The Benefits of Solar Home Systems : An Analysis from Bangladesh

The Government of Bangladesh, with help from the World Bank and other donors, has provided aid to a local agency called Infrastructure Development Company Limited and its partner organizations to devise a credit scheme for marketing solar home system units and making these an affordable alternative to grid electricity for poor people in remote areas. This paper uses household survey data to examine the financing scheme behind the dissemination of these solar home systems, in particular the role of the subsidy; the factors that determine the adoption of the systems in rural Bangladesh; and the welfare impacts of such adoption. The paper finds that while the subsidy has been declining over time, the demand for solar home systems has seen phenomenal growth, mostly because of technological developments that have made the systems increasingly more affordable. Households with better physical and educational endowments are more likely to adopt solar home systems than poor households. The price of the system matters in household decision making -- a 10 percent decline in the price of the system increases the overall demand for a solar panel by 2 percent. As for the benefits, adoption of a solar home system improves children s evening study time, lowers kerosene consumption, and provides health benefits for household members, in particular for women. It is also found to increase women's decision-making ability in certain household affairs. Finally, it is found to increase household consumption expenditure, although at a small scale.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Samad, Hussain A., Khandker, Shahidur R., Asaduzzaman, M., Yunus, Mohammad
Format:	Policy Research Working Paper biblioteca
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2013-12
Subjects:	ACCESS TO ELECTRICITY, ACCESS TO MODERN ENERGY, AGRICULTURE, AIR, AIR POLLUTION, ALTERNATIVE FUELS, ALTERNATIVE METHOD, APPROACH, AVAILABILITY, AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION, AVERAGE PRICE, BACKUP POWER, BASE YEAR, BATTERIES, BIOMASS, CALCULATION, CARBON DIOXIDE, CARBON EMISSION, CLIMATE, CLIMATE CHANGE, COAL, CONSUMER SURPLUS, CONSUMERS, CONSUMPTION OF ENERGY, CONSUMPTION PATTERNS, CONTROLLED PRICES, COOKING, COST EFFECTIVENESS, CROP, CROP RESIDUE, DECISION MAKING, DEMAND FOR ELECTRICITY, DEVELOPMENT POLICY, DRY CELL BATTERIES, DUNG, ECONOMETRICS, ELECTRIC GENERATION, ELECTRIC GRID, ELECTRIC POWER, ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION, ELECTRICITY GENERATION, ELECTRIFICATION, EMISSION, EMISSION OF CARBON, EMPLOYMENT, ENERGY CONSUMPTION, ENERGY DEMAND, ENERGY FORM, ENERGY GENERATION, ENERGY POLICY, ENERGY REQUIREMENTS, ENERGY SERVICES, ENERGY SOURCE, ENERGY SOURCES, FOSSIL, FOSSIL FUELS, FUEL COLLECTION, FUEL WOOD, GENERATION OF ELECTRICITY, GRID AREAS, GRID ELECTRICITY, GRID ELECTRIFICATION, HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION, HOUSEHOLD INCOME, HOUSEHOLD LIGHTING, KEROSENE, KEROSENE CONSUMPTION, KEROSENE LAMPS, LAND OWNERSHIP, NATIONAL ELECTRICITY GRIDS, OIL, PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION, PHOTOVOLTAIC TECHNOLOGY, PHOTOVOLTAICS, POLICY MAKERS, POLLUTION, POLLUTION LEVELS, POSITIVE EXTERNALITY, POWER, POWER GENERATION, POWER PROGRAM, POWER SECTOR, PRICE EFFECT, PRICE ELASTICITY, PRICE INCREASES, PRIMARY FUEL, PRODUCTION FUNCTION, QUALITY ENERGY, RENEWABLE ENERGY, RURAL AREAS, RURAL ELECTRIFICATION, RURAL HOUSEHOLD, RURAL HOUSEHOLDS, SMOKE, SOLAR ELECTRICITY, SOLAR ELECTRIFICATION, SOLAR ENERGY, SOLAR HOME, SOLAR HOME SYSTEM, SOLAR HOME SYSTEMS, SOLAR PANEL, SOLAR PANELS, SOLAR POWER, SOLAR POWER GENERATION, SOLAR SYSTEM, SUBSTITUTE FUEL, SUBSTITUTION, SUSTAINABLE ENERGY, VILLAGE LEVEL, WEALTH, WOOD BIOMASS,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/11/18640651/benefits-solar-home-systems-analysis-bangladesh http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16939
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!