Interlinked Climate & Energy Challenges

2007June21: From Ashden Awards, “SELCO is a private business, based in Bangalore, which provides solar-home-systems (SHS) and other solar services to low-income households and institutions. Its network of local sales and service centres are set up where micro-finance organisations can provide loans to customers. All systems are sold on a commercial basis, but SELCO is committed to providing the highest quality services to poor people on financial terms they can afford. Since 2005 its total sales of SHS have increased from 48,000 to 71,000, despite a 50% increase in the price of small photovoltaic modules on the world market. Four new service centres have been opened, including one run jointly with the influential Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) bank in Gujarat, in which PV systems and finance can be arranged together for bank customers, mainly self-employed women. The centres are now starting to provide a wider range of energy services rather than just solar systems including improved cooking stoves” (Ashden Awards, 2007). The program won a 2007 Ashden Award. The Ashden Awards promote local sustainable energy solutions in the UK and the developing world.

Reference: Ashden Awards. 2007. http://www.ashdenawards.org/finalists_2007

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