513122, 957 PM Solar Kiosk -energypedia
@
ererypedio
Solar Kiosk
Contents
11 Introduction
2 Solar Kiosk - Concept
2.1 Services offered
3 Business Models
3.1 Business - Business
3.2 Retail Hub
3.3 Business in a box
4 Challenges and Solutions.
4.1 Investment
42 Kiosk Operators
4.3 Accessibility of the Solar Kiosk
44 Service Delivery
45 Payment
4.8 Mishandling of Products
47 After Sales Service
5 Solar Kiosks - Examples
5.1 Solar Kiosk
5.2. ARED Mobile Solar Kiosk
5.3 Heri
6 Further Information
7 Further information
8 References
Introduction
Although the solar market seems to be plummeting, the off-grid solar power is on rise. innovative financing
mechanism coupled with low production cost is now making off- grid solar affordable to the hundreds of off-arid
population in developing countries. Nevertheless, the vital question of how to cater to the millions of the off-grid
Population remains? in recent times, there have been many new developments in the off-grid solar market and one
of the rising concept is that of a solar kiosk. This concept is discussed in detail in this article.
Solar Kiosk - Concept
A solar kiosk can be defined as a self functioning system that not only produces its own energy but also additional
energy to charge other products. The charged products are then rented out or sold to the customers. It can be both
mobile and stationary depending on the kiosk operator's capacity and the customer's demand. It consist of photo
tps
peda infotwkiSolar_Kiosk 4513722, 957 PM Solar Kiosk -energypedia
voltaic panels that power the kiosk and may include additional batteries for
storage as well as round-the-clock functioning of the kiosk. In some instances,
‘the PV panels may be complemented with diesel generators for backup.A report
from Endeva in 2014 has analysed 23 kiosks worldwide")
Solar kiosks target a very specific market: off-grid rural households who cannot
afford solar home systems but still are willing to pay for electricity, Therefore,
‘competitive pricing models are necessary to make sure that the solar kiosk can
cater to these rural off-grid population and also compete with solar home
systems,
Fig:Solar Lantems
Services offered
Solar kiosks offer a variety of services ranging from simple charging stations (for
Famps, lanterns and mobile phones) to providing other services such as cooling of drinks, running the television,
internet services, selling retail products and in many cases offering a haircut using an electronic razor."
Goto Top
Business Models
Apart from the classical business model, three types of business models currently prevail in the off-grid market
and are summarized below:
Business - Business
Under this model, the kiosk companies develop the hardware (the charging stations) and then sell it to a local
customer such asa NGO, bank, community operator ete, The kiosk compants,therefore, generate thelr revenue by
telling the charging stations an are not responsble for ning and managing the charging stavional
Retail Hub
A classical solar kiosk includes only a charging station but aretll hub expands its portfolio by adding consumer
goods as wel as a variety of services. In many cases, after sunset, the solar kiosk i the only illuminated building
and thus, serves as a meeting point. The solar kiosk can take advantage ofthis factor and increase its revenue by
offering other services euch as cooling of crinks, streaming of television ae well as internet services
Business in a box
Under this model the kiosk companies sell small charging stations to local operators, who then use itt offer
services such as mobile charging, lantem charging and so on, The charging stations have small power capacity
and can charge from 10 to 20 phones or lanterns at a atime
tps
yoda infotwhkiSolar_Kiosk513722, 957 PM Solar Kiosk -energypedia
Goto Top
Challenges and Solutions
Investment
Solar Kiosks have a high upfront cost (ranging from 1,400 to 200,000 Euros for one kiosk and include expenses
such as the cost of the land, construction cost and products cost) and also high recurring cost (such as replacing
the battery every 2-3 years). Unfortunately, the revenues from a solar kiosk are very low ranging from 10 to 400
Euros monthly. This raises a question regarding the financial sustainability of the kiosks.
