Abstract
AbstractSolar battery charging stations (SBCSs) were initially conceived to bring the price per household of electrification within the capacity to pay of the rural poor, and to foster the establishment of community businesses supplying the modest electricity demands of end users far from the grid in an entrepreneur‐based electrification model. The great foreseen advantages of SBCS were security of payment for the electricity service and operation under much higher system final yields and capacity factors. However, an analysis of the annual costs of SBCSs indicates that they are in reality more expensive alternative than solar home systems (SHSs) owing to the shorter lifetime of batteries. Moreover, battery transport for recharging and lower energy capacity, among other drawbacks, make users opt for the added convenience of a SHS. A financial analysis of a general case study is presented, with SBCS and SHS designed to offer equal electricity services. The local field experience is that after one and a half years SBCSs were replaced by SHSs. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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