The World Resources Institute estimates that in India, the off-grid energy access market includes 114 million households who are at the base of the pyramid (BOP) earning less than $2 per day. The International Energy Agency estimates that the 400 million people without access to electricity in the country spend over $60 billion annually on energy, most of that for inefficient sources, such as kerosene. This means that even those with limited or irregular income spend money on energy.

At the same time, the inclusion of renewable energy in the Indian government’s 2022 targets has increased awareness of alternative energy sources. Over the last ten years that we have been selling Sun King products in India, we have observed household awareness of the value of solar-powered home energy systems increase substantially, and we now operate in a thriving, competitive market.

Increased awareness, but lingering hesitation.

The Indian solar energy market can be divided into two segments:

The first includes the universe of low-cost, unbranded products that are unreliable in quality and do not honor a warranty or any sort of after-sales customer service. Products made by manufacturers in this camp represent the majority of the market, and they end up misleading consumers that perceive such solutions to be affordable at the offset but end up with faulty or short-lived products that do not perform as promised. In turn, customers end up purchasing these, or other products repeatedly, significantly increasing the amount of money they need to spend on their energy needs over a lifetime, or they give up on solar-powered solutions, assuming that the concept, rather than the products they purchased, is insufficient.

The second segment includes well-branded products brought to market by companies that offer a strong service commitment to their consumers, usually by way of a manufacturer’s warranty. Some of these products, including Greenlight Planet’s Sun King line of solar-powered solutions, are certified by the Lighting Global Quality Test method and meet the International Electrotechnical Commission’s (IEC) globally accepted standards. These companies are committed to designing high-quality products and offering strong customer service, with greater staying power and brand loyalty.

It is the former group of products, the unbranded ones, that shake the rural consumer’s faith in solar products, as they interpret a product’s short lifespan, inconsistent power output, or negligible after-sales service to be synonymous with solar-powered appliances industry in general, rather than the specific product they purchased.

What influences rural India?

Rural consumers are smart and rational decision-makers; they seek value for money and usually prefer to make investments in durable goods that can last a long time. However, rural Indian consumers often lack access to reliable information to make informed decisions, especially around newer technologies. They are first exposed to the array of products available locally near their community. Product research often relies on offline reviews, gathered from the experiences of neighbors, acquaintances, family members and well informed, respected members of the community such as long-standing shopkeepers, educators, and village leaders.

Customer education is key

Today, thanks to the efforts of a number of branded off-grid solar companies and publicly funded consumer awareness campaigns, the solar off-grid lighting industry has gained substantial traction, along with branded products known for their reliability and durability.

While a lot of effort has been made by manufacturers, distributors and industry bodies over the years to inform end-consumers and single-point buyers, about the benefits of solar-powered energy solutions, many consumers are still not aware of the financial benefits such solutions present and still consider them to be expensive investments. Consumer understanding of the true value of these solutions might improve if they were better exposed to their real cost-benefit.

As we travel around rural areas and third-tier market towns, it’s clear to us that awareness of distributed energy solutions like ours is still very limited at the ‘last mile’ and penetration is limited. We also get excited about the potential to change this; we realize that with increased consumer education, households and businesses in even the hardest to reach areas can engage with more cost-effective, more reliable energy solutions. We also try to find creative ways to get this message across, often launching more grassroots, approachable initiatives to get our message across. One such example is Greenlight’s recent association with the Sun Pedal Ride initiative, a 6,000-kilometer journey on a solar-powered auto-rickshaw to display what solar energy can help accomplish. This sustainable, engaging initiative is making its way around schools and villages covering the Golden Quadrilateral, demonstrating the benefits of solar energy, first-hand.

As an industry, we have joined forces with a number of branded competitors to support massive consumer awareness campaigns organized by the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Lighting India program. New iterations of these hands-on, interactive market development activities are scheduled to run throughout this year. To see all of India embrace renewable energy, we need to do a much better job helping our intended consumers, especially those that live and work in the most underserved areas, understand the value of this new wave of solutions presently available on the market. We know, from the stories, millions of our consumer share that solar-powered solutions not only contribute to a cleaner, more sustainable existence, but also help increase study time, improve air quality, enable businesses to operate longer, and consumers to convert recurring energy spend to recurring savings. Everyone dreams of a better future, and rural India does too.