Climate Action - Assisting business towards carbon neutrality

Akanksha Chaurey, Associate Director, Distributed Generation Energy Environment Technology Division, TERI

Access to reliable energy services is one of the biggest impediments in the socioeconomic development of communities across the world. While local governments are committing to provide basic services such as water, health, sanitation, electrification to all its population, lack of energy and electricity in particular, is proving to be a serious hindrance in this process. Distributed generation and supply of electricity based on renewable energy technologies is fast emerging as a viable option. This article describes distributed generation-based initiatives undertaken by TERI that have benefited rural communities and provided a platform to link public and private commitments towards a common goal. 

INTRODUCTION

Women managing a solar workshop.

Rural electrification is one of the key drivers in achieving Millennium Development Goals as it facilitates economic and sociocultural development of the target population. Distributed generation of electricity, particularly in decentralised mode is one option to implement rural electrification schemes. The synergy of distributed generation and rural electrification is therefore critical to achieve the targets of universal service obligations, particularly by enhancing last mile access, which is one of the least addressed challenges in this sector. The viability of the technological solution, strength of institutional innovations, robustness of designed financing models and effectiveness of enabling mechanisms for communities to derive direct and indirect benefits from electricity services, are some of the facets of this challenge.

Through government and non-government efforts in a country such as India, renewable energy technologies are used in a variety of applications. However, there are very few dissemination models that are entrepreneur driven and incorporate innovations in delivery of services. The viability of such models relies on:

• Their ability to provide income opportunities on both the supply and the demand side.
• Their flexibility to bundle a variety of energy-related and energy-driven services, such as mobile telephone charging, water purification, sale and servicing of energy efficient appliances.

These models would also provide a platform for public-private-people partnerships. A number of such initiatives are described below.

WOMEN AS SOLAR POWER ENTREPRENEURS – PILOT PROJECT IN THE SUNDERBANS

The Sunderbans is a part of the world’s largest delta formed by the rivers Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna. The area is interwoven by a network of small rivers, creeks and waterways and 70 per cent is under saline/brackish water. To protect the natural habitat, environment and the biodiversity of the region, the Sunderbans Biosphere Reserve was established in 1989. It covers 9,630 square km including about 4,444.33 square km of human habitat along with the entire forest area. Waterways are the major means of communication in this region.

As most of the southern Sunderbans is separated from the mainland and divided by wide rivers and creeks, it is extremely difficult to extend high tension transmission lines and a distribution network for electricity. The remote villages thus suffer from chronic energy shortage, adversely affecting the socioeconomic development of the region. Against this background, energy interventions based on alternate technologies, such as solar, are relevant and viable. A large population in the unelectrified islands is currently using solar PV electricity.

TERI has been working in this region for the past 10 years in partnership with the state government as well as with NGO sector to promote the use of solar PV. The project outlined here has created viable enterprises on the supply side targeting women entrepreneurs. These enterprises have been created not only to provide solar PV based services in remote and interior villages, but to provide repair and maintenance services to already existing products and systems.

This pilot project, sponsored by the National Renewable Energy laboratory, USA, is implemented by TERI in partnership with the Ramakrishna Mission (RKM), a reputed NGO. The project has also created an organisational set up: MFEDO (Market Facilitating and Enterprise Development Organisation) within the cluster organisation Kalpartaru of the RKM to incubate these enterprises. Kalpartaru now acts like an anchor to these enterprises by helping them procure raw material, facilitate market linkages and formulate self-help groups.

By providing initial training and capacity building on several techno-commercial aspects, the project has helped six women become solar entrepreneurs who are now engaged in a variety of businesses, such as charging and renting of solar lanterns, designing and assembling small electronic items and repairing solar home systems. Apart from financial independence, a sense of pride arising from the newly acquired skill and confidence are the biggest benefits of the project.

Based on this pilot initiative, TERI has now launched a larger project called Lighting a Million Lives.

LIGHTING A MILLION LIVES

Over 78 million households, roughly 390 million lives, in India lack access to electricity, causing life to come to a standstill after dusk. Inadequate lighting is not only an impediment to progress and development opportunities, but also has a direct impact on the health, environment, and safety of millions of villagers as they are forced to light their homes with kerosene lamps, dung cakes, firewood and crop residues. Recognising the need to change the existing scenario in rural India, TERI initiated the Lighting a Million Lives’ (LaML) campaign.

The sustainability of the LaML campaign stands on two important pillars:

• Providing solar lanterns to unelectrified and poorly electrified rural households and facilitating livelihoods as well as direct or indirect income-generating opportunities through provision of enhanced lighting.
• Creating local entrepreneurial driven delivery channels to ensure distribution and charging of solar lanterns, repair, maintenance and other aftersales services.
  

The Campaign is based on an entrepreneurial model of energy service delivery, developed by TERI and successfully tested in pilot projects across Rajasthan, West Bengal, and Uttarakhand, India. Through this model, institutional mechanisms are being created for energy services delivery in remote villages where kerosene is the predominant fuel for lighting. This is the case for households, small enterprises such as shops, local bazaars, tuition and coaching centres and various cottage industries.

The model is designed to benefit both user and supplier. For instance, rural entrepreneurs can be trained to manage and run a central solar lantern charging/distribution centre where lanterns are charged during the day and rented in the evening. While this creates financial opportunities for entrepreneurs, the user of the lantern does not have to bear the burden of purchasing and maintaining it.

Apart from providing reliable and ensured lighting to households at an affordable rate, this model also facilitates entrepreneurial development among rural communities. The solar charging platform can, for example, also provide other services such as telecommunication services, purification of potable water and mobile telephone charging.

