing electricity especially to rural
enterprises as they seem to value reliable power supply.

Addressing Energy Poverty in India: A systems perspective

on the role of localization, affordability, and saturation in
implementing solar technologies [5]
 lack of a variety of solar products in rural markets make it difficult for
households to access off-grid solutions.
 Low market access also limits awareness of solar technology and its
benefits.
 High installation costs make off-grid solar products expensive for the
rural poor and limit their ability to purchase them with the help of
financial subsidies.
 Unreliable after-sales repair service or lack of instruction on proper usage
leads to a higher number of non-functional solar lamps within the
warranty period or life cycle of the product.
 Without the diffusion of repair and maintenance skills in local
communities, solar PV cannot be sustained.
 Establishing a local workforce and being attentive to supply chain issues
help communities to leverage benefits from solar lamp production,
distribution, and use of lamps.
 Feedback between solar demand and the support capacity of local
organizations is an important mechanism. For example, the Lighting a
Billion Lives program has a single Solar Charging Station unit that
consists of a fixed supply of 50 lanterns which does not include a
feedback mechanism to respond to demand and could constrain the
community from realizing the full benefits of solar.
 The user’s decision to purchase and maintain solar lamps is initially
based on perceived benefits that are subject to others’ positive or negative
perceptions.
 After-sales service to keep the lamps working is also important in driving
maintenance of lamp use, keeping the lamps affordable, and supporting
continued use of solar technology by users.
Financing off-grid rural electrification: Country case Nepal
[6]
 Awareness levels in adopting RE-technologies and willingness of people
to access and pay for electricity have increased significantly.
 There is a huge financial gap between the cost of electrification and the
affordability.
 The financial mix in the off-grid rural electrification is generally
characterized by subsidy, equity, and credit.
 Cost of the technology has remained rather stable along the years, despite
huge inflation and political unrest, we can conclude that the subsidies
have not led to increased costs for the consumers.
 The choice of energy technology in the context of rural electrification is
influenced by various actors and factors such as the prevailing policy and
implementing agencies (at the macro level), supply companies, dealers
and financing institutions (at mesolevel) and household economy (at
micro level)
 While it is positive to notice that there are private resources available in
the rural areas of the country which can be channelled to electrification, it
is also an indication that funding remains a major challenge if
electrification is to reach larger fractions of the rural poor.
 Proper access to credit is necessary for the sustainable growth of the rural
electrification sector.

Solar home systems for rural India: Survey evidence on

awareness and willingness to pay from Uttar Pradesh [7]
 one impediment to the development of a healthy SHS market is the lack
of awareness among rural populations.
 Low awareness reduces demand for SHS, and the low demand
discourages entrepreneurs from entering the market.
 Regarding willingness to pay, education, household income, and kerosene
expenditures have positive effects.
 while grid electricity does not enhance awareness of SHS products, it
does increase willingness to pay.
 There is still a great scope for improving awareness through education
and information campaigns, and progress in rural electrification seems to
contribute to, as opposed to subtract from, the development of a robust
SHS market in rural Uttar Pradesh — at least as long as the quality of the
power supply remains a problem.
  The majority of households report price estimate to be greater than the
willingness to pay.
 As to the predictors of willingness to pay, we found that grid electricity,
high income, kerosene expenditures, and high levels of education
increase this willingness.

