ISSUE 06 SEPT 2013 IMPACT this issue Developing a solar lantern market in Sub-Saharan Africa KEY ACHIEVEMENTS 7 million people in ESMAP Support Helps Lighting Africa Brighten Sub-Saharan Africa gained access to Lighting Off-Grid Communities Africa products More than 600 million people in Sub- an achievement far surpassing the program’s Awareness campaigns Saharan Africa are not connected to an original goal of reaching 2.5 million beneficiar- reached more than 22 electricity grid and must rely on expen- ies by 2012. million people at 1,500 sive and hazardous fossil fuel-based village forums sources of energy to meet their lighting ESMAP has played a key role in this success- needs. In 2007, the World Bank and the ful outcome by providing US$750,000 in tech- International Electrotech- International Finance Corporation (IFC) nical assistance to help design Lighting nical Commission (IEC) launched Lighting Africa, a pioneering Africa’s conceptual framework and fund the approved Lighting Afri- initiative to develop a commercial market program’s implementation. ESMAP assis- ca’s quality assurance for the manufacture and sale of quality tance—provided through the World Bank’s framework as an industry solar lanterns across Sub-Saharan Africa Renewable Energy and Access Pro- standard Africa. gram (AFREA)—has also financed a wide In switching from fuel-based to solar lighting, range of technical and market development Modern lighting product rural populations can improve their health, studies that underpin Lighting Africa and con- sales grew by 120% in increase their savings—households typically tinue to guide the program today. 2012 over previous year spend about 10 percent of their income on kerosene—and benefit from better lighting The Lighting Africa program consists of five 1.3 million solar-powered and more productive time in their homes, main components: lighting products sold in schools, and businesses. Since its creation, 1. Quality Assurance | Establishing quality 20 African countries Lighting Africa has enabled close to 7 million specifications and developing testing meth- since 2007 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, odologies to promote the manufacture and Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, distribution of quality products Senegal, and Tanzania gain access to renew- able alternatives to fossil fuel-based lighting— “The people with the greatest need for reliable, off-grid light- ing are the ones hit hardest by faulty products that come with inflated claims. Our job at the lab is to make sure that solar lanterns on the market perform as expected.” “Anywhere you Dr. Michael Gatari went in Africa you Lighting Africa laboratory could find solar lan- at University of Nairobi terns, but they tended to break or 2. Market Intelligence | Informing the design of suitable products for the African market lose functionality within weeks of 3. Business Support and Access to Finance | Assisting manufacturers and distributors in achieving purchase. There their business goals and supporting new business models to deliver low-cost and high-quality off- grid lighting and supporting distributors and consumers to locate potential sources of funding was no way a con- sumer could tell 4. Consumer Education | Generating awareness about and building demand for modern off-grid lighting which product to products buy because there 5. Policy and Regulation | Engaging governments to create an enabling policy and regulatory environ- were no quality as- ment and supporting them in integrating modern off-grid lighting in their electrification plans surance standards with which to rate Dana Rysankova, a Senior Energy Specialist with the World Bank’s Africa Region, said Lighting Afri- them." ca’s first priority in 2007 was establishing a quality assurance mechanism to differentiate between the numerous brands of solar lanterns that had begun to flood the African market. Dana Rysankova Senior Energy Specialist “Anywhere you went in Africa you could find solar lanterns, but they tended to break or lose functionali- World Bank Africa Region ty within weeks of purchase,” Ms. Rysankova said. “There was no way a consumer could tell which product to buy because there were no quality assurance standards with which to rate them,” she said. As such, early ESMAP support to Lighting Africa funded development of a set of quality assurance specifications and testing methodologies with which to measure lantern performance. The Lighting Global Quality Test Method (LG-QTM) subsequently created by Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems has since become the cornerstone of Lighting Africa and now serves as a quality benchmark for manufacturers to attain when making solar products—and for consumers to look for when buying them. In addition, in April 2013 Lighting Africa celebrated the news that its quality assurance framework for solar LED lighting devices had been approved by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) to be the industry standard. The IEC’s new global standard represents an important step that enables governments to harmonize their national standards, thereby paving the way for the further market ex- pansion of Lighting Africa’s quality-assured devices. IMAGES The substandard solar lanterns available on the African market have traditionally been plagued with All images © Lighting Africa | World Bank. problems such as rapid loss of brightness and short battery life. In contrast, products that meet or ex- ceed LG-QTM specifications