electrification through both grid-extension and renewable sources. The success, in particular in SHS dissemination in rural areas, had led to a request from the government for additional financing of $130 million in 2009, with $100 million earmarked for scaling-up SHS installation and other renewable energy based mini-grids in rural areas.

The implementation of SHS programs was carried through two different delivery models. The first model is implemented by the Rural Electrification Board (REB), the state-owned utility responsible for grid-electrification in rural areas. It was tasked to disseminate SHS through the fee-for-service SHS program, whereby the system would be installed and owned by REB and households would pay a monthly fixed fee for using the systems. The second approach is through a private implementing agency, the Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL), which sold the systems to households using a micro-finance scheme implemented by various private agencies, such as Grameen Shakti.

While the REB was able to provide SHS for about 12,000 households, the IDCOL reached over 320,000 households over the same period. The success of the micro-credit scheme lies mainly in the fact that ownership approach is more acceptable to rural households than the fee-for-service approach. Moreover, these private delivery agencies have more practical knowledge in providing micro-finance and greater reach at the community level. In particular, Grameen Shakti has played an important role in the dissemination of SHS in rural Bangladesh and its credit program has reached many low-income households (Asaduzzaman et al, 2008).

The key lesson from the Bangladesh experience is that while scaling-up the adoption of renewable energy technology depends critically on private sector participation, public support is critical at the initial stage, by means of financing, technical assistance and institution and human capacity building, until a critical mass is reached for scaling up SHS dissemination. Lessons from the Bangladesh case study can possibly be transferred to other countries while taking account of local conditions.

# 4. **The 2005 Bangladeshi national survey**

A national household survey was conducted in 2005 for monitoring and impact evaluation of the RERED project. Although this survey was conducted to study grid electrification impacts, it also collected information on SHS households, which allows us to undertake this study. In fact, this survey is nationally representative of the rural population and it is the first available large-scale national household survey that collects information on SHS purchases in developing countries where various donor-financed SHS programs have been implemented.

This survey covers 20,900 households in rural areas of all six administrative regions in Bangladesh, including 1,000 households who had purchased SHS under various subsidy programs implemented in rural Bangladesh since 2001. Table 1 summarizes the sample size and distribution of electricity access across the six administrative regions. Overall, about 62% of households have no electricity access, 6% with SHS and 31% with grid-electricity. Electricity access varies across regions, with the Barisal region having the highest concentration of nonelectrified household at about 73%, while the Chittagong region has the lowest at 53%.

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