A comparative analysis of solar home system programmes in China, Laos, Mongolia and Papua New Guinea

Solar home systems (SHS) can provide energy services to rural households more cost effectively than extending national grids, and without relying on polluting fuels such as kerosene, diesel and coal. This study explores four recent SHS programmes supported by the World Bank’s Asia Sustainable and Alternative Energy Program in China, Laos, Mongolia and Papua New Guinea that budgeted $328.2 million to distribute a targeted 401,500 such systems to nomadic herders, fishers and teachers. It documents three approaches to promote such systems: a technology improvement and market development model, a cross-subsidization and energy service company model, and an end-user direct lending model. After explaining its primary methods of data collection – research interviews and in-country site visits – the study summarizes each programme before focusing on their benefits and implementation challenges. It then connects the successes and failures of these programs to broader lessons about energy development in general. The study finds that programmes dedicated to technology improvement, market development, cross-subsidization, and energy service companies met their targets, whereas the one programme based on end-user finance in Papua New Guinea performed poorly.