Local Manufacturing of Solar Systems

Overview

Several projects discussed possibilities to promote local production of photovoltaic (PV) systems in developin countries. However, up to now. local production of PV components is limited to batteries (e.g. in Bangladesh and Ethiopia),  lighting bulbs and charge controller (e.g. Bolivia).

• Generally national markets are too small to justifiy high investments. More promising are approaches targeting on market in several countries.
• The industrial infrastructure and supply industry are often week making it difficult to compete with countries which offer better conditions. 
• The PV sector is technically very dynamic. It will be difficult for local companies to follow all current technological innovations.

Producer Groups

In the case of solar lantern there are currently four producer groups:

1.  Multinational firms (Philips, Sanyo, Energizer etc.)
2.  Joint Ventures of US or EU companies with Indian or Chinese companies (Mighty Light, Aishwarya, Bogo)
3.  Low cost, low quality products from Asian countries
4.  Small companies with production capacities of less than 100 pieces per month, which sent all components to small organisation in southern countries where the products are assembled.