Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of South Africa.
Executing agencies are the Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ). - Government
Other partners include, but are not limited to:
LST - Business
Duratoff - Business
Synopsis - Business
EG-Solar - Business
Sunstove Organisation - Business
Shell Solar - Business
ESKOM - Business
EDRC - NGO
SEED - NGO
Peer Africa - NGO
IIEC - NGO
Pohelopele Women´s Group in Kimberley - NGO

Household energy scarcity is an issue in many regions of the world with an estimated two billion people being affected. In the past two to three decades, fuelwood scarcity became a major constraint for people in rural and semi-urban regions, notably on the African continent. The problem involves social, economic, technical, health and environmental aspects. In turn, an array of solutions has been offered and discussed by politicians and specialists alike. Some follow conventional patterns; others focus on new technologies, in particular tapping renewable energies. One option is solar cooking.

The Solar Cooker Pilot Programme consisted of Phase 1 – Social acceptance test and estimation of the market potential (1996 - 1998) and Phase 2 - Test marketing and manufacture of solar stoves along commercial lines (1999 - 2002).

The project is currently looking for private entrepreneurs to be involved in local manufacturing of solar stoves and marketing.

Impacts on women at the household level include monetary savings (3 to 5 USD per month), which have enabled them to allocate finances to their spheres of influence such as the household, in the form of better quality food, as well as time savings, which provide the opportunity for them to spend more time in e.g. employment generation, strengthening their social networks, childcare, training and educational programmes etc.

It also shows an impact on health. The use of fuels such as paraffin and fuel wood causes severe indoor pollution, leading to respiratory illnesses, eye problems and uncomfortable indoor environments.

In addition, further effects are a reduction on air pollution from coal combustion, reduction in paraffin poising cases, as well as fires and burns from paraffin etc.

There are other likely economic and social impacts once large-scale marketing of solar stoves takes place. Impacts include cumulative savings and reduced air pollution from wood use. Moreover, small decreases will occur in the emission of green house gases such as carbon dioxide due to the decrease in household fuels used such as wood, paraffin and gas.

Social Acceptance Test in South Africa:

After a baseline study, solar stoves were tested by 66 families and 14 institutions in three selected test areas during a one year placement period. 30 families without solar stoves acted as control households. Six solar stove models were placed with families, three models each for large and small families. Every family had one solar stove model for a period of two months before changing and using another one. The solar stoves have been tested in complex social environments.

Intensive monitoring showed that families used the solar stoves at least once on 38% of all days, prepared 35% of all cooked meals on the solar stove and were satisfied with the results of 93% of their solar cooking attempts. Solar stoves, along with wood (open fires, wood-stoves and coal-stoves fuelled with wood combined) were the most used cooking appliances followed by stoves fuelled with gas, paraffin and electricity. In absolute terms, they have saved almost 60 tons of wood, more than 2 tons of gas, and over 2,000 litres of paraffin within that year.

These results indicate acceptance of solar stoves by family test users; acceptance of solar stoves was understood as “solar stoves are used as much or more than other cooking options in the household”. At the end of the test, families had the opportunity to buy the stoves at a reduced price. Practically all user families bought or ordered a stove. An independent market survey conducted at a later stage of Phase 1 confirmed interest to buy solar stoves.

Manufacturing of Solar Stoves:

Based on the results of Phase 1, four of the models, with the necessary modifications, were retained for Phase 2 of the programme, exploring manufacturing and marketing opportunities. Up to now a 1,000 units have been sold in the test market.

The prospective sales prices of mass-produced solar stoves (that is 10,000 units per year of the different models) were calculated to be in the order of 20 USD and 39 USD. These prices were calculated on the basis of: costs of constituent materials for components, tooling costs, labor costs, overheads, and profit.

At a later stage of the programme a cost-benefit and impact analysis (cash savings and/or savings in time, social, gender specific benifits/disadvantages, environmental benefits/disadvantages) will be conducted.

The “Solar Cooking Compendium” (SCC)

The programme is relevant in many respects to Agenda 21. This relevance is given especially with respect to combating poverty, human health, protecting the earth´s atmosphere, combating deforestation and desertification, promotion of women, children and young people as well as business and industry in the private sector.

It is expected that the Solar Cooker Pilot Programme is suitable in principle for replication in other countries where similair fuelwood problems prevail and where there is a high solar radiation.

The SCC will provide a decision instrument for the BMZ (German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development) and potential partner institutions in developing countries and it will serve as a basis for designing and implementing future projects.

It will be based on the experience gained in implementing the Solar Cooker Pilot Programme in South Africa. In doing so, it provides a comprehensive account of this programme, starting from the programme idea all the way to the final assessment of the achievements upon its termination.

Once and for all it had to be shown that solar stoves is not only a niche solution.

In the past, measures to introduce solar stoves were often effected by enthusiasts favoring a technology driven approaches. These activities did not result in the sustainable use of solar stoves because they more or less neglected the social acceptance by the target group and underestimated the mechanism of the market. The succesful marketing of solar stoves, covering the whole chain from the demand oriented design and production to their appropriate use in households, is a complex issue. It involves many players with various tasks and responsibilities.

These challenges, acomplishments, and lessons learnt in implementing the programme have been channeled into the "Solar Cooker Compendium" to also motivate other countries and organisations to design and implement similar programmes.

The effort was worthwhile. The programme looks promising: It can show an innovative, socially accepted product, that is ready for mass production, has a potential market and is therefore a lucrative business opportunity. Most important, it can contribute to sustainable development.

The programme was perfomed under a bilateral Technical Cooperation Agreement between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of South Africa. Executing agencies are the Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ).

The concept of the programme has already been shared with policymakers and professionals in many fields throughout the last three years, e.g. at 4 confences as well as the International Workshops on Solar Cooking in Johannesburg, South Africa (2001).

Several Countries (Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho etc) have already showed interest in implementing a solar cooking programme of this nature.

Moreover, the programme has also established relations with NGOs and private entrepreneurs.

However, the experience was made that it would clearly be an advantage to work with well established manufacturer, possibly already acitve in the field of kitchen appliances and equipment. Partners of this type could bring in crucial know-how (in manfacturing, but also in marketing), would be able to deliver on time while guaranteeing a high continuous product quality, could carry the start-up costs for the launch of the product, and could establish product credibility, particularly important for innovative products.