Large PV companies frequently sell their big power modules at cost or below. The smaller 25 to 50 watt modules most often used in remote villages though usually cost much more per watt. This is where in-country assembly can compete. We helped fund a Grupo Fenix project in Nicaragua that gets broken PV cells and cuts them for a specific use, saving the smaller pieces for small modules. This adds value by local labor and uses the broken pieces more efficiently. The biggest module they make is 75 watts but the smaller sizes are more competitive unless a custom shape is needed. The two factories who are part of Fenix pay $1.50 per watt to Fenix in general for the cells used, and pay that after the PV modules are made and shipped. We help arrange hands-on PV workshops here in the First World. We also help sell small solar battery chargers here to help purchase another batch of broken cells. This way, Fenix in Nicaragua doesn't pay anything for their cell, no money leaves Nicaragua in this arrangement. Some of the $1.50 per watt goes to paying peoples salaries, another part of the money is used for special little projects that don't have any outside funding. Even when a group in a developing country has to purchase the cells, making smaller PV modules can be profitable because it saves shipping costs and because of the higher price per watt these modules can bring. This is a proven, replicable model we can help recreate in other places.
Micro-PV Plant 
Large PV companies frequently sell their big power modules at cost or below. The smaller 25 to 50 watt modules most often used in remote villages though usually cost much more per watt. This is where in-country assembly can compete. We helped fund a Grupo Fenix project in Nicaragua that gets broken PV cells and cuts them for a specific use, saving the smaller pieces for small modules. This adds value by local labor and uses the broken pieces more efficiently. The biggest module they make is 75 watts but the smaller sizes are more competitive unless a custom shape is needed. The two factories who are part of Fenix pay $1.50 per watt to Fenix in general for the cells used, and pay that after the PV modules are made and shipped. We help arrange hands-on PV workshops here in the First World. We also help sell small solar battery chargers here to help purchase another batch of broken cells. This way, Fenix in Nicaragua doesn't pay anything for their cell, no money leaves Nicaragua in this arrangement. Some of the $1.50 per watt goes to paying peoples salaries, another part of the money is used for special little projects that don't have any outside funding. Even when a group in a developing country has to purchase the cells, making smaller PV modules can be profitable because it saves shipping costs and because of the higher price per watt these modules can bring. This is a proven, replicable model we can help recreate in other places.