Market assessment of photovoltaic power systems for agricultural applications worldwide

Technical Report · Sun Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1981

OSTI ID:5286826

Cabraal, A; Delasanta, D; Rosen, J; Nolfi, J; Ulmer, R

This report integrates and extrapolates worldwide the results of the agricultural sector PV market assessments conducted in the Philippines, Nigeria, Mexico, Morocco, and Colombia. The types of applications evaluated are those requiring less than 15 kW of power and operate in a stand-alone mode. The study focused on the needs of low- and middle-income countries. The major conclusions derived from the studies were as follows: PV will be competitive in applications requiring 2 - 3 kW of power prior to 1983; by 1986 PV system competitiveness will extend to applications requiring 4 - 6 kW of power, due to capital constraints, the private sector market may be restricted to applications requiring less than about 2 kW of power; the ultimate purchase of larger systems will be governments, either through direct purchase or loans from development banks. Though fragmented, significant agriculture sector market for PV exists; however the market for PV in telecommunications, signalling, rural services, and TV will be larger. Major market-related factors influencing the potential for US PV sales are: lack of awareness; high first costs; shortage of long-term capital; competition from German, French and Japanese companies who have their governments support; and low fuel prices in capital surplus countries. Strategies that may aid in overcoming some of these problems are: setting up of a trade association aimed at overcoming problems due to lack of awareness, innovative financing schemes such as lease arrangements, and designing products to match current user needs as opposed to attempting to change consumer behavior.

• Research Organization: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Cleveland, OH (USA). Lewis Research Center; DHR, Inc., Washington, DC (USA); ARD, Inc., Burlington, VT (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AI01-76ET20485
• OSTI ID: 5286826
• Report Number(s): DOE/NASA/0180-6; NASA-CR-165541; ON: DE82016937
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140300 -- Solar Energy-- Economic
Industrial
& Business Aspects
140600* -- Solar Energy-- Photovoltaic Power Systems
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
299001 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Solar-- (1989-)
AFRICA
AGRICULTURE
ASIA
CAPITAL
COLOMBIA
COMPETITION
COST
DESIGN
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
FINANCING
INDUSTRY
ISLANDS
LATIN AMERICA
MARKETING RESEARCH
MEXICO
MOROCCO
NIGERIA
NORTH AMERICA
PHILIPPINES
PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER SUPPLIES
POWER RANGE 1-10 KW
POWER SUPPLIES
RECOMMENDATIONS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SOUTH AMERICA
USES