Possible Solutions:
+ For companies with high overhead costs, branching out into @ number of profitable kiosks will distribute the
overhead cost among the kiosks.
+ Look for additional funding in terms of grants and donations to at least kick off the business.
+ Cut down the manufacturing cost of the solar kiosk. For the kiosk housing, use local materials and labor.
+ Along with the charging stations, offer additional services such as TV screening,photocopying and other IT
services to diversify the portfolio.
+ Partner with big corporations to mitigate the cost, For example: ARED's solar kiosks have entered into a
contract with Airtel, a mobile company to brand the solar kiosks with Airtel logo in return for financial support.
Kiosk Operators
For companies operating the solar kiosks in multiple locations, they are completely dependent on the local
operators for the day-day running and maintaining of the solar kiosks. However, there are reports of theft as well
as clashes between the management culture of the companies and the local kiosk operators. In many cases, the
local operators are not competent enough to run the solar kiosks efficiently.
Possible Solutions:
+ Define minimum criteria (such as business experience, basic sales and accounting education etc) for the
operators so that they can effectively run the kiosk by themselves.
+ Provide initial business training as well as follow up trainings to the operators.
+ Supervise the activities of the kiosk operators with regular follow up calls,
+ Choose an appropriate business model for kiosks such as franchising or employing operators.
Accessibility of the Solar Kiosk
One of biggest concems of the solar kiosks is how to reach the targeted audiences and increase their trust in the
solar kiosk as well as the solar products being sold? Since most of the customers are located in rural off-grid
areas, the traditional advertisement methods like TV, radio might not not feasible.
Possible Solutions:
tps
yoda infotwhkiSolar_Kiosk519722, 957 °M Sola Kiosk -energypedia
+ Conduct door to door marketing as well as on-site demonstration of the usability of the product
+ Target the head of the villages or other elder members who are highly respected. This will increase the trust of
other villagers on the solar products being sold.
+ Conduct awareness campaigns about the health effects of kerosene lamps and other lighting alternatives
+ In most of the rural settings, women and children are the one collecting the charged batteries or lanterns from
the kiosk. Therefore, making these products lighter and water and shock resistant will increase their
attractiveness to the households.
+ Depending upon the customer density around an area, it might be beneficial to branch out into a mini mobile
solar kiosk in case of a stationary solar kiosk
Service Delivery
Most of the customers might be located far off from the location of the solar kiosk and may be poor. In case of a
stationary kiosk, the most important question is how to provide quality and affordable services to these remote
customers:
Possible Solutions:
+ Implement home delivery services for customer who live far off from the kiosk. For example, the kiosk owner
can hire helpers to drop the charged batteries or lanterns to the customers as well as pick up the empty ones.
This will reduce mishandling of the products.
Payment
Collection of payment is an important task for the kiosk owner/operator. However, the low income of the targeted
customers as well as the fact that they might be far from the solar kiosk could pose a problem for the owner,
Possible Solutions:
+ Mobile money such as MPESA is a reliable and easy way to collect money from the customers,
+ Offer payment schemes such as pay as per charge, pay per day or if feasible a monthly charge
+ Set the electricity charge equal or lower than what the households would normally pay for the alternative
energy (such as kerosene, candles) for the same amount of light.
Mishandling of Products
In many cases, products such as batteries or lanterns are rented out and not owned by the customers. This makes
the customers less accountable and could result in mishandling of the products.
Possible Solutions:
+ The kiosk owner/operator should establish a clear contract with the customer to set the rules for ownership
as well as for rental services, It should also held the customer responsible in case of mishandling
peda infotwkiSolar_Kiosk513722, 957 PM Solar Kiosk -energypedia
+ While renting out products, the customers should be required to deposit upfront. This deposit should only be
returned when they return the product or should be used to reimburse the kiosk operator in case of damages
incurred. However, asking for deposit upfront can be tricky as most of the customers are poor and might not
be able to afford this additional services.
