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1993
• In Kenya the KARADEA Solar Training Facility is constructed and runs its first solar training course;
Hankins and Kithokoi are involved in the training.
• Sundaya is established by Bernard Castermans and Maurice Adema who believed in commercialising solar
energy in Indonesia. They become one of the early manufacturers of solar home system packages including
a battery box with inbuilt controller that was widely used in the 1990s and 2000s. The founders had a
product design background and focused on developing products that are aesthetically pleasing in houses
– not just system components.
• UN project planned by Neville Williams installs 11,000 SHS (lighting) in Zimbabwe in mid 90s, financed by
local banks.
• Neville Williams with Professor Wang Anhua (Gansu Natural Energy Research Institute) with funding
from Rockefellar Foundation launches the Gansu PV Company to manufacture plug and play solar electric
systems.
• Harish Hande visits the SELF office in Washington with the aim of working for SELF and to take solar
electrification to the rural people in India. SELCO India was co-founded by Harish Hande and Neville
Williams in March 1995 and celebrated 25 years in 2020.
• SELF worked with the Council for Renewable Energy (CRE) and a newly formed business, Solar Electricity
Company (SEC) of Kathmandu to provide solar lighting to a village in Nepal, Pulimarang. SELF obtained
the funding for 65 homes in the village and within one year increased to 100 homes using the income
from the revolving fund. This led to the government arranging a 50 per cent subsidy through the country’s
network of agricultural banks, for borrowers to purchase solar home systems using one of the now three
approved solar companies: SEC, Lotus Energy and Wisdom Light company.
• Priyantha Wijesooriya starts RESCO in Sri Lanka, originally supplying systems through the Sarvodaya
program.

1994
• In 1994 SELF signs an agreement with the Vietnam Woman’s Union to provide systems within Vietnam.
Initial funds obtained from Wallace Global Fund and then from Rockefellar Brothers Fund.

1996
• Neville Williams registers the Solar Electric Light Company (SELCO) as a for-profit business. At first
Neville liaises with S. David Freeman, however, then works with John Kuhns in order to raise working
capital for the new company. He resigns from SELF and it is taken over by Bob Freling.
• Dr. Muhammad Yunus, started Grameen Shakti (shakti meaning “energy” in Bengali) as a not-for-profit
company under the Grameen Bank. The goal of Grameen Shakti is to promote and supply renewable
energy technology at an affordable rate to rural households of Bangladesh.
• Peter Varadi after consultation with the industry launches PV GAP with the objective of developing quality
products standards and a quality mark for the PV industry.

1998
• IEA PVPS approves a task not focusing on member countries. Task 9: PV in Developing Countries, led by
Bernard McNelis of IT Power, had its first meeting in October 1999 in the Netherlands. The task continued
in a number of different forms until about 2018. Over the years many Recommended Practice Guides were
developed, and workshops undertaken in Africa and Asia.

Donor Projects in the 1990s
Multi-lateral and bi-lateral donors’ interest in supplying solar power to rural communities grew in the 1990s.
The following provides a brief sample of projects from the German Technical Cooperation Agency GTZ
(Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit) now GIZ and the World Bank Group. These have been included
to provide an overview of the type of projects that were undertaken. All these projects led to the industries
developing in the various countries where the projects were undertaken.

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