While development literature often discusses the critical importance of electricity access and clean cooking to improve economic and social well-being, there has been little rigorous evidence of the specific nature and magnitude of these benefits. This presentation drew on impact evaluations from the Asia-Pacific region to explore the demonstrated impacts of energy access on income, education, women’s empowerment, inequality, and poverty alleviation in real-life settings.

As of 2018, India claims to have achieved 100% electrification across all states. This does not necessarily translate to the continued supply of power for all and calls for more reliable sources of energy. However, this will result in a shift of consumer demand to grid-connected devices and systems. Therefore, we see the need for loans with larger ticket sizes; from the $50 solar lantern, to the $200 home system and $ 10,000 microgrid for neighborhoods.

Apart from the lack of access to the electrical grid, rural communities in the Philippines pay much more for electricity than almost anywhere in Southeast Asia. While other options are available, rural communities have less access to solar-powered solutions because of distribution, financing, and maintenance gaps. Greenlight Planet and ASHI’s collaboration provides a success story for how green lending by microfinance institutions can help their clients improve their quality of life through energy access.

The Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation's (NWTF) success story on achieving scale and sustainability for their solar program focuses on two aspects: demand generation through marketing and education by dedicated program officers, and product support (technical support, inventory management, returns, distribution) through partners and suppliers. NWTF’s dedicated team of solar officers orient MFI clients on the benefits of using solar, provide basic troubleshooting when needed, and contribute to portfolio growth by adding more loans.

Transportation is an essential part of economic growth. But petroleum-fueled vehicles have created serious health problems for citizens in all major Indian cities and many poor people struggle to afford to purchase a vehicle. To address these challenges, SVCL, having a presence in central India, initiated financing E-Rickshaws in FY2016-17. Under this program, low-income group families were targeted who didn’t have enough capital to buy normal auto-rickshaws and were provided credit facilities to purchase E-Rickshaw so that their income generation capacity could go up.