Experiences and Lessons in the Implementation of Solar Home Systems from Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe went through a period characterised by vigorous rural development efforts after independence in 1980. South Africa is currently going through a similar phase. The common aim is to redress the effects of past neglect of rural development. One of the larger projects implemented in the mid 1990’s in Zimbabwe is the Global Environmental Facility- United Nations Development Programme (GEF-UNDP) funded solar photovoltaic project. It has been estimated that a total of about 85 000 solar home systems are installed in Zimbabwe today. Many of the companies that survived on installation of solar home systems during the GEF project collapsed when that project ended in 1998. The result was that many solar home systems were left without maintenance backup and their status is largely unknown. This paper highlights some experiences from Zimbabwe’s solar photovoltaic initiatives. 1