Starter Kit. Idea 164 of 500. Cluster 7
Solar installation services for guesthouses and small businesses
The mechanism, from the book
The tiny business pathway. A rural woman with an exceptional product should not need photography, English copy, packaging design and a distributor before the world can find her.
The first step
Collect the last 6 electricity bills from three guesthouse owners, with their permission, and get a written quote from a solar supplier for each property. Work out how many months each system takes to pay for itself. Take the numbers back to the owners and ask whether they would sign if you arranged the installation. One signature starts the business.
- Who pays first
- A guesthouse owner whose electricity bill eats into every room night and who wants a system that pays for itself.
- What leaves today
- Electricity bills paid monthly depend on imported fuel; rooftop solar turns the island's own sunshine into money that stays.
Ask first
- Sustainable Energy Authority. Ask what support and standards apply to small solar installations.
- Ceylon Electricity Board. Ask how a guesthouse connects solar panels to the grid.
Check before you spend
That installers are trained and certified, that equipment meets standards, and how connection to the grid is approved.
Find out these three numbers
- What does a guesthouse pay for electricity each month?
- What does a typical small installation cost?
- How many guesthouses in the area have no solar?
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.