Financing Off-Grid Solar Energy Access : Hypotheses on COVID-19 Long Term Impacts

Off-grid solar energy (OGS) is instrumental to achieve access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all (Sustainable Development Goal 7, SDG7). More than half of the progress made in the last decade towards SDG7 was owed to path-breaking OGS start-ups. The global crisis brought by the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) can reduce OGS customers’ ability to pay, disrupt OGS value chains, and freeze capital flows into the sector. This study proposes a set of hypotheses on the long-term changes that COVID-19 will bring to the OGS sector. These hypotheses were discussed throughout 20 in-depth interviews with senior level representatives of key investors and OGS companies. The interview results reported in this paper are aimed at documenting the collective intelligence of these stakeholders, which may be instrumental in guiding the OGS sector to weather the COVID-19 crisis