Setting the sun on off-grid solar?: policy lessons from the Bangladesh solar home systems (SHS) programme

Hellqvist, Laura; Heubaum, Harald

Abstract

After decades of growth, the Bangladesh Solar Home Systems (SHS) programme, the world’s largest domestic solar off-grid electrification scheme which has frequently been heralded as a model for other developing countries, is in danger of collapsing as end user support and installation levels have plummeted. This paper explores the reasons behind this development, tracing the programme run by the Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL) from its early expansion employing pioneering partnership and financing models, to its more recent decline. It finds that the government’s simultaneous implementation of several competing on- and off-grid energy access projects and lack of regulatory oversight alongside significant subsidy decreases which made SHS uncompetitive, led customers to abandon the programme. This, in turn, is putting at risk Bangladesh’s objective of achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 – affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all – by 2030.

Citation

Hellqvist, L., & Heubaum, H. (2023). Setting the sun on off-grid solar?: policy lessons from the Bangladesh solar home systems (SHS) programme. Climate Policy, 23(1), 88-95. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2022.2056118

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 16, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Apr 4, 2022
• Publication Date: Feb 1, 2023
• Deposit Date: Apr 5, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2022
• Journal: Climate Policy
• Print ISSN: 1469-3062
• Electronic ISSN: 1752-7457
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 23
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 88-95
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2022.2056118
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14693062.2022.2056118