An industry perspective: Prime factor that has proved counterproductive to the growth prospects of solar industry.

Open source is the buzzword today, has been for quite some time now and it is buzzfeeding your imagination on a constant basis. This is especially true when it comes to applied sciences and more so in the field of engineering which involves critical processes i.e. design and development. Products and services from one company/brand can no longer monopolise the markets, because, very soon a better version of that product/service has already made the cut in the market. And the speed of reverse engineering and innovation is so fast that it is faster than the speed of light. Ah, you may say nothing travels faster than the speed of light, but do we know that? No, we don't, really! Anyways, useless arguments aside, open source innovation is not just good, it is very good as customers can decide which product or service best meets their requirements and which does not! The customer/consumer no longer has to bow down. However, something that is very good has the tendency to flip to the darker side. And this is absolutely fatal as Oscar Wilde says 'A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.' Replace sincerity with goodness and you have it. :)

The solar industry, both solar thermal and solar PV industry has witnessed and experienced the flip-side of this open source in-thing approach to developing products and services for the markets, especially in India. India is a Jugaad country, and everyone here, me included, look for cheaper alternatives to the standard more expensive ones. At the start, the markets were not flooded with mobile phone makers and the only brands available were Nokia (which was once synonymous with mobile phones), Motorola, etc. Now, there are so many options available, it leaves even the more conservative and clear headed consumer utterly confused and the more confused ones cannot make a decision. What has this got to do with solar industry one may ask? While open source innovation has helped the mobile phones market, it has vastly hindered the growth of the solar market. Whereas the mobile phone market had established manufacturers such as Nokia and Motorola to start with, the solar industry in India had small time manufacturers and system integrators working on critical products and services. This has cost the industry BIG time. There is no problem if an individual or group of individuals, driven by the passion for solar energy is serving the markets with newer products and services. Newer, however, does not mean better! The problem therefore lies with the quality and reliability of these products and services. Most of these products don’t work and this means, no service or shoddy service approach by integrators. This acute lack of customer focus has transformed the solar industry sector into something of a non performer. Several times I have heard customers say, solar products don’t work, take them away. Convincing the customers otherwise has been the biggest challenge to solar players who are working hard to clear some of the misconceptions created by small time integrators.

The bottom line is that open source innovation of hardware is a highly challenging prospect, which comes with a heap of problems and if they are not tackled at the root level, we will create immense mess in the name of awareness. Only recently, IIT Bombay has started a competition for design of solar lanterns, one which aims at addressing this problem. Much needs to be done in this regard as standard practices in product development have been violated; skewed benchmarks have been set when it comes to pricing of products & services and financial outlay of projects. A much more deliberate approach is absolutely necessary for the solar industry to become a prime sector, one that creates jobs, delivers energy security and thrives in the long run.