ASSESSMENT OF BUSINESS MODELS FOR PROVIDING ENERGY SERVICES IN RURAL BANGLADESH

Abstract: The primary water sources of twenty million people in Bangladesh are contaminated with arsenic; almost sixty percent of population does not have access to electricity, and close to ninety percent of the population cooks with solid fuels. These statistics have severe health and development implications for Bangladesh. Polygeneration technology is being developed that can address all of these issues with a single system, by utilizing the exhaust heat from a biogas electricity generator to remove arsenic from water via membrane distillation and using excess biogas as a cooking fuel. History is full of stories of investment in developing countries gone horribly wrong. Thorough market research and analysis can help prevent that in the future. This thesis demonstrates the process of determining beneficial components of business models for the deployment of polygeneration technology in Bangladesh. This involves understanding the existing business models used for providing rural services in Bangladesh and assessing which of these models would be more sustainable for biogas based polygeneration systems within the socio-economic and institutional context of rural Bangladesh. This is achieved through the development of a set of sustainability indicators and an interview questionnaire for providers of rural services in Bangladesh, which was applied during a field study in early 2013. The sustainability indicator scores were calculated and analyzed in the context of strategic management tools, such as the Business Model Canvas. The combination of the quantitative and qualitative aspects of these case studies highlights crucial business model elements. Based on the results of the sustainability indicators for the field sites included in the study, community and cooperative business models provide a sustainable structure for the multiple products and inputs inherent in a polygeneration system. They have the ability to reach a wider customer base and are not focused on maximizing their profit, but still make reasonable economic choices.