Social Enterprises: Alternative Energy and Renewables

Solar Energy

Between 2002 and 2007, BRAC piloted the Solar Home Systems Project to install 20,000 solar panels with support from the Infrastructure Development Company Limited, which is funded by the Government of Bangladesh and the World Bank. So far, we have installed 38,872 Solar Home Systems.

The strategy to promote solar energy involved:

• extensive product demonstrations in rural areas
• awareness building
• publicity
• after-sales service
• customer & staff training

Experience from the Solar Home Systems Project indicates a strong demand and potential for expanding our solar energy initiatives, provided that the terms of payment are adjusted. Currently, the majority of better-off households are able to purchase solar energy units. However, a considerable number of households, who spend BDT 250-300 (USD 4-5)  per month to purchase kerosene for lighting, could be brought into the programme if a more flexible scheme of payment was introduced.

Outcomes of the pilot:

• Solar units have been acquired by mid-size poultry farms and fishery projects, thereby contributing to income
• Grocery shops, restaurants and tea-stalls in rural markets have purchased solar energy units from BRAC and are able to function more smoothly and attract more customers
• People use BRAC’s solar home systems to charge mobile phones and watch television, increasing consumers' access to information and entertainment
• Children are able to study with greater ease at night because of the additional energy storage capacity

Biogas

The biogas programme was started in 2005 conducting an action-oriented research project on rural electrification through biogas generation, named Project Emergence. The objective of this pilot project was to develop a sustainable business model that can provide biogas-generated electricity, as well as the biogas generation by-products of high-grade fertiliser to the people who live outside the established power grid of Bangladesh.

Recycled Handmade Paper

This project started in February 2000. This project mostly employs women who work to create beautiful and useful handmade paper from the following materials, many of which are unique in that they are not often utilized to make paper:

• old paper
• stalks of wheat
• hay
• water hyacinth
• caustic soda
• dye
• barley
• glue
• cotton

The materials come from several projects and branch offices of BRAC, and are used to manufacture:

• paper sheets & envelopes
• boards
• art paper
• jewellery boxes
• exercise books
• pencil boxes
• note pads
• photo frames
• visiting cards

These products are used in the BRAC head office, BRAC University, Aarong and our various regional offices.

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