PI: Prof. Jayendran Venkateswaran, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research

Co-PI: Prof. Chetan Singh Solanki, Dept of Energy Science and Engineering

Renewable energy technologies, specifically the solar products’ market, is hampered by a novel set of barriers. It has been documented that many large scale solar photovoltaic (PV) implementation programs faced hurdles in the form of high dissemination cost, lack of after-sales services, poor public awareness, lack of skilled workforce and supply shortages. This has led to widespread mistrust in solar technology, especially in rural areas. Literature suggests that involving local communities is crucial for the successful dissemination, implementation, and sustainability of solar PV interventions. However, to build the local capacity to serve the solar market is inevitably a long-term and variable process which needs proper coordination and individual attention to standardize and scale the solar market.

This white paper proposal aims to quantify and analyze the dynamics of solar entrepreneurship for solar energy access by using a mixed method approach. This shall be done through detailed field surveys of local solar entrepreneurs created through the SoULS project (http://www.soulsiitb.in) of IIT Bombay. The proposed work will identify the impact of skill-development of locally trained solar entrepreneurs on their livelihood opportunities and key barriers or facilitators for locally trained solar entrepreneurs. This study will suggest prospective measures at the policy level that may be used by various solar products dissemination programs.