Geography, community, household: Adoption of distributed

solar power across India [8]
 Studies of solar technology adoption by households suggest that factors
such as income (Jacobson, 2007; Urpelainen and Yoon, 2015), awareness
of available products (Rebane and Barham, 2011), and education (Smith
and Urpelainen, 2014) predict the adoption of household solar products in
rural areas.
 The use of solar power has increased as the cost of solar panels has
decreased
 As the use of grid electricity in the village increases, reliance on solar
power decreases
 Relatively wealthy households in India’s relatively poor, remote rural
communities use solar technology to improve their energy access
 When grid electricity is unavailable or inconvenient, the rural middle
class invests in solar power.
 Solar technology appears to perform better than micro-grids.
 In the absence of financing alternatives, remote villages seem to face
difficulty in adopting solar technologies.
 Harish et al. (2013) observes that the lack of access to credits through
rural banks has complicated the creation of rural markets for solar home
systems.
 Overcoming financial obstacles is key to using household solar
technology to eradicate energy poverty.
 Small-scale solar power is a powerful way to improve domestic lighting
in rural areas without grid supply.
 The adoption of both solar lanterns and home systems are similar is
noteworthy. Given how much more expensive solar home systems tend to
be, it is notable that the same factors – household wealth and financial
access – enable the purchase of each type of technology for households
without a grid connection.
  The spread of off-grid solar technology in India might not be enabled by
heavily subsidized government programs.

The adoption of solar photovoltaic technology among Indian

households: Examining the influence of entrepreneurship [9]
 Entrepreneurial activities bring awareness of social responsibility,
activism, and environmental concerns.
 Aklin et al. (2018a) in a study for rural households residing in Uttar
Pradesh (India), find that households with an entrepreneurial spirit are
more likely to adopt the SPV lighting system.
 Joshi et al. (2019), in a study for 217 rural households in Dungarpur
district, Rajasthan (India), revealed that the capacity building and
entrepreneurship development of local communities have a positive
influence on the adoption of SPV technology among households.
 The likelihood of adopting SPV technology among entrepreneurs is
higher than non-entrepreneurs in rural areas.
 Households with access to grid electricity, higher income, and education
are more willing to adopt SPV technology.
 It is also observed that households with higher income and access to
financial services are more inclined towards SPV technology.
 Government subsidies, environmental concerns, energy costs are drivers
of SPV adoption, but the lack of knowledge and awareness act as barriers
among households
 Many other studies by using aggregate level household data for various
countries show that social contagion effect, socioeconomic factors,
incentives, and institutional internship are the determinants of SPV
technology adoption at the province and national levels.
 The promotion of micro-entrepreneurship among households could be an
alternative way to increase the adoption rate of SPV technology to
generate electricity and provide the source of livelihood to many
households.
 Family size and being in a casual workforce is positively influencing the
adoption of SPV technology
 For achieving long-term sustainability goals, existing solar energy
policies should focus on entrepreneurship development at the household
level to achieve higher SPV technology adoption rates in the country.
The role of socio-Culture in the solar power adoption: The
inability to reach government policies of marginalized groups
[10]
 Monetary benefits are most strongly correlated with solar PV adoption
while the type of employment, education, and income of the household
members also influenced.
 The adopter’s notion of the profits of the solar PV system and relative
advantage resulted in a higher level of user’s complacency such as the
additional time of the child’s study within the household
 Residential solar PV adoption is driven by socio factors such as the
attitude of the adopters, social network within the community, a
demographic indicator of the household, and the environment surrounds
the head of the household.
 Some studies have found that the SC populations in rural India are often
forced to live in smaller villages farther away from larger communal
areas due to social isolation and structural factors. This type of caste
discrimination has resulted in lower caste populations losing
opportunities for access to government energy support policies.
 Households who can access credit are considered to have a stable
financial position, and they are likely to have a high financial ability to
spend on solar power technology adoption
 The odds of adopting solar power technology are more likely to decrease
as the caste status decreased.
 High caste households receive a good education, work at the government
level, and many belong to the country’s ruling class because of their
ancestors. This has resulted in higher caste access to government policy
support than other caste and their well-established education system,
giving them a greater understanding of the benefits of renewable energy
than other communities. Therefore, these groups are more likely to adopt
renewable energy technology than other ethnic castes.
 Our research found that the difference in caste has a significant effect on
the adoption of solar power technology, with households in higher castes
more likely to adopt solar power than those in lower castes.
 This means that if you were born in a household of high caste, you are
more likely to embrace modern energy technology because of the
socialization within the high caste through a special relationship system
that has been given since birth. On the other hand, if you were born in
 lower caste households, you are likely to reject modern energy
technologies because of socialization and social discrimination.

