Accelerating Sustainable Access to Small-Scale Solar in Rural Areas of the Philippines

Abstract

The Philippines, a developing island nation, is anticipating heightened consequences to their economic and infrastructure development as a result of anthropogenic climate change. Concurrently, it is also seeking to electrify the last 10 million Filipinos living in rural parts of the country. However, a variety of geographical issues eliminate the possibility of grid extension for electrification. Small-scale photovoltaic (PV) solar is an ideal carbon-free distributed energy solution for hard to reach rural areas. Despite millions of dollars from NGOs, IGOs, and the Government committed to increasing energy access with solar technology, the majority of solar projects in off-grid and underserved areas of the Philippines fail. In addition, the small-scale private solar market is unable to gain traction in rural areas. This thesis identifies the barriers to entry for small-scale solar in rural areas of the Philippines, as well as the factors that affect the sustainability of deployed solar through projects and programs. It compares the existing methods for solar access in rural areas (government, donor-driven, solar social enterprise) to the identified indicators of PV sustainability in order to offer implications as to where supportive energy policy is most needed.