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		Basic Electrification for Rural Households - GTZ's Experience with the Dissemination of Small-Scale Photovoltaic Systems (GTZ, 1992, 28 p.)
			(introduction...)
			Foreword
			1. Background information and recommendations
			2. Photovoltaics as an energy option for rural areas: benefits and over all social and economic context
			3. PV systems for supplying electric power to rural households
			4. The demand situation of potential shs target groups
			5. Criteria for assessing the economic feasibility and financing options for solar home systems
			6. An appropriate dissemination strategy for shs and the role of GTZ
			7. References

Foreword

In recent years, the use of the photovoltaic technology to provide a minimum basic electricity supply to rural households in sparsely populated areas of Third World countries has increasingly emerged as a genuine alternative to conventional grid-based electrification. In order to succeed, measures aimed at introducing this technology must be geared to disseminating PV systems on a large scale and in turn creating marketing and distribution mechanisms which are capable of meeting the demand on a long-term, sustainable basis without any external assistance. Obviously, the first step in such an undertaking is to define as precisely as possible the goals that are to be achieved, covering the product which is to be promoted and the target group as well as the structures that will be required to carry out the proposed implementation process.

For some ten years now, GTZ has been involved in the dissemination of photovoltaic systems for rural households in developing countries, and we have carried out a broad range of projects in this field. The results of this work have now been systematically compiled and analysed, and we feel that an evaluation of GTZ's experience can provide a basis for the design of generally valid approaches, i. e. strategies which can be applied in most if not all rural regions in the developing world.

This publication documents in condensed form the principal technical and economic findings of a comparative assessment of these projects and summarizes field experience that is relevant for the design of pilot and full-scale dissemination measures.

Initially, the discussion focuses on the various ways in which the dissemination of PV systems can be integrated into the overall energy supply planning process and on the general conditions that must be met in order for this linking of technology diffusion and supply planning to be successful in practice. Next we endeavour to specify and precisely define the roles of the various actors in the dissemination process.

After this groundwork has been laid, we describe what an organization like GTZ must do in order to ensure that PV systems can be disseminated on a large scale and on a self-sustaining basis.

Thus, the aim of this working paper is to review the various options that are available and the conditions that must be met in order for each to be successfully implemented, and then, based on the results of this review, to outline the essential elements of a realistic dissemination strategy.

In preparing this working paper, we received invaluable technical support from other members of the GTZ headquarters staff and from our project personnel in the field. We are especially grateful to our colleagues in Senegal, Tunisia, Morocco, Colombia, Peru, Rwanda and the Philippines. In numerous areas we were also able to draw upon an evaluation which had been prepared for the Division by IPC GmbH, a Frankfurt-based consulting firm.

G. Oelert
(Head of Energy Division 415 - Conservation of Resources and Environment)