Off-Grid Solar Now Powers Millions Beyond the Grid

Off-Grid Solar has quietly become one of the fastest-growing ways people get electricity, reaching homes, farms and clinics far from any power line. A new report from the World Bank Group and the global industry association GOGLA says the number of people using solar lanterns, home systems, water pumps and other products that work without a grid connection rose sharply over two years, according to the findings released at a forum in Kigali, Rwanda.

The growth matters because it is happening where the conventional grid is slowest to arrive. In many rural areas, extending poles and wires across long distances is expensive and slow, while a panel on a roof, a charged battery and a pay-as-you-go plan can bring light the same week. For families who have lived without reliable power, that shift changes evenings, schoolwork, health care and small business in practical ways, not just in statistics.

According to the World Bank, the global count of users climbed by more than a quarter between the earlier survey period and the latest one, rising from a base of 118 million people to a new total of 149 million. The report, called the Off-Grid Solar Market Trends Report, was prepared by the World Bank Group energy programme together with the global industry association GOGLA and launched at the Global Off-Grid Solar Forum and Expo in Kigali.

Light that reaches work, school and clinics

Beyond household lighting, the technology is increasingly tied to livelihoods. The report says millions of users now run small enterprises or other income-generating work with these systems, from phone charging and refrigeration to irrigation and workshop tools. Over a decade and a half, customers have gained an estimated 28 billion dollars in additional income and savings, the authors report, a figure that reflects avoided spending on kerosene, diesel and charging fees as well as new earnings.

Jobs are part of the story too. Companies surveyed for the report employ 219,000 people, a workforce that grew by close to three tenths in two years, with most roles held by sales agents and technicians working in their own communities. That local footprint helps explain another finding: durability. Nearly all surveyed customers said their home systems were still working four or more years after purchase, a sign that the products are no longer a short-lived experiment.

“Off-grid solar has proven it can deliver at scale, through shocks, and in places the grid has not reached,” said Sarah Malm, executive director of GOGLA, in comments carried with the report. She added that the technology is irrigating farms, keeping clinics open and powering businesses that sustain rural economies, while warning that financing has not kept pace with the sector’s expanding role.

What still stands in the way

The gap that remains is enormous. About 655 million people still have no electricity at all, and the report identifies this decentralised approach as the cheapest route to power for at least 398 million of them. Reaching that group by the end of the decade will require a large step-up in money and policy support, the authors say, including grants, subsidies and lending that make systems affordable for the poorest households.

Affordability is the central obstacle. Roughly a third of households without power could afford an entry-level home system through pay-as-you-go payments, another third could manage only with difficulty, and the rest could not afford one at all, according to the summary of the findings. Closing that gap by 2030 would take about 11.4 billion dollars in total investment, split between yearly grants and subsidies and yearly equity, debt and receivables financing, a sum the report notes is small beside the trillions expected to flow into the wider energy transition each year.

Governments are being urged to treat these systems as infrastructure rather than a stopgap until wires arrive. The report recommends cutting costs through tax exemptions, import duty waivers and targeted subsidies, and widening access to finance so local companies can stock, sell and service products. In Africa, most national energy plans drawn up under a continental electrification effort, which aims to connect 300 million people in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030, now include distributed renewable energy in their targets, a sign that the approach is moving into mainstream planning.

The World Bank Group itself has committed 974 million dollars to this sector across its two most recent fiscal years, the largest public funding source in the field, according to the report summary. In the Pacific, three new projects aim to bring power to 75,000 people in Fiji and Papua New Guinea, showing how the same model adapts to island communities as well as inland villages.

For readers following the wider clean-energy shift, the contrast with grid-scale projects is instructive. Large solar farms and offshore wind grab headlines, as seen in a landmark solar farm opening in New Zealand and in renewable generation climbing in America, while a record share of renewables on Australia’s main grid shows what mature grids can do. The off-grid story is different: it is about the last mile, where a single panel can matter more than a whole power station, because it is the only power a household has.

The counterpoint is worth stating plainly. Solar home systems cannot run heavy industry, and they do not replace the need for grids, mini-grids and storage at scale. Critics of decentralised energy also note that pay-as-you-go models can leave the poorest families paying more over time than wealthier buyers pay upfront. The report’s answer is not to dismiss those concerns but to pair the technology with fair financing, quality standards and repair networks, so that access does not become a second-class service.

What happens next will be decided less by the technology, which has already proved it works, than by whether funding and policy catch up. If governments, lenders and companies close the affordability gap, hundreds of millions more people could have light, connectivity and productive power within a few years. If they do not, the newest report will stand as a record of rapid progress that stopped short of the people who need it most, and the divide between connected and unconnected households will persist into the next decade.

Source: World Bank press release on the Off-Grid Solar Market Trends Report, with additional detail from coverage of the report’s findings.