Charity reveals distribution costs have halved since 2012 as a result of growing demand for solar lamp technology
Growing demand for solar power and technological improvements have allowed the sector to enjoy rapidly falling costs, even reaching grid parity in some areas of the world.
The latest evidence of the solar boon came today as charity SolarAid revealed it now costs half as much as it did two years ago to ship one of their solar-powered lamp and phone chargers to Africa.
SolarAid, which sells lamps to off grid African communities through its subsidiary SunnyMoney, said it now costs £3 to ship one light, compared to £6 in 2012 and £10 in 2011.
The fall in prices reflects the economies of scale that have resulted from growing demand for the lights - earlier this year the charity revealed it had sold one million lamps across the continent.
As a result, SunnyMoney can be increasingly confident that any devices it imports it will sell. Plus, the growing supply chain in the sector is driving competition to cut the cost of the technology.
"This demonstrates the potential for business based approaches to provide solutions at scale," said the charity in a statement. "The more lights that are sold, the more demand that will be created. Distribution costs will continue to fall and markets will reach a tipping point, whereby lights will begin to be sold by other parties.
"This approach will help SolarAid and other organisations sell enough solar lights to cater for the 600 million people currently living without access to electricity, eradicating the kerosene lamp from Africa forever."
Solar Aid is a partner of the BusinessGreen Solar Hub
