Challenges and Prospects of Solar Home System Dissemination in Rural Parts of Ethiopia The Case of Solar Energy Foundation
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Date
2016-04
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The Ethiopian government aspires to reach middle income status by 2025 through its Growth and
Transformation Plan. The Growth and Transformation Plan is a development plan of the
government of Ethiopia. Its objective is to bring transformative social and economic changes in
Ethiopia that will enable it to become a middle income country by 2025 (FDRE, 2011).
Only 2% of the rural population of Ethiopian has access to Grid Electricity, solar technology
provides the Ethiopian government with the opportunity to address energy challenges without the
need to implement expensive power generation projects, transmission and distribution networks.
The objectives of this study is to assess the Challenges in Solar Home System dissemination in
rural Ethiopia, to propose the possible solutions to overcome the challenges, to highlight the extent
to which Policy makers, Business people and financial institutions can support companies like SEF
in the SHS dissemination in rural Ethiopia.
Qualitative data analysis was undertaken in the study and interviews were conducted to collect the
required data. A sample of four stakeholders which are directly related to solar power business
were studied. Although the case company is Solar Energy foundation, the other three stakeholders
were involved in the interviews to gain more input in to understanding the challenges and possible
solutions towards solar home system dissemination.
The findings of this study indicate that there are major challenges that hinder the dissemination of
solar home systems in rural parts of Ethiopia and possible solutions to overcome these challenges
are highlighted. The output of this study can be useful to the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and
Electricity and in particular to the Ethiopian Electric Power company.
Key Words: Ethiopia, Solar Home Systems, Challenges in SHS dissemination and possible
solutions
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Keywords
Solar Home Systems, Challenges in, SHS dissemination, and possible solutions