Who is willing to pay for solar lamps in rural India? A

longitudinal study [11]
 In a study conducted by Urpelainen and Yoon [7], it was found that rural
households in Uttar Pradesh, India were unaware of solar home systems
(SHS). If they were aware of SHS, then they did not know where to buy
them or to have them repaired.
 Solar projects have failed due to poor public awareness, lack of
participation by the local population in solar lighting projects and lack of
after-sales services.
 When the reliability and availability of electricity in villages are poor,
there is a potential to develop a local low-cost sustainable solar market.
 Households are more interested to purchase solar lamps at a subsidized
price over time.
 Mainali and Silveira [6] reported that WTP of users to access electricity
and awareness levels in adopting RE-technologies is increasing
significantly.
 Income and education were the key determinants of SHS adoption.
 Initial cost of installation of SHS is the main barrier for the base of the
pyramid population.
 High initial subsidies are necessary to make solar products affordable for
end users.
 Another study highlights that educating woman on solar products,
improving level of awareness and knowledge of the community by
installing solar systems in the community can help adoption of solar
product.
 Willingness to pay for solar lamps in women is lower as compared to
men, but the effect is not very significant. Urpelainen & Yoon [7]
reported that willingness to pay for SHS by female respondents was lower
and the effect was not very significant. They also reported that men in the
households in rural India have more authority to decide to purchase
utilities, compared to women.
 Higher education has a weak positive effect on household solar energy
use. However, according to the recent study of Urpelainen et al. [7], the
education level of the respondents did influence the adoption of solar
technology.
  Household income has a positive effect on the adoption of solar
technology.
 Urpelainen & Yoon [7] found that households with electricity in Uttar
Pradesh were more willing to pay for SHS, potentially due to the
unreliable supply of electricity.
 This study shows that house holds awareness of various solar products
has increased over time.
 This study also reveals that there is large need for increasing awareness in
Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh especially for solar home systems
and solar water pumps.
 The findings of this study demonstrate that the effect of affordability (i.e.,
households last month income) on WTP is significantly moderated by
awareness of solar products and their motivation to adopt solar
technology.
 There is an increased probability of willingness to pay for solar lamp at
the market price when households’ income increases but there are some
differences due to different levels of awareness of various solar products
and households’ motivation to adopt solar technology.
 household’s awareness of various solar products, public perception on
solar lamps, and motivation to adopt solar technology are new and
contribute to the growing body of research on the adoption of solar
products.

Prospects of Solar Energy in Rural Areas [12]

