The technical and financial sustainability of the provision of electricity to the education and health sectors is a real challenge. The operation and maintenance (O&M) services constitute one of the major causes of failure of PV projects. It is not common to have a single private sector performance based contract combining the procurement, the installation, and the operations and maintenance (O&M) of the PV systems for the 20-year life of the project. Like in The Gambia, PV projects can create employment for PV O&M trained women that stand to promote women as agents of change in their communities, and create a more positive perception of women’s ability to manage, operate and conduct maintenance on such technical equipment as solar PV systems.

Innovations in financing schemes and public private partnerships are key issues for sustainability. Income generating activities developed by the electrified facilities or by a third party using the electricity supplied at the facilities, is an alternative to the lack of public funds. This option is not new to education and health sectors. To overcome insufficient fiscal allocations, initiatives and programmes have flourished to develop income-generating activities by education institutions. Such actions developed by NGOs and international donors are can officially be supported by governments, like in Kenya. NGOs, such as “Teach A Man To Fish”[1] has embed skills of local partners and staff from the Ministry of Education and has provided support to schools to set up and run businesses that are educational and profitable. The UNESCO’s Starting My Own Small[2] is a training tool on entrepreneurship for secondary schools widely used. The Songhai Centre that aims at full financial independence achieved through marketing of school products and services[3] runs six schools in Benin and one in Nigeria. Under such initiatives, schools managers have been advised and trained to mobilize available institutional resources such as school land, facilities, and equipment to generate income, that vary in nature and types, ranging from renting of classroom for use for social activities or tourism, poultry or vegetable and fruit farming.

Providing electricity to education and health will expand the options for income-generating activities for facilities equipped with PV systems. Often, education building and small health centers sit empty after the end of the normal operating day. Encouraging community groups or entrepreneurs to use these facilities is not only good use of resources but also provides opportunities to generate income, and will reduce potential pressure that could be generated in the surrounding un-electrified communities.

Education and health infrastructure could be considered to a certain extent as solar PV plants, especially in the first year(s) of operation as the lack of electrical equipment in the facilities might result in excess electricity generation that would not be auto-consumed, and therefore could be used by the surrounding community.

The TAF has developed for The Gambia PV Project for Schools and Health Facilities, a business model to ensure a long-term and sustainable operation of the renewable based electricity systems for both off-grid and on-grid facilities based on an income-generation (see Power Point presentation of the project). The “after hours” business model is based on the principle that electricity delivered is paid by the facility itself for electricity consumption occurring during the facility operating hours, and by community consumers for electricity generated outside normal facility operating hours (mainly at night, on weekends and holidays).

Each consumer groups has access to an individual pre-paid meter remotely managed by the owner of the electricity system. A tariff for electricity delivered by the renewable based systems is set in agreement with the national regulatory authority. This tariff covers all costs of operating and maintaining the PV system(s), including the scheduled replacement of inverters and batteries.

In The Gambia case, off-grid facilities equipped with PV systems will not sell electricity but might charge for services offered at the facility, mainly the access to a “after hours” pre-paid meter. The community organization or entrepreneur who has access to electricity generated “after hours” is responsible for charging the pre-paid meter. Moreover, off-grid facilities can as well develop services such as selling of ice blocks, charging services (cell phone, battery and solar lamp), televisions watching and operating of small electric appliances[4]. The facility and community would jointly determine end-user prices and use the proceeds to employ, if necessary, a manager and for such other uses as they may agree upon. Finally, in countries where the national regulation allows the provision of electricity to third parties, one or several power lines to connect and offer electricity for productive users (with pre-paid meters) within a 200m radius of off-grid systems could be envisaged.

For on-grid facilities two options are available depending on the national regulation. Excess electricity is injected to the grid with on previously agreement with the national power company for an annual net-metering (financially more advantageous approach than a monthly net-metering) or sold to the national power company in the framework of an IPP agreement with a feed-in-tariff.