ENERGY ACCESS TO ALL-

CAN IT BE A REALITY?
Dr. Satyanarayanan S
7 Billion
3.1
Billion
1.4
Billion
World Population
Rural population
Abject poverty
1.27
Billion
0.83
Billion
0.4
Billion
India Population
Rural population
Abject poverty
Access to affordable energy plays a significant role
What is energy access (or lack off..)
Energy poverty is lack of access to modern energy services. It refers to the situation of
large numbers of people in developing countries whose well-being is negatively affected by
very low consumption of energy, use of dirty or polluting fuels, and excessive time spent
collecting fuel to meet basic needs. It is inversely related to access to modern energy
services, although improving access is only one factor in efforts to reduce energy poverty.
Energy poverty is distinct from fuel poverty, which focuses solely on the issue of
affordability.
Government of India views it as..
Are access and availability the same?
Source: Energy poverty, IEA publication, 2010
What about cooking?
Source: Energy poverty, IEA publication, 2010
3 Levels of intervention
Sustainable technology
Subsidy
Capacity building
Technology... Options are plenty
Solar for Agriculture
(water pumping)
Street lighting
Home lighting
Husk Power,
Rural electrification
Biogas digesters
Micro hydro-turbines
Resources are also plenty
Energy Production from Recycling
Biomass Energy is
Village house sustainability scheme

Solar mini-grid in Jharkhand

20KWp 3PHASE MINI GRID
JHARGAON,GUMLA DISTRICT, JHARKHAND
Jhargaon Power Plant
Project initiated by Honble Member Parliament (Rajya Sabha), Madam
Rebello and executed by the Bergen Group
The plant has benefitted the villagers in more than one way:
Provided electrification to more than 50 households
Livelihood provided to a number of people through small scale
applications like Water Pumping for Irrigation, Rice Mill, Flour
Mill,
Educational benefits to the children of the village
Better health through provision of filtered water
TV provided to the community for their recreation and information
The village economy has received a major boost through the
electrification programme


Jhargaon Snapshot
Plant Name: Jhargaon
Plant Capacity:- 20 kWp
Commissioning Date:- 30/4/2010
Developer BERGEN
Total Generation(kWh) 18,340.00
NGO HOLY CROSS SISTERS
Fixed Tariff Plan for 45 Houses per Month (Rs) 60
Connected Load 12 KW
Average Daily Generation 25 kWh
Average Monthly Collection (Rs) 2700/-
Average Expenses Monthly 5000/-
Project bound to fail after intervention stops.. Profitability not ensured
Where do we loose the plot?
High capital costs
Access to capital is limited in a rural setting
Subsidies become necessary to make the project viable
Community participation
Huge Janata digesters in dis-use due to lack of ownership
> 50% biomass gasifiers implemented under MNRE schemes
not in use
Immediate benefit to consumer
Sustained impact even after subsidies are withdrawn
Directly improve livelyhood


Successful interventions (Sprinklers)
Though subsidies introduced sprinkler irrigation, the
immense benefit and sales expansion made it
sustainable even without subsidies

Community participation (Check Dam)
Successful model in Energy (SELCO)
SELCO takes responsibility for capital requirement
Consumer spends only the equivalent of kerosene/day 13Rs
4 light SELCO system designed based on paying capacity rather than any
other metric, the system becomes free after 5 yeats

Partially successful Husk Power
Systems
Partially successful because of significant operational and maintenance
requirement
Model 1
Model 2
Additional kWh required for universal
energy access
Source: Energy poverty, IEA publication, 2010
10
9
units of electricity requirement
Government schemes
A few initiatives at MCRC that I know
Bio-Char production (Enhancing livelyhood)
Solar pumping with micro hydro (Bringing water and
energy access)
Biomass powered agro pumping with integrated
char production (Increasing value to farmer)
Advanced agro/food waste digester (Enabling
sustainability of technology and ease of use)

Where do we go from here?
Technology is available
Business models can be worked out
Capacity Building and intervention
Empowering local entrepreneurs
Resource assessment and education
Community involvement and their knowledge