 Can solar energy be a successful alternative to produce electricity and
meet the demand of the rapidly growing and developing world needing
electricity as a necessity?
 As India being one of the hottest countries of this world and considering
the amount of sunlight it receives and last but not the least its zero percent
emission rates, solar power has huge potential to replace power
generation through electrical grids and other techniques currently being
used.
 The primary hindrance to growth in rural productivity and subsequent
economic growth is the lack of basic infrastructure such as electricity,
clean water, and sanitation. Nearly 300 million people in rural India lack
access to grid connected power, promoting use of archaic sources of
energy such as kerosene, diesel, wood-fired chulhas, etc., Solar power
offers an opportunity to bridge the massive infrastructure gap and
improve the social, economic, environment health indicators.
 India is the fourth largest energy consumer in the world after China,
America, and Russia respectively. Moreover, India is the third largest
coal producer and consumer in the World which leads to more carbon
emission. With India being a growing economy, power consumption is
only going to rise, so adoption of alternate forms of energy is the ideal
way to manage balance between economic growth and sustainable
environment.
 India is also the home for the 2nd largest Solar power plant in the world
which is - Kamuthi, Tamil Nadu, India; This solar farm in the southern
state of Tamil Nadu in India has a capacity of 648 megawatts and covers
an area of 10 square kilometres. In 2016, this project was deemed to be
the largest solar power plant at a single location.
 Capital cost - The capital cost required for a solar project is too high
compared to the savings it generates. The general balancing period for the
investment is 7-10 years which is considerably long.
 Lack of trust for performance - Despite the numerous benefits provided
by the government for solar power solutions such as subsidies, direct and
indirect tax benefits etc. consumers are not ready to invest. This is
because there are huge doubts and lack of data about the performance of
plants in India.
 Atmospheric conditions - Another major issue is of dust in our
environment. India being a highly populous developing country, literally
lives in a dust storm. And, as a matter of fact, even a single grain of sand
can affect the performance of a solar PV cell/module.
 Higher Pricing - Indian players are still competing for grid parity. Panels
produced domestically face multiple challenges due to lack of innovation
and technical support and development in this field which lead to increase
in their price.
 The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission was launched in January
2010 by former Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh. Its aim is to
reduce the cost of solar power generation and install 20,000MW of grid-
connected solar power via Long-term policy, Large-scale deployment
goals, Research and Development, Domestic production of raw materials.
The aim of JNNSM mission is not limited to offering largescale grid-
connected power but also transform India’s rural economy.
 UDAY or Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojana was launched in November
2015 as a revival package for electricity distribution companies of India
initiated by the Government of India with the idea to find permanent solar
 power solutions to the financial mess that the power distribution was
facing at that time.

Renewables in the energy transition: Evidence on solar home

systems and lighting fuel choice in Kenya [13]
 Income is a key determinant for the adoption of modern and renewable
energies.
 The probability of choosing solar energy as the main source of lighting
fuel increases with income.
 There is a pronounced effect of clustering; that is, the prevalence of SHSs
in the proximity of a potential user increases the likelihood of adoption.
 It appears that grid extension does not hamper the adoption of SHSs. It
may hence be useful to think of SHSs as a complementary and not a
substitute fuel source.

Business innovation and diffusion of off-grid solar

technologies in India [14]
 India has the single largest market for off-grid energy access technologies
within one country, presenting exciting business opportunities.
 Those living furthest from the grid and with the greatest need have
limited off-grid solar technology choice options.
 The market for off-grid solar technologies is not limited by the extent of
the electrical grid.
 Most off-grid solar energy enterprises in India are not relying heavily on
government subsidy programs.
 Providing a broader array of technology options may negatively impact
unit scaling for an off-grid solar enterprise.
 End users are not able to articulate what they need, particularly those
users in areas without grid access who may need the technology options
the most.
 Modularization of products may help achieve unit scale as the firms
selling the highest volume of products are providing compact solar
products.
 While multi-functionality of a product did not seem to impact unit
scaling, the fact that companies see their customers as needing the
products for more than lighting is a sign that the arrival of aspirational
low-watt appliances such as televisions may serve as the driver of the
diffusion of solar technologies.
  Finding a balance between simply achieving scale in numbers and
assuring that quality, defined by sufficient energy and an ecosystem of
support structures for the technology post deployment, is essential if one
is to genuinely provide access to energy for improving the livelihoods of
those who need it most.
 Business innovations will continue to evolve to meet the growing energy
needs of those living with lack of assured centralized grid energy supply
and thus drive the diffusion of off-grid solar technologies.

