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The Solar Electric Light Company, India or SELCO India is a for-profit social enterprise based in Bangalore, India. The SELCO India has played an instrumental role in improving living standards of poor households in rural India especially in the state of Karnataka through solar energy based interventions and low smoke cook stoves. In recognition of the services towards reduction of the gap in access to energy, SELCO India has been awarded the prestigious Ashden Awards (also known as the ''Green Oscars'') twice, in years 2005 and 2007. SELCO India was founded in 1995 by Dr.Harish Hande an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur with INR 15,000 funding from its co-founder Mr. Neville Williams.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/india/article.cfm?articleid=4460 )〕 SELCO India has installed solar light systems in 125,000 houses and plans to aims to reach over 200,000 households by 2014. ==History== Dr. Hande after graduating from IIT Kharagpur conceptualized SELCO India during his PhD on sustainable energy at the University of Massachusetts. During a field visit to the Dominican Republic, he was surprised to see the poor using solar lights. This prompted him to think if a similar model can be used for poor households in India too. After brief study on poverty and opportunities for solar intervention in Sri Lanka he returned to Massachusetts and met Mr. Neville Williams. Williams was the founder of SELF (Solar Electric Light Fund), a U.S.-based nonprofit organization facilitating rural electrification worldwide, and his interests were directly aligned with Hande’s work in his home state of Karnataka. In 1995, the two partnered to found SELCO as an energy services company focused on meeting the needs of people lacking adequate access to energy. Initially, SELF took a majority stake in the new company, with Williams as Chairman, while Hande retained a minority shareholding position and the role of Managing Director. When Hande established SELCO-India in Bangalore, he was looking to dispel three myths: # Poor people cannot afford sustainable technologies; # Poor people cannot maintain sustainable technologies; # Social ventures cannot be run as commercial entities.〔 SELCO India eventually came into being in 1995 under the leadership of Hande and Neville Williams, president of Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF). Financial backing was received in December 1996 from Winrock International which released a conditional loan of $150,000 under the USAID Renewable Energy Commercialization project. This was however on a condition that SELCO INDIA created couple of solar service centers and install a minimum number of systems. SELCO started with a financial model in which each customer would pay 25% of the cost upfront as down payment and will further pay a monthly installment which is affordable and within the average monthly budget of a family in the region. Along with this, the SELCO INDIA also provided a year's guarantee to the warranty of the manufacturer along with free service for a year and a 90-day money back guarantee. The loan to Winrock was paid back by 2000. SELCO INDIA got good backing with E+Co initially investing US $107,500 to become SELCO India's first investor. The company has expanded into the United Kingdom, operating as a builder's merchants from 2006. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「SELCO India」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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