Solar for All is a global initiative seeking to bring affordable solar photovoltaic (PV) power to the 1.6 billion people in the world without access to energy. The Solar for All Initiative is jointly led by Ashoka, the network of leading social entrepreneurs and the Canopus Foundation.

The Solar for All Initiative was launched in October 2008 in Freiburg, Germany, with a gathering of more than 50 leading organisations working on the problems of energy access for developing countries. CEOs and senior representatives from the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE), Good Energies, E+Co, Soluz, SolarAid, SELCO, Grameen Shakti, Triodos Bank, Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, Artemisia and many others were present.

Solar for All formally adopted the goal of reaching 60 million households (i.e. one fifth of the potential off-grid market) by 2020.

Three major initiatives are being developed to achieve these goals:

• A Support Facility to provide technical assistance, business planning and managerial training to solar companies in the PV off-grid sector;
• Supporting the development of social investment funds to provide capital to solar businesses and play a catalytic role in propelling the large scale adoption of clean solar technology in developing markets;
• A Design Contest to source the most appropriate and cost-effective solar PV solutions for off-grid households (successfully completed in August 2010 with over 59 entries from around the world);

For more information and the current developments on the project please visit http://sfa-pv.org