Economics of household technology adoption in developing

countries: Evidence from solar technology adoption in rural
India [15]
 Household expenditures and savings are strong predictors of technology
adoption.
 Entrepreneurial spirit is a key covariate of solar microgrid use.
 Risk acceptance and community trust are not associated with solar
microgrid use.
 Reliability of power supply and kerosene subsidies can be obstacles for
adoption.
 Household expenditures and savings as well as the household head’s
entrepreneurial attitude are strong predictors of adoption.
 People’s adoption decisions are neither associated with their trust in
companies and business nor with their trust in other people living in their
habitation.
 Trust in other people in the community and companies does not predict
technology adoption.
 The importance of entrepreneurial spirit, but not risk acceptance, suggests
that attitudes toward new technology cannot be reduced to risk aversion
but instead constitute an additional dimension of technology adoption.
 Theorizing about the interactions between contextual factors, the nature
of the household technology under consideration, and the importance of
parameters for these various dimensions of the problem could contribute
toward the development of a full microeconomic theory of household
technology adoption.
 The importance of entrepreneurial spirit as an explanation for variation in
adoption suggests that households are interested in using improved
lighting for livelihood activities.
  Complementary interventions, such as access to credit for business
creation, could furnish benefits.

Adoption of solar photovoltaic lighting in rural India: Role of

localization strategy [16]
 The abundant availability of solar energy in India, which has an average
of 300 clear sunny days annually provides a solid foundation for a viable
implementation of off-grid solar PV intervention.
 Recent decline in the cost of solar products, user-friendly technologies,
and stand-alone decentralized form of distribution make solar a feasible
option.
 The Million Solar Urja (energy) Lamps program utilized localization
strategy.
 Local communities developed confidence with the technology
 localized access to repair and maintenance services for the users.
 creation of income-generation opportunities for service providers.
 Lack of adequate local repair centres prevented uptake of solar lanterns.
 Limited capacity of communities to fix their solar technologies adversely
impacted the demand.
 Three key barriers: Affordability, Repair and maintenance, Lack of
institutional partnerships.

New partnerships and business models for facilitating energy

access [17]
 Most of the population depending on subsistence level agriculture or
other activities can barely meet the capital expenses of an electrification
project; leave alone the cost of operation, maintenance, and repair.
 For providing energy access, it is important to provide an ecosystem of
innovation beyond ‘‘physical access’’ and the standard policies and
implementation guidelines that will help new partnerships to emerge and
grow.
 The prerequisite is recognition of the potential role that new forms of
partnerships can play in addressing such mammoth challenges that daunt
the global community, particularly, the policy makers.
 Pro-poor partnerships could be effective in developing and customizing
technologies that are state-of-the-art; are able to provide energy services
in an effective, efficient, and affordable manner; and can facilitate market
 development which provides the enabling environment for empowering
rural communities through provisioning of energy access.

Adoption of solar home lighting systems in India: What might

we learn from Karnataka? [18]
 Most surveyed households adopted SLS due to grid supply unreliability.
 Rural banks critical in introducing consumers to firms and financing
systems.
 Banks also play support role in ensuring after-sales maintenance.
 Institutional structure may limit choice of firms and products.
 Commonly cited barriers in the literature include the high initial costs and
lack of consistent financing; high risks assumed by financial institutions
while assessing credit worthiness; a lack of understanding and experience
related to solar lighting on the part of financing institutions, and
inadequate service infrastructure from the firms.
 The solar market in Karnataka has been almost entirely based on
commercial sales involving both credit and cash-based purchases.
 SLS purchase is reliable lighting for children′s studies in the evening,
especially during examination times.
 If supply becomes reliable, the installed SLS could become redundant
well within its potential lifetime.
 Household income is a major determinant of the adoption of SLS.
 In villages where several households had adopted solar lighting, and
particularly in all the solar villages, the systems were very homogenous—
one, or at most two—products of the same firm.

Recent developments of solar energy in India: Perspectives,

strategies, and future goals [19]
 The main drawback of any renewable energy is its intermittent nature. In
India, solar power is available only for 6–8 h at an average during the
day. Also, conditions like dust accumulation, cloud covers, and other
weather-related incidents can create significant fluctuations in solar
power generation
 Maximum growth for energy storage is expected to emerge from the solar
energy sector. Batteries are the commonly used storage system for off-
grid renewable energy storage in India.
 Manufacturers are mainly buying their all equipment for solar power
generation, from the foreign market due to the low prices compared with
 the local Indian market. So, local market facing losses due to the import
of solar power generation equipment from foreign.
 Training and evolution of human amenities to operate industry expansion
and photovoltaic acquisition.
 Solar power can also provide a better economic scenario after successful
implementation of solar mission for all states of India, especially for
some undeveloped states, where the potential of solar power generation is
very good but not utilized till date.

