Off-Grid Solar Market Trends Report 2016

This report was commissioned by Lighting Global, a joint initiative of IFC and the World Bank. It was produced by Lighting Global and Bloomberg New Energy Finance in partnership with the Global Off-Grid Lighting Association.

The 1.2 billion people living without access to the power grid spend about $27 billion annually on lighting and mobile-phone charging with kerosene, candles, battery torches or other fossil-fuel powered stopgap technologies. Solar-powered portable lights and home kits offer a better service at lower cost. This report takes stock of what the emerging off-grid solar industry has achieved, looks at the opportunities and challenges facing the sector and assesses the potential of off-grid solar to help achieve universal electricity access.

Key findings include:

• The off-grid solar sector has seen impressive growth in the past five years.
• Pico-solar is becoming mainstream.
• Financing is getting larger – but it’s still a bottleneck for further growth.
• Off-grid solar is advancing rapidly beyond just lighting and phone charging.