

@mastersthesis {6463,
	title = {{SELCO}: {A} model for solar rural electrification in {India}},
	year = {1999},
	note = {9949449},
	school = {University of Massachusetts Lowell},
	type = {phdD.{Eng}.},
	address = {Ann Arbor},
	abstract = {The following thesis presents the concept of a Rural Energy Service Company in India, known as SELCO. The model is being set up as a sustainable proposition for the implementation of solar photovoltaics as a viable alternative to provide reliable home lighting in the rural areas of India. The SELCO approach has already achieved noteworthy social and commercial results. Institutional, policy and operational problems have long plagued the rural electrification programs in India, resulting in thousands of villages without access to electricity. SELCO is a solar energy service company operating in Southern India since 1995, focusing on the enormous untapped market for home lighting where thousands of households have no access to electricity and severe power shortages face those already connected to the electric grid. The Company has installed nearly 2,000 solar home lighting systems. From a modest two employees company in 1995, it has grown to 35 in 1997 and from one office to eight. The hypothesis to be tested in this study is that in rural India, in a market not subsidized by the government, a solar service company with available loans from local banks and cooperatives and with sales, installation, and maintenance personnel in the villages can be successful in introducing photovoltaic systems to provide basic amenities such as lighting and water pumping for the improvement of the quality of life, public health, and the environment. The initial success of SELCO lends considerable evidence to the acceptance of the hypothesis. To accomplish its mission, SELCO works with commercial, retail, and rural development banks with large rural branch networks to stimulate loans to SELCO{\textquoteright}s customers based on a standard set of attractive financing terms. SELCO through its successful model has convinced the policy makers that a way to increase rural families{\textquoteright} access to consumer financing for solar home lighting systems is through the existing financial network available in the country. Private investments, loans, and conditional grants totaling approximately US\$ 650,000 have provided the working capital to date. A successful SELCO project would serve as a model for the world. The project would serve as a model not only for the Indian Government, the State Electricity Boards, and other Indian companies, but for the bulk of the world{\textquoteright}s utilities that are finding it difficult to electrify the vast majority of their rural service territories.},
	keywords = {0543:Civil engineering, 0544:Electrical engineering, 0791:Energy, Applied sciences, Civil engineering, Electrical engineering, Electrification, Energy, India, Rural electrification, SELCO, Solar Energy},
	url = {http://search.proquest.com/docview/304525660?accountid=14270},
	author = {Hande, H Harish}
}