Role of solar energy in developing smart villages of India [20]

 Solar pump can be the better option compared to the diesel pump as it is
environment friendly and cost effective in longer run. Smart roof top is
the best alternative as due to the government subsidies the payback period
becomes less than 1.5 years.
 It is one of the best alternatives to use solar roof top for smart villages.
Solar panel generates DC power. When this DC power is converted into
AC power, nearly 15% of power produced is lost (for pico- systems). A
solar panel of area 0.75m2 can generate 125W. Which can be used for
lights, television, cell phone charging, and a refrigerator. When all these
appliances can run with DC power the losses will be reduced to 7% from
45% in case of AC.
 Electrical Pumps: Farmers do not rely on electrical pumps due to odd
hours of supply; they require high consumptive subsidies for the state and
there are difficulties in load management. There is possibility of
excessive ground water depletion.
 Diesel pumps: Difficulties in regular diesel supply, they require high
consumptive subsidies and polluting environment by the CO2 emission.
Solar Pump: They act as a positive alternative, environment friendly and
reduces inequity in access to irrigation. shows the comparison between
solar pump and Diesel pump. The investment for SPV pump and diesel
pump is Rs. 2,03,072 and Rs.3,16,262 respectively.
 solar power by itself acts like risk insurance by diversifying the sources
of farmers' incomes. Food crops are very prone to natural calamities,
pests and irregularity of monsoons. It reduces the farmers’ sole
dependence on incomes from food crops and reduces the risk factor in
earnings. Solar Power acts like risk insurance by diversifying the source
of farmer’s income. Food crops are very prone to natural calamities,
pests, and irregular monsoon etc.
Impact and Pathways of Transitioning to Solar Energy in
Rural India [21]
 In energy deficient country like India where the supply cannot meet the
demand, where power generation is costly, solar energy is the best
alternative means of power generation as it is inexhaustible.
 As a solar energy system can be installed anywhere, a power or gas grid
is not needed to get solar energy. Consequently, it is cheaper compared to
other sources of energy as it has no running costs.
 In remote areas, solar products such as lanterns, home systems, and mini
grids provide backup power. By shifting the subsidies from kerosene to
off-grid solar photovoltaic products the energy transition for
underprivileged households can be financed.
 Adoption of solar energy can indeed be successful and that given enough
time, every village can learn to gain electricity.
 The Solar Mamas programme empowers women who come from some of
the deprived, most marginalized, climate devastated places on our planet
by exploiting their high accommodative intelligence.
 Awareness needs to be paired with financial incentives to merge into the
existing system and in achieving successful widespread adoption and
reform of the existing fossil fuel economy.

