(left to right) Nawab Ali Khan, Chief Executive Officer of AKAH, and Marco Indelicato, Program Manager for IFC Lighting Pakistan ISLAMABAD: IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is joining forces with the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH) to introduce affordable, high quality solar lighting solutions to new regions in Pakistan. IFC’s Lighting … Read More
Despite many recent successes in advancing national markets for quality-assured off-grid solar products, low-quality products continue to flood markets around the world. In response, many more governments are turning to mandatory quality standards to help keep poor-quality products out of their markets. Lighting Global’s efforts to support national standards development and enforcement are thus more … Read More
Designing a USB port to charge the many cell phones, smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices commonly in use today is a difficult technical challenge. If not properly configured, a USB port may not charge some devices – or it may charge them very slowly – leaving the consumer with a poor solution to their energy … Read More
Jacinta Auma used to stock kerosene lamps, flashlights, and candles to light her home in rural Kenya, but that changed when solar panels were installed on her roof. Now that her home is powered by Mobisol—a pay-as-you-go solar energy service company delivering renewable energy solutions to off-grid communities in East Africa—she doesn’t have to travel … Read More
India is a federal country, and prior to introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), multiple indirect taxes were levied on transactions in India. Some of the taxes such as Central Excise Duty on manufactured products, Service Tax on specified services, and the Central Sales Tax (CST) on interstate sale of products were levied … Read More
We are recruiting a Program Manager for the IFC Lighting Myanmar program. This is a leadership position within IFC’s global network of solar off-grid market development programs. More information can be found here. The deadline to apply is November 10, 2017.
More than 30 million off-grid solar products sold and over $5 billion saved by consumers in energy-related spending since 2010 USA/Netherlands, October 23, 2017 – Today, Lighting Global, the World Bank Group’s platform to support sustainable growth of the off-grid solar market, and GOGLA, the industry association representing the off-grid solar sector, launched the latest … Read More
After a taxing 25-kilometer journey to the nearest retailer of solar products, Onyong’e found the Azuri solar home system that now powers her home and charges her mobile phone. Azuri is one of the many products that have been tested and approved by Lighting Global, the World Bank Group’s platform to support sustainable growth of … Read More
A surge in cheap solar power has been a boon to the developing world, where villages in Asia and Africa still lack regular access to light and power. About 1.2 billion people in the developing world still live without electricity. About 600 million of those are in sub-Saharan Africa, a continent dominated by European colonial … Read More
This article is the first in a series that explores select operational issues faced by off-grid solar PAYG companies. Given the nascent stage of the sector, the goal of this series is to highlight critical issues and encourage companies and other actors to continue to identify and surface best practices for how to deal with … Read More