Productive uses of energy (PUE)

Top three benefits:

  • Earn higher margins on more expensive appliances. 
  • Fulfil a growing demand among customers as appliances powered by fossil fuels become less economical. 
  • Positively impact livelihoods of rural customers as they use the appliances to generate more income.

Top three challenges:

  • Procurement of these products can be more challenging.
  • Selling PUE might require specialised sales teams and after-sales support that is more complex and costly. 
  • Consumer finance models might lead to mixed results based on experiences of last mile distributors to date. 

Photo credit: Mwezi

Trailblazers:

  • GDC members Solar Sister, Village Infrastructure Angels, VITALITE Zambia and EnerGrow share first-hand insights of selling PUE products (watch webinar)
  • ECOTECH distributes solar irrigation systems and other climate smart PUE solutions in Zambia.
  • Mwezi (former GDC member) added (solar) drip irrigation to their portfolio and developed a How-to-guide, with support of the GDC. 
  • Let us know who else should be on this list

Resources: 

  • GDC report with lessons learned from 13 last mile distributors that have experience of testing or selling productive use of energy (PUE) products. 
  • Efficiency for Access is promoting high-performing appliances that enable access to clean energy for low-income consumers.
  • An assessment of the market opportunity for PUE products presented by Lighting Global and others.
  • Nefco conducted a study to explore opportunities to expand BGFA’s existing PUE activities in this report.
  • An Energypedia list with PUE products that use solar power as an energy source in agrifood systems.