Consumer-focused solar-grid net zero energy buildings: A

multi-objective weighted sum optimization and application for
India [22]
 The Net Zero Energy buildings are more eco-friendly in terms of CO2
emissions, affirming the propriety of transition to Net Zero Energy
Buildings (NZEB) architectures.
 Introduction of carbon taxes will prompt enhanced participation toward
energy-efficient buildings and communities.
 Attractive subsidies and financial assistance can be extended to low-
income households. Doing so would help bridge the investment gap to
benefit the users.
 The NZEBs exhibit important positive system and environmental
externalities. Less reliance on grid-based electricity can improve air
pollution in urban areas, with consequential health benefits.
 Solar home systems help reduce the load pressure on the grid at peak
daytime hours where grid capacity can be at a premium.
While this study successfully correlates different household characteristics with
solar power adoption, the reasons for low adoption may go beyond aspects such
as income, education, and awareness and factors such as social perception of
electricity. Although green energy adoption is viewed as a sign of commitment
to conservation and sustainability, consumer preferences and attitude towards
green energy is different. For instance, Sharma [4] finds that common negative
perception about solar power is that it is a ‘fake’ electricity. Venkateswaran and
Solanki [5] find that user’s decision to purchase and maintain solar lamps is
initially based on perceived benefits that are subject to others’ positive or
negative perceptions. Yadav, Davies, and Sarkodie [2] surveyed 249 free-SHS
recipients in seven districts of Uttar Pradesh and revealed that they were not
inclined to invest money to augment their electricity access. This presents both
a need and an opportunity to carry out qualitative studies to understand
consumer perceptions and attitude towards solar energy and its adoption. Which
in turn can shed light to social acceptance of solar energy. In addition, Anand
[12] finds that the efficiency and quality of solar panels produced by the Indian
brands are not able to satisfy consumers needs which acts as a barrio for solar
adoption. Kartikeya [14] finds that business innovations will continue to evolve
to meet the growing energy needs of those living with lack of assured
centralized grid energy supply and thus drive the diffusion of off-grid solar
technologies. Therefor innovation has a big role to play in adoption of solar
energy. So, there is a need to conduct qualitative studies to understand
consumer preference towards role of innovation for higher adoption of
renewable energy and solar.

CONCLUSION
People are likely to adopt a technology if they perceive it more favourably than
its alternatives. Rural peoples are less likely to adopt solar power, this is
probably because rural electrification programs in India, with their emphasis on
village and household electrification, have improved access to grid
infrastructure among rural households. Various research articles show that high
upfront cost, technical and maintenance issue, awareness gap, lack of access to
credit from banks etc as a barrio for the adoption of off-grid solar PVs by rural
peoples in India. Apart from that there are certain areas on which government,
policy makers, and researchers should focus on. In the long term to prevent this
problem in the future, we should think how to overcome these barrios for that,
there is a need for study on the potential of developing solar markets in villages,
how to promote local solar retail businesses, how to encourage local people
towards solar as an income generating option and how to focus on low-cost
solar energy storage system.

