Assessing the impact of the transition to Light Emitting Diodes based solar lighting systems in India

•LED lights are slowly replacing CFL in solar lighting systems targeting Rural India.•Analysis is based on interviews with seven manufacturers of SLS and solar lanterns.•LED based SLS are about 20% less expensive than equivalent CFL systems.•But, the reduced costs may not result in greater diffusion among poorer households.•LED inclusion may reduce institutional barriers and lead to plug and play products.

There are many advantages of solar photovoltaic technology in providing lighting for rural homes—scalability, minimal maintenance and well developed business models. This study seeks to study the impact of the transition from Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) to Light Emitting Diodes based lights (LED) on the solar home lighting system market. Changing the lighting fixtures from CFL to LED would lead to the requirement of smaller panels and batteries and consequently, a reduction in prices. Would this reduction significantly increase the adoption of these systems? Would the requirement for financing or government support change? To understand this changing landscape of the rural solar lighting industry, this study analyses the current products, distribution network, and operations of seven diverse solar firms operating in different parts of India. Four of these firms exclusively make LED based products – lanterns and small home lighting systems – and the rest have some LED based systems in their portfolio. There are several factors to be considered, product configuration, luminosity, price effects and service and maintenance. While the price reduction is found to be significant (about 20%), affordability may still remain an issue for poorer households. LED lighting allows for the introduction of plug and play systems, and reduces institutional requirements for installation and maintenance.