guarantee consumers at least four hours of consistent light after a sunny day of recharging. intelligence or product design and customer preferences In order for the LG-QTM test methods to be made available to “Even though there were many manufacturers making solar lan- manufacturers serving the African market, ESMAP support helped terns for the African market, they often lacked an understanding of establish a laboratory at the University of Nairobi—the first of its what types of product people in rural Africa really needed,” Ms. kind in Africa—where solar lanterns are tested for performance, Rysankova said. “What designs did people like? What features durability, and manufacturing quality. should a lantern have? These are questions that Lighting Africa’s research helped to answer.” Dr. Michael Gatari, who runs the University of Nairobi laboratory, estimated that 70 percent of the solar lamps on the African market In 2010, ESMAP support was mobilized to conduct consumer sur- are substandard—a problem, he said, that represents "a funda- veys in more than 10,000 off-grid households in Ethiopia, Ghana, mental development challenge." Kenya, Tanzania, and Zambia. “The people with the greatest need for reliable, off-grid lighting are The survey looked at how much people were spending on fossil- the ones hit hardest by faulty products that come with inflated fueled light sources, the range of solar products that were already claims,” he said. “Our job at the lab is to make sure that the solar available, and asked potential consumers what attributes they lanterns on the market perform as expected.” would like for a solar lantern to feature. The survey’s findings un- derscored that solar products destined for rural areas had to be Over the past three years, the University of Nairobi laboratory has rugged and durable enough to withstand the dirt, rain, and dust tested 67 low-power lighting products, more than 40 of which have that often accompany agricultural use. The study’s results were met or exceeded Lighting Africa’s stringent standards and are now summarized and shared with manufacturing companies, business- available on the African market. es, and project developers who were subsequently better able to understand consumer demand, behavior, and preferences. With a turnaround of four to six weeks and a cost of approximately US$ 750, the facility’s screening method is faster and cheaper than Lighting Africa also provided solar lantern manufacturers and dis- other methodologies. At present, the only other laboratories tributors with a wide range of business support services, including equipped to perform similar tests are in China, Germany, and the access to finance, feedback with ongoing product research and United States—and testing at each is considerably more expensive development, and assistance in making contact with potential busi- than in Kenya. Tests conducted at the University of Nairobi lab ness partners. To date, more than 1,900 companies and 2,500 include performance measurements such as total lumen output, individuals have benefited from these services. daily hours of service provided, lumen maintenance, battery stor- age capacity, and charging system performance. Lighting Africa also launched awareness campaigns to educate consumers about the benefits of solar products and to win-back As well as developing quality assurance standards and a testing customers who had bought lamps with exaggerated product claims laboratory, Lighting Africa also provides manufacturers and distrib- in the past and were understandably wary of doing so again. These utors with information that helps them enter—and thrive in—the awareness campaigns have to date reached more than 22 million growing solar lantern market. This includes extensive market people at 1,500 village forums. ESMAP support also helped Lighting Africa work with governments to integrate modern, off-grid lighting into their rural electrification programs and to remove regulatory or policy bottlenecks. In Ethiopia, for example, a policy and regulatory study conducted by Light- ing Africa led to the government waiving duties on all off-grid lighting products that met or exceeded Lighting Africa’s recommended performance targets. In FY2012, continued ESMAP support helped Lighting Africa programs expand their reach in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Senegal, and Tanzania. Sales of modern lighting products—most of them solar-powered—grew by 120 percent in 2012 over the previous year, with a total of 1.3 million products sold in 20 African countries since the program’s launch. ESMAP MISSI ON The success of Lighting Africa in building sustainable markets for cleaner, affordable, and high quality solar lighting has led to its integration into a range of upcoming World The Energy Sector Manage- Bank programs, including rural electrification schemes in Burkina Faso and Mali. ment Assistance Program (ESMAP) is a global knowledge and technical as- sistance program adminis- tered by the World Bank. It provides analytical and advi- sory services to low- and middle-income countries to increase their know-how and institutional capacity to achieve environmentally sus- tainable energy solutions for poverty reduction and eco- nomic growth. ESMAP is funded by Australia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United King- dom, as well as the World Bank. IMPACT Issue 06 September 2013 The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, DC, 20433 USA www.esmpa.org esmap@worldbank.org