Appendix A

Sl. Authors
Title Focus Area
No & Year
Energy poverty,
dissatisfaction with
Johannes Energy poverty and perceptions of solar
kerosene lighting
Urpelainen power in marginalized communities: Survey
widespread, Awareness,
(2016) evidence from Uttar Pradesh, India
perceptions of solar
1 power.
Prabhakar
Yadav, Peter J.
The prospects of decentralised solar energy
Davies,
home systems in rural communities: User Prospects of solar energy
Samuel
experience, determinants, and impact of use in rural communities.
Asumadu
free solar power on the energy poverty cycle
Sarkodie
2 (2019)
Energy inequality that
Sonia Akter, Is off-grid residential solar power inclusive?
persisted in India,
Kaushambi Solar power adoption, energy poverty, and
particularly among
Bagchi (2021) social inequality in India
3 marginalized group.
Anjali Sharma,
Shalu Agrawal, What role, can solar mini
The adoption and use of solar mini-grids in
Johannes grids play in villages with
grid-electrified Indian villages
Urpelainen grid electricity.
4 (2020)
 Jayendran
Venkateswara Importance of
n, Chetan Localization in the
Addressing Energy Poverty in India: A
Singh Solanki, diffusion, adoption, and
systems perspective on the role of
Kelsey implementation of
localization, affordability, and saturation in
Werner, decentralized energy
implementing solar technologies
Gautam N. systems in poor rural
Yadama communities.
5 (2018)
Willingness of people to
Brijesh access and pay for off
Mainali, Financing off-grid rural electrification: grid, huge financial gap
Semida Country case Nepal between the cost of
Silveira (2011) electrification and the
6 affordability.
Johannes
Solar home systems for rural India: Survey
Urpelainen, Willingness to pay for
evidence on awareness and willingness to
Semee Yoon solar home systems.
pay from Uttar Pradesh
7 (2015)
Michaël Aklin, Investigation on the
Chao-yo determinants of
Geography, community, household:
Cheng, distributed solar
Adoption of distributed solar power across
Johannes technology adoption at
India
Urpelainen the village and
8 (2018) household level in India.
Likelihood of adopting
solar photovoltaic
technology relative to
Mohd Irfan, alternate micro-
Sarvendra The adoption of solar photovoltaic technolog technologies (generator
Yadav, y among Indian households: Examining the i or inverter) is analyzed at
Krishnendu nfluence of entrepreneurship the household level,
Shaw (2021) Entrepreneurship and
household characteristics
are investigated as
9 drivers or barriers.
Solar power adoption in
Boqiang Lin, The role of socio-Culture in households of Nepal,
Suppawit the solar power adoption: effect of economic
Kaewkhunok The inability to reach government policies of  factors, the ethnic-caste
(2021) marginalized groups factors on solar power
10 accessibility.
Rohit Sharma,
Factors that influence
Deepak
the household’s
Choudhary, Who is willing to pay for solar lamps in rural I
willingness to pay (WTP)
Gautam N. ndia? A longitudinal study
for solar lamps in rural
Yadama
India.
11 (2021)
Sustainable energy, Solar
Netikta Anand
Prospects of Solar Energy in Rural Areas power implementation,
(2019)
12 Rural India
 Factors that influence
Jann Lay, the introduction and
Janosch Renewables in the energy transition: adoption of
Ondraczek, Evidence on solar home systems and lighting decentralized and less
Jana Stoever fuel choice in Kenya carbon-intensive energy
(2013) sources in developing
13 countries.
Business innovation in
Kartikeya Business innovation and diffusion of off-grid the diffusion of off-grid
Singh (2016) solar technologies in India solar technologies in
14 India.
M. Aklin, P.
Economics of household technology Factors affecting
Bayer, J.
adoption in developing countries: Evidence households' technology
Urpelainen
from solar technology adoption in rural India adoption decisions.
15 (2018)
Demonstrate that
localization strategy has
a purchase to address
challenges of
Lalita Joshi, NC
affordability, repair and
Narayanan, Adoption of solar photovoltaic lighting in
maintenance, and
Praveen rural India: Role of localization strategy
development of
Kumar (2019)
multilevel partnerships
by drawing cues from
Million Solar Urja
16 (Energy) program.
Role of innovations in
Akanksha
terms of partnerships
Chaurey, P. R.
and business models to
Krithika, New partnerships and business models for
enhance energy access,
Benjamin K. facilitating energy access
especially for those living
Sovacool
at the so-called bottom
(2012)
17 of pyramid
Santosh M. Understands the
Harish, Kaveri dynamics of systems
K. Iychettira, Adoption of solar home lighting systems in adoption and operation,
Milind India: What might we learn from Karnataka? that have fostered
Kandlikar market-based adoption
18 (2013) of solar lighting.
Subhumid
Dawn, Focusing on state wise
Prashant Indian solar power
Kumar Tiwari, Recent developments of solar energy in scenario Grid‐interactive
Arup Kumar India: Perspectives, strategies, and future power Captive power
Goswami, goals Global solar power
Manash scenario Electricity Act
Kumar Mishra Feed in tariff
19 (2016)
Role of solar energy in developing smart
Smita B Joshi Importance of adopting
villages of India
(2018) solar for smart village.
20
 Use of renewable energy
compared to kerosene,
Rohan Ray Impact and Pathways of Transitioning to diesel etc. in rural areas
(2021) Solar Energy in Rural India also policy
recommended on
21 implication
Deepthisree Net zero energy buildings
Madathil, Differential evolution
Consumer-focused solar-grid net zero energy
Ravikumar multi-objective
buildings: A multi-objective weighted sum
Pandi V, Tripta optimization Weighted
optimization and application for India
Thakur (2021) sum method Renewable
22 energy Carbon tax
Appendix B