Grassroots-level partners install the hardware, identify, train and provide initial support to prospective rural entrepreneurs, create awareness among communities about the use and upkeep of lanterns and develop livelihood activities through access to lighting. The entrepreneur, in addition to providing the centre facility, also contributes equity in cash and pays for the training associated with the solar power platform and solar lanterns.

SOLAR POWERED ICT-BASED RURAL KNOWLEDGE CENTRES

Energy needs in India, however, go beyond lighting, and a key focus is now on livelihood creation in villages. Over the past decade, India has become one of the leading innovators in information and communication technologies (ICT) serving the rural user.

ICT in rural areas has been related to rural kiosks/knowledge centres, which are technologically endowed access points to provide a variety of services catering to the needs of the rural populations in different ways. Services provided include those that are ‘e’ in nature, as well as computer education, spoken English courses and financial services, making these centres hubs for capacity building and training. Most ICT centres include, but are not limited to, a PC, connectivity solution, photo printer and a digital camera.

Such a rural ICT programme faces two specific challenges for its roll out:

• Unreliable supply of electricity.
• Inadequate entrepreneurial capacities.

Providing reliable electricity supply has been one of the most striking impediments. As the availability of quality power in rural areas is not assured, battery is used as a backup. However, the battery often does not get fully charged due to the unreliable supply of grid for the required charging period. The rural kiosk will then lose business which ultimately affects its viability.

The sustainability of the kiosk also depends on the multiplicity, quality and saleability of services that it offers. The onus of running the kiosk viably lies on its operator, who, apart from having business acumen and good communication skills, is also required to know basic business management. In the absence of customised entrepreneurship development programmes, imparting such skills to the kiosk operator is yet another challenge that the ICT programme faces.

The ‘Solar powered ICT based rural knowledge centre’ initiative has been set up to address these challenges by providing:

• Solar PV based decentralised electricity supply to ICT centres.
• Comprehensive capacity building and support of kiosk operators in managing and operating the centres.
  

The business model is based on three guiding principles:

• Use of energy efficient hardware and appliances, including locally available ecofriendly building material wherever possible.
• Hybrid power supply solution using solar PV and gird as two main sources.
• Bundling of services dealing with decentralised energy, water, health, education.
  

The use of ecofriendly, energy efficient design, materials, hardware and appliances help reduce electricity consumption, a prerequisite for providing solar PV based power solutions. Further, in order to give quality power supply for up to 4-6 hours, a hybrid of solar PV and grid is provided for. This hybrid system is based on an integrated solar PV based power supply system that has been developed and customised by TERI specifically for the rural ICT kiosks. The knowledge centre provides a platform for integrating and bundling services related to employment and livelihoods schemes, decentralised energy, health, water and overall sustainable development. It also demonstrates the efficient use of energy through various energy efficient systems, such as LED and compact fluorescent-based lighting, solar fan and lanterns and solar powered UPS for the computer.

BIOMASS GASIFIER FOR RURAL ELECTRIFICATION

Since the 1990s, TERI has been developing small capacity (10-20kWe) biomass gasifiers that run on 100 per cent producer gas engines. These systems are ideally suited for electrification of remote locations, as they provide enough electricity for domestic lighting, street lights and some productive applications, such as rice milling and water pumping in a small village of about 80-100 households. In one such initiative, TERI along with NTPC Ltd, a public sector power producing company, provided a 10 kWe biomass gasifier system run on fuel wood collected from the forest by the villagers. The project has institutionalised a Village Energy Committee with women representatives to oversee the daily operation and management of the project. Two trained operators operate and troubleshoot the system. The system provides electricity to two light points in every household, lights up street lights and runs a flour grinder. The initiative is being replicated in more than a dozen villages across the country.    

WAY FORWARD

These initiatives provide a platform for companies, corporations and business houses to channel their social responsibility commitments in a manner that catalyses socioeconomic growth of rural communities. They also provide evidence of public-private-people partnership effectiveness, where each entity owns the initiative and contributes in making it a success. For instance, governments (or public sector) and private sector would provide initial funding support considering the high upfront cost of solar PV technology; private companies and entrepreneurs while leveraging the government support of seed funding, would also add their knowledge and services to enhance the viability of the initiative; NGOs and communities would work towards sustaining these initiatives at  grassroots level. The synergies of such commitments ensure that power is provided to empower people in the fight against poverty.

This article duly acknowledges the efforts of several colleagues at TERI, specifically those who have worked on the projects included in this article.

Author

Ms Akanksha Chaurey is Associate Director of the Distributed Generation Energy Environment Technology Division of TERI and has worked in the field of renewable energy for sustainable development for over 20 years. Her area of expertise is offgrid rural electrification and distributed generation. She began her career with TERI in 1987 and was involved in projects related to technology and market assessment of renewables, specifically solar photovoltaics. After five years, Ms Chaurey became Director of Sairam Solar, a company, designing  and installing solar and wind energy systems for decentralised applications. Following two years as a renewable energy consultant she joined up with TERI again in 1999  and now works on projects dealing with distributed generation and supply of electricity for offgrid applications.

Organisation

A dynamic and flexible organisation with a global vision and a local focus, TERI is deeply committed to every aspect of sustainable development. From providing environment friendly solutions to rural energy problems, to helping shape the development of the Indian oil and gas sector; from tackling global climate change issues to enhancing forest conservation efforts among local communities; from advancing solutions to growing urban transport and air pollution problems to promoting energy efficiency in the Indian industry, the emphasis has always been on finding innovative solutions to make the world a better place to live in. All activities in TERI move from formulating local and national level strategies to global solutions to critical energy and environment related issues.

Enquiries

TERI, Darbari Seth Block
Habitat Place, Lodhi Road
New Delhi 110003, India
Tel: 91 11 24682100
Fax: 91 11 24682144
E-mail:

Picture credit: TERI