The various end-user segments are as follows:
- Residential
- Commercial
- Industrial
- Institutions
- Government
Solar Mango has identified the following characteristics that govern end-user market segmentation.
- Cost of grid power
- Size/scale of solar power requirement
- Technology
- End use applications
- Price sensitivity
By analyzing the various factors that affect each end-user segments, Solar Mango differentiates one segment from the other.
| End-user Classification | Parameters | ||||
| Cost of grid power | Size/scale of solar power requirement | Technology | End use applications | Price sensitivity | |
| Residential | Low in most states, medium-high in some states such as Maharashtra | Usually less than 10 kW, for rural areas, less than 1 kW per residence | Typically grid-tied. In some cases, grid interactive systems with batteries. Rural areas also sport off-grid small solar power systems | If grid tied systems, all residential applications; if stand-alone/off-grid, mainly for lights and fans. | Highly price sensitive except in the higher income segments |
| Commercial | High- Very high in most states | Can vary from 50 kW to 1 MW | In most cases grid-tied without batteries. Diesel-solar hybrids starting to make their presence felt | As most systems are grid tied, these are used for all purposes that grid power is used. | As their grid prices are high, the price sensitivity for this sector is not very high |
| Industrial | High | Can range from 100 kW – 10s of MW if offsite solar power generation is also considered | Almost always grid-tied without batteries. Diesel-solar hybrids starting to make their presence felt | Usually for lights and fans for the administrative section, than for the heavy duty equipment in the factories | Price sensitivity varies from low sensitivity for some industries such as IT to high price sensitivity for many old economy industries |
| Institutions | Medium-high | Typically in the range 50 kW – 500 kW | Mostly grid-tied systems without batteries | Mostly lights and fans, but in grid tied mode, all applications that grid power serves | Moderate |
| Government | Medium | Highly variable, depending on the type of building | Typically grid-tied systems without batteries | Mostly lights and fans, but in grid tied mode, all applications that grid power serves | Most times, government buildings get some sort of incentives, thus it is difficult to say anything about their price sensitivity |