Rural Armenian communities, particularly non-gasified villages, lacked access to affordable clean energy. And there was little evidence on what actually motivates rural households to adopt solar technologies, meaning even well-intentioned policy was largely working blind.

We co-designed a revolving loan mechanism that lowered the upfront cost of solar water heaters and small PV systems, paired with qualitative research into the social and economic drivers of adoption. The result is a financing model and a behavioral evidence base that can be scaled across the country’s regions.

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• A revolving loan mechanism specifically designed for rural household solar adoption
• A behaviorally-informed application and outreach process
• Qualitative research producing concrete policy recommendations for regional solar promotion

• 427 applications received
• 379 families with newly installed solar water heaters
• 11 small PV installations
• 1,223,200 kWh of green energy generated annually
• CO reductions equivalent to 535.7 tons per year
• 30% of beneficiary households women-led