After Sales Service
Like with any other business, after sales service is an important aspect of running a solar kiosk. However, in case
of a solar company owning many solar kiosks in remote locations, it might be days before they could deploy
technicians to go to these places and fix the defect products,
Possible Solution:
+ Provide technical training to the local operators to ensure fast and efficient after sale services
+ Conduct technical training as well as awareness programs so that the local population is familiar with the
basic maintenance of the solar products and could adopt behaviors that prevent wear and tear of the product.
+ Conduct regular feedback loops and surveys to understand the problems, people face about using a particular
solar product, Additionally, keep in touch with the key persons in the village to continue with the feedback loop
about the possible difficulties that the local population might face while using the solar products.
Goto Top
Solar Kiosks - Examples
‘The section below presents some of the companies working with different solar kiosk models,
Solar Kiosk
+ Berlin based company
+ designed by Andreas Spie and GRAFT architects,
+ the company has deployed numerous solar kiosks
+ the solar kiosks are stationary and run by local operators
+ each kiosk has solar panels with 1-4 kWp of photovolatic capacity
+ battery included for 24/7 operation for power back up
+ the flexible structure allows one to adopt it to the local manufactures material and expertise such as wood,
aluminum and steel
+ can be expanded to different infrastructure structures such as health clinic, police station, telecom tower,
intemet service stations,
+ remote monitoring
+ smart metering
+ deployed in Ethiopia
yoda infotwhkiSolar_Kiosk513722, 957 PM Solar Kiosk -energypedia
More Information:
+ Solarkiosk
+ http://solarkiosk eu/product/ (http://solarklosk eu/product/)
ARED Mobile Solar Kiosk
+ Rwandan company
currently working in Rwanda and Burundi
+ the company owns the solar kiosks that are rented out to local operators.
' Includes a mobile charging station for public places powered by solar energy
«the kiosk has a battery with two retractable 40-watts solar panel and thus can be used even sunset.
currently working in Rwanda and Burundi
offers low-cost mobile phone charging services and other consumer products such as mobile money
transfers, mobile air time and plans to provide WIFI services in future.
+ mobile kiosk
+ can be remotely monitored
prototyping with new models
More Information:
+ Mobile Solar Kiosk
+ httpu/imwwr.arre-d.comy (http://wnw.a-re-d.com/)
Heri
+ founded in 2012
+ based in Madagascar
* stationary kiosks run by local women operators
+ kiosk are designed to last the extreme weather condition in Madagascar including both cyclone with wind
sped up to 250 km/hr as well as severe flooding
* includes roof top solar that powers a lot of household appliances (such as lamps and phone chargers) which
the customers can either purchase, pay for per use or rent for varying lengths of time.
+ flexible payment services to customers
+ all kiosk offer lamps and phone charges, some offer additional products like cooling drinks,printing or cutting
hair using electric razors.
More Information: http://www.beheri.com/NL (http://www beheri.com/NL)
> Goto Top
hitpssonergypediainfolwikSolar_ Kiosk513722, 957 PM ‘Solar Kiosk -energypedia
Further Information
+ Fee-For-Service or Pay-As-You-Go Concepts for Photovoltaic Systems
+ Solar portal on energypedia
Goto Top
Further Information
+ Solar Portal on energypedia
References
1. Endeva ( 2014).The Energy Kiosk Model: Current Challenges and Future Strategies.
http www. endeva.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/endeva_the_eneraykiosk model_2014 pdf (http://ww
‘wendeva.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/endeva_the_eneraykiosk_model_2014.pdf)
Retrieved from “https:/energypedia infoy/index.php?title=Solar_Kiosk&oldid=143392"
Partners & Networks
@|\Stunitar GPA @
~ ICRC
G@avenet POWERZALL ALERS= {AMERY fgener
‘Sponsors
fOthermo OBCS fesera
hitpssfonergypediainfoiwikiSolar Kiosk aw