A Study on Consumer Preferences for Solar Off-Grid Products

Schatz Energy Research Center Supported by the Lighting Asia/India Program, International Finance Corporation IFC Schatz Energy Research Center ( SERC ) at Humboldt State University in the United States is implementing a consumer preferences study that is supported by the Lighting Asia/India Program, IFC. In the past two years, the Indian government has significantly intensified grid electrification efforts in rural India. While the village level electrification rate has increased substantially, grid electricity remains unreliable in many areas. At the same time, the off-grid solar sector continues to deliver products to rural customers in India. Given this backdrop, the SERC team led by Dr. Arne Jacobson and Richa Goyal are studying consumer preferences for off-grid solar products and the role that solar technologies can play in bridging the energy access gap in cases where grid electricity is unreliable or not available.

The study will investigate consumer preferences for a set of technical and non-technical features of a range of off-grid solar lighting products, including whether preferences vary by gender, income, and other factors.

MORSEL is the fieldwork implementation partner for this study and is helping collect primary data from consumers and retailers of solar off-grid products in four states in India.”