Following the contacts made in September 2016, the PVSYST Foundation carried out a second mission to refine its understanding of the needs and challenges on the ground around the issues of training in solar professions and the deployment of a sustainable economic model for access to energy for populations unable to gain decent access to the conventional electricity grid.

Once again, this mission was an opportunity to discover the diversity, richness and dynamism of local initiatives. Meetings with local players in the fields of education, agriculture, the environment, etc. enabled us to gain a better understanding of the potential, but also the limits, of intervention in the solar energy sector. Observations in the field confirm our initial intuitions:

• The vocational training sector is becoming more structured, but is still dominated by the resourcefulness of self-proclaimed solar operators;
• Distribution of home kits (lighting, television) is on the rise, despite unconventional installations and equipment of uncertain quality;
• Opportunities around productive uses to replace diesel fuel (water supply, food processing) and expand service offerings (ice production, battery recharging, etc.);
• Communities, elected representatives and authorities are keenly interested in solar energy, but are still insufficiently equipped to master all the issues involved and move beyond fads to make it a sustainable means of accessing energy.

On the basis of these observations, the Foundation Board, together with the Project Manager, must decide on the territory(ies) and methods of intervention, and more specifically on the partnership mechanism.

The Foundation's first project, in Senegal, should therefore see the light of day and be officially launched before the end of 2017.