Introducing two new TEA@SUNRISE reports: Barriers to Inclusivity in the Solar Value Chain and Opportunities for Inclusivity in the Solar Value Chain. Together, they examine current obstacles to inclusivity and highlight ways to make the solar value chain (SVC) more equitable.
TEA@SUNRISE envisions a just energy transition through next-generation solar. The “just energy transition”, a term recognised by the UN, is about ensuring the transition to renewable energy is fair and inclusive for all involved.
Next-generation solar technologies offer potential pathways for accelerating both decarbonisation and energy justice. However, without critically examining power relations, solar expansion risks becoming “green colonialism”: a continuation of extractive relationships disguised as climate action.
These two companion papers aim to make the case for a just energy transition. The first paper analyses how structural inequalities shape who is excluded and who benefits from the SVC. The second draws lessons from practical examples of inclusion being successfully embedded.
Paper 1: Barriers to Inclusivity in the Solar Value Chain
Key findings:
- Gender as a system of power.
To understand structural inequalities in the SVC, we need to analyse how patriarchy intersects with race, class, caste, indigeneity, and colonial history to create compounded exclusions. Gender is not just a demographic variable but a dynamic system of power relations, historically shaped.
- Value chain geography reflects colonial divisions.
The most profitable parts of the SVC – technology development and manufacturing – are concentrated in the Global North and China. Meanwhile, the Global South provides raw materials, land, and low-skilled labour. This dynamic perpetuates colonial legacies.
- Upstream extraction reproduces disposession.
Recent research has revealed ethical crises that threaten the legitimacy of the energy transition. For example, silica mining for solar panels is displacing forest-dependent communities in India. And reports have shown the use of Uyghur force labour in Chinar to produce polysilicon.
- Exclusions persist in midstream and downstream.
Despite promises of job creation, employment in solar projects mainly goes to external, male workers. Large-scale solar parks often create “energy unfreedoms” where local communities bear costs without receiving benefits. Women are restricted to lower-paid assembly work even when they have technical training, reflecting socio-cultural assumptions rather than actual capabilites.
- Achieving a genuinely just energy transition requires a fundamental transformation.
We can’t simply include marginalised groups in existing systems. We must centre the knowledge and lived experiences of marginalised communities rather than imposing solutions designed by and for dominant groups.
Paper 2: Opportunities for Inclusivity in the Solar Value Chain
This second paper examines where positibe change is already happening within the SVC. It asks: how does this work, can it be replicated, what enabling conditions can help, and what can we learn?
It presents a series of case studies from upstream market research and product design, through distribution, installation and repair, to community governance and end-of-life. The cases include both delivery-level examples and system-level enablers. Thank you to the contributors: IIT Kanpur; Sunsafe; Kijani Testing; POWERE; ENACT; Ashden; Value for Women; and Global Disability Innovation Hub.
Key findings:
- Inclusion cannot be achieved at any single level alone.
Inclusion is not the product of a single intervention, but of alignment between practice and system design. Delivery-level interventions can open access, but we need system-level alignment to sustain and deepen inclusion over time.
- The cases do not prove that the solar value chain is inclusive, but that inclusion is achievable.
Inclusion must be designed in from the outset and sustained beyond the life of individual projects.
- Inclusion is not an add-on to energy access, but a condition of its durability.
Inclusive design produces more reliable technologies, stronger maintenance ecosystems, better alignment with user demand, and greater trust in energy services.
While the first paper examines the challenges present in the solar value chain, the second paper includes case studies showing how more inclusive outcomes are possible. To be successful, inclusivity must be designed in from the outset, institutionally embedded during implementation, and sustained beyond the life of individual projects.
Going forward, TEA@SUNRISE aims to shape the conditions under which inclusivity can thrive rather than simply documenting what works. As we have shown, inclusion is not an add-on to solar transitions, but an essential condition of whether they are equitable, durable, and viable at scale.
TEA@SUNRISE is part of the Transforming Energy Access platform funded by UK aid from the UK Government to support the technologies, business models and skills needed to enable an inclusive, clean energy transition.
This report has been funded by UK aid from the UK government; however the views expressed do not necessarily reflect the UK government’s official policies.