trends and future of sustainable development - TransEco

4. Solar Home System Program in Laos: Sustainable Alternative or aTemporary solutionLaos is one of the countries where the World Bank is funding a small scale renewable energyelectrification program. The World Bank’s and the Lao government’s off-grid electrification schemebegan in 1998 with the installation of solar home systems in seven provinces. 1 The solar panels weretargeted to the rural areas where the electricity grid is not extending at least in the next five years. Thepilot program was expanded to larger Rural Electrification Program in 2005. By the end of 2009 about15.000 households had been electrified by solar home systems. Originally the off-grid program wasplanned to include both solar home systems and village scale hydro power, i.e. micro hydro 2 , but finallyonly solar home systems were used.Despite of the difficulties in other countries, in Laos the solar home system program has beendefined as a success story both by the World Bank, Government of Laos and the program coordinatorVillage Off-Grid Promotion and Support office (VOPS). The program was especially established tosupport the Lao government’s National Growth and Poverty Eradication Strategy, and it had povertyreduction element. The stated objectives of the program were, firstly, to provide electricity to villagersin remote areas of Laos where the electricity grid will not reach in the next five years, secondly to providesupport to renewable energy utilization for rural villages in order to protect environment and naturalcondition, and thirdly to help poor people by providing electricity for income generation activity in orderto improve their quality of life. (www.vopslaos.org) Solar energy, or more specifically solar photovoltaicelectrification, was promoted as a way to increase the access to electricity in remote rural areas and toimprove livelihood options. The development of lighting conditions is believed to increase the incomegenerationactivities that are performed at night such as doing handicrafts. Furthermore, extension ofthe electricity to public institutions, such as schools and health clinics, improves also basic services inremote areasThe basic idea of the program is that the solar panel user will pay a monthly fee and after thepayment scheme is completed, the user will own the panel. For the end-user the total cost of solar homesystem installation in Laos (in 2010) is 3 600 000 kip, i.e. approximately about 360 USD. The panel usercan pay the whole sum also at once, but it is rare. Normally it takes 5-10 years to pay the total sum inmonthly payments. The usual monthly fee is 30.000 kip (about 3 USD) for 10 years. After the paymentscheme is completed the user owns the panel. The battery to store the energy has to be changed every 2-5 years depending on quality of the battery. The costs of battery and light bulb changes have to be1The provinces were situated in the Central and Southern Laos and included (Bolikhamsai, Khammouane,Savannakhet, Saravane, Champassak, Attopeu, and Sekong.2The World Bank’s off-grid electrification also included village micro hydro facilities. Despite of the many feasibilitystudies, the village hydro component was never very successful. According to the VOPS officials, the reason for thiswas that village micro hydro facilities are much more complicated to plan and install because they demandfeasibility studies and collaboration of many public and/or private developers with sufficient funds. As a result,village micro hydro facilities were not installed. (Interview with VOPS officials on 14 Jan. 2010)The definition of scale in hydro power: “small to large hydro power” > 1 MW; mini hydropower < 1MW; microhydropower < 100 kW; pico hydro < 1kW116