Case Studies on Low Emission Development

The Lighting a Billion Lives (LaBL) initiative, launched by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), aims to provide sustainable solar lighting to un-electrified rural areas. In India, the program has reached approximately 500,000 people across 1,860 villages in 22 states. The model relies on local entrepreneurs who manage solar charging stations or DC micro grids, offering lighting via a fee-for-service rental model or through loan-financed enterprises. To ensure sustainability, TERI established 'Energy Enterprises' (Uttam Urja Shops) for after-sales support and product sales, with support from the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) to create over 400 such shops. The initiative has evolved its financing from initial grants to market-based equity and investment models and has expanded its scope to include mobile phone charging, vocational training for women, and conservation activities through various public-private-people partnerships.

• The Lighting a Billion Lives (LaBL) initiative has provided solar lighting access to approximately 500,000 people across 1,860 villages in 22 Indian states, and has since expanded to Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Myanmar.
• LaBL utilizes two primary technological configurations for energy delivery: centralized solar charging stations, which rent out lanterns (providing 200-250 lumens for 4-6 hours daily), and solar DC micro grids, which distribute low-voltage electricity to clusters of 20 to 100 households or shops.
• The initiative employs an entrepreneurial delivery model featuring a fee-for-service approach for the poor, where users pay a nominal daily rent, and a loan finance model that allows operators to establish their own businesses via financial institutions and subsidies.
• To ensure long-term sustainability and after-sales service, TERI created 'Energy Enterprises' (Uttam Urja Shops), which are local entities authorized to sell approved clean energy products and train rural youth; the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) is supporting the creation of over 400 such enterprises in India.
• The program's financial strategy transitioned from a grant-based model to a market-based fee-for-service approach, and eventually to a flexible equity and investment model to facilitate scaling and fund diversification.

APA

Climate and Development Knowledge Network (2013). Case Studies on Low Emission Development. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Asia-LEDS-Partnership-Casestudy-Lighting-a-billion-lives-in-India.pdf

Chicago

Climate and Development Knowledge Network. Case Studies on Low Emission Development. 2013. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Asia-LEDS-Partnership-Casestudy-Lighting-a-billion-lives-in-India.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |title=Case Studies on Low Emission Development |date=February 2013 |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Asia-LEDS-Partnership-Casestudy-Lighting-a-billion-lives-in-India.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climateanddevelopmentknowledgenetwork2013case, author = {{Climate and Development Knowledge Network}}, title = {{Case Studies on Low Emission Development}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2013}, month = feb, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Asia-LEDS-Partnership-Casestudy-Lighting-a-billion-lives-in-India.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }