The world could have nearly 100 million off-grid solar homes as soon as 2020, according to a report released last week by Bloomberg New Energy Finance and the World Bank Group’s Lighting Global.
“The off-grid solar market has grown to $700 million now from non-existent less than a decade ago,” Bloomberg reports, and the two institutions “expect that to swell to $3.1 billion by the end of the decade.”
About 1.2 billion people around the world have no access to the grid, another billion only have unstable access, and the two groups spent $27 billion last year on “crude lighting methods” like kerosene and candles, Hirtenstein writes.
“Big markets with low energy access and an existing supply chain for portable PV products create the conditions for this technology to catch on,” said BNEF analyst Itamar Orlandi. “Much of the growth will continue to come from today’s large markets, while stronger economies with unstable electricity grids such as Nigeria may see higher demand for large solar home systems.”
