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Table 18: Access to Electricity by Regions 1990 and 1999
Region 1990 1999
Number of People % of Total Number of People
without access Population without access % of Total Population
(million) (million)
East Asia and Pacific 289.4 15.9% 196.6 9.7%
Latin America and Caribbean 64.3 14.4% 44.8 8.7%
Middle east and North Africa 34.6 13.5% 28 9.0%

South Asia 673.4 59.4% 581.7 42.7%
Sub Saharan Africa 430.5 84.1% 499.2 74.4%
Source for above data: https://ourworldindata.org/energy-access

• During the 1990s the Kenyan solar home system market becomes known as one of the most successful
“commercially” driven markets. More companies entered the market during the 1990s including:
o Hensolex; Marathon Marketing (1990).
o Energy Alternatives AFRICA – founded by Mark Hankins and Daniel Kithokoi (1992).
o Rodson Electronics; Woodventure Kenya (1992).
o Solagen (1993).

Figure 71: Estimated sales in solar modules in Kenya from 1986 to 2001.
a-Si: amorphous silicon modules, x-Si crystalline silicon modules
Source: Mark Hankins

1990
• By 1990 Enersol had financed and supplied 1000 systems in Dominican Republic.
• In June, Neville Williams launched the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) with a mission to bring solar electric
lighting to rural people in the developing world. It obtained grants which were then used to establish pilot
projects in countries providing solar home systems. The owners paid back the systems, and this provided
Seed funding to buy more systems and keep expanding.

1991
• SELF partners with the Sarvodaya Economic Enterprise Development Services (SEEDS) in Sri Lanka. to
establish a solar fund within SEEDS. Dr A. T. Ariyaratne had founded SEEDS to provide small loans (before
the term microfinance was used) to rural families.

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