Off-grid solar promises a low-cost and carbon-free path to electrification. But will poor households choose off-grid power? We run a multi-year pricing experiment in rural India to estimate demand over all electricity sources, including off-grid solar, diesel generators and the grid. We find that off-grid solar is an important stop-gap, but households value grid electrification 6.6 times more. The grid, however, barely increases global surplus, because grid carbon damages nearly offset households’ gains. We apply our model to data from Africa and find a similarly strong preference for the grid among households there, underscoring the external validity of our results.
Non-profit using the power of compliance markets to reduce + remove CO2 emissions, while supporting CDR tech innovation.
Accelerating organizations’ ability to achieve verifiable, scalable, and immediate carbon reduction + ultimate removal.