MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND THE PV INDUSTRY: IS THE MOTIVATION SELF-INTEREST OR SELFLESS?

摘要

Off-grid photovoltaic power systems must play an important role in meeting electricity service needs of hundreds of millions of people if the development objectives stated in the Millennium Development Goals are to be met and the more ambitious goal of achieving universal access by 2030 are to be reached. The financial requirements to meet such targets are huge and will require effective means to leverage the limited resources that donors can provide. It will require donor agencies as well as companies to think and act differently which might appear to be counter to achieving corporate sales goals. The purpose of the paper is to stimulate a discussion about how the PV industry could adjust their business strategy to take a longer term view in serving developing country markets and leverage donor funds more substantially. Such an approach could see companies reaping much greater rewards and at the same time, contribute significantly to enabling developing countries to meet their Millennium Development Goals.