A thematic Vikalp Sangam on Energy


Energy/Electricity - getting into the theme |> 
Even though traditional energy still addresses bulk of the needs of poor people, and alternatives need to be explored, this session is concentrating on Electricity as the mainstream is getting into renewables in a big way, and critical issues like decentralisation, democratisation and even adverse long term environmental and technological impact need to be highlighted. 		Aditya Ramji: On Policy & Implementation of off-grid and renewable energy |>|
Aditya Ramji of Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW): While the Power Ministry is focused on large projects, renewable energy is governed by the Renewable Energy Ministry, which is not allocated as much resources or mandate that is needed to make it the focal point of new energy. Furthermore, decentralized solutions are completely absent from policy and planning. There is need for innovative solutions like the one announced by the Railway Minister to set up micro-grid in their remote stations, where the roof tops and land is available, which  provide power to the station as well as supply to the nearly villages.
The off-grid sector has been promoted by supplying solar lanterns, setting up home systems or  micro grids. But  RE products lack standardisation and regulation. There is a very limited data on RE installations in the country and hence, huge allocations are made without any reliable and proper information base. 		VIKALP SANGAM: Alternatives ConfluencesTowards Energy Democracy: A Vision Statement adopted at Bijli Vikalp Sangam at Bodh Gaya, Bihar, March 2016 read by Lalita Ramdas |>|   Text

Representatives from SELCO Foundation, Badlav Foundation, WWF, LEDEG, BASIX, Barefoot College, Ekta Parishad, Switch On and Tara Urja foundation shared their experiences in break out sessions. The outcomes and debates were shared.

Group Discussions : Gr I |V>| : In Group I, Pravin Singh asked if we have considered all the downsides of the new push for solar power.. Will it be like the Green Revolution, which after implementation showed it ugly head

Group Discussions: Gr II |V>| 
Discussions in Group III |V>| 
Outcome at  Gr 4 |V>| 
Gr 5 |V>|
Ashok Srinivas of Prayas |>|  India has a capacity of 270 GW: 65% coal based and 20% large dams, 15% modern renewable. 95% of electricity delivered in India is unreliable. Power generation has been the major contributor of the current public bank debts.  














Where is the demand for change going to come from? |>
The larger paradigmatic change will have to come from peoples movement. However there are space in the current regulatory framework for a degree of citizen's involvement, and specialised civil society group. There is also need for some smart messaging.
  

Policy Issues |>
 As recommended by Prayas,GRID based electricity will be the cheapest, but such supply at low rates should be given to those who cannot afford it. Even the Shift to Renewable Source must be caliberated in such a manner that the burden of such change is not put on those who are basic needs consumers.

The other need is to focus on energy efficiency, including those relating to transmission and distribution losses. Further the regulatory and review institutions must be decentralised and democratic in both supply and demand areas                                                                               

The Dharnai Experience

Ramapati, from CEED, speaks about Dharnai – the solar village . See Video: The Road to Dharnai: From Advocacy to the Field It all started with the Greenpeace report Hiding Behind the Poor, Part II’ c– which highlighted Climate politics, and the energy inequity in the country.

Video of Ramapati : Making Dharnai work: Greenpeace inspired solar micro grid

The model assumed that as demand would rise, the project should generate money for expansion, under the management of a village committee. Dharnai has 420 households spread across three hamlets; good social infrastructure  – three to four schools, model anganwadi etc. A 100 KW (70kW for lighting in 5 clusters, and 30 kW for agriculture pumps) solar micro-grid was planned.

Dharnai Micro agripumps (video)The solar pumps were to generate seven lakh rupees per year. But since the Village Electricity Committee (VEC) did not agree, and organisers were committed to peoples control, the pumps were given to other users, but the revenues return to the VEC. The other hiccup was delay in putting up net-meters..

Visit to Solar Village: Dharnai The village had 10 TVs and 100 fans. However, post the solar installation it shot up to 30 TVs and 300 fans in one month.

The objective of the Dharnai experiment was to challenge the centralised model of electricity generation. Learnings from Dharnai: Ramapati of CEED reflects on the issues While CEED and Greenpeace certainly wanted to see a model that could be replicated across Bihar and more, the task has to be taken up by the government and maybe social entrepreneurs and NGOs.Post Dharnai, Bihar govt has announced 150 such mini-grids (with World Bank).


 
Some earlier videos on Energy: http://lnwr.in/lwrd/VS/Energy-Prayas.html

CEED, and the Bihar Renewal Energy Policy
Email dated 24 May 2017..
" on 23rd May, 2017, the state cabinet under the CM, Mr. Nitish Kumar approved the RE policy to be effective till 2022. The new RE policy is most inclusive, techno neutral and target oriented. The state of Bihar target to add about 3500 MW of clean energy in next five years, which will be roughly about 25% of total electricity requirement by 2022. It means that Bihar slowly moving towards clean energy pathway.

The other important aspect of this policy is the inclusion and keeping small Mini or Micro-grid as key thrust area under DRE program. The government has kept 100 MW target under this category. In another word, the government has picked up 20% of total off grid target set by GOI. Apart from that a new 10000 solar pumps to be rolled our in next five years. It means many Dharnai kind of model can be rolled out sooner.

Apart from the above, the policy also focuses more on solar roof top and large scale ground mounted project. I believe that large scale will be difficult and therefore government of Bihar is putting more focus on solar roof top. For ex, the policy gives one time approval of all government buildings roof to be used for such projects.

CEED has played a critical role in developing this policy along with stakeholders. We are also supporting government in developing other framework including on implementation.


At the Vikalp Sangam, last year, Ramapati, from CEED, shared a presentation on Dharnai – the solar village. The origins of the experiment lay in the Greenpeace report ‘Hiding Behind the Poor, Part II’ – which highlighted the energy inequity in the country. The 2010 Bihar state election was a good time to highlight the report findings, since Bihar had 19,000 villages that were not electrified at the time. Greenpeace ran a successful election manifesto campaign to get RE on the political agenda of all the political parties. The new Bihar government released an RE policy in 2011. Greenpeace continued to work with the government and provided a roadmap, which required 76,000 crore investment. They could get Asian Development Bank and World Bank on board in this roadmap process. Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar, offered that while the report looked great on paper, if Greenpeace could electrify one village and present it as working model, Bihar government would take it as an example for the rest of the state. The estimated cost was 4.5 crore per village. The project had to be a 24X7, community run community owned, community run, pilot project.

Dharnai, was chosen due to some of its interesting characteristics. It is not far from Patna and Gaya; had had electricity 30 years back, but then became de-electrified though its neighbouring villages had electricity. It was a reasonably ‘developed’ village, off a highway and had a railway station near the village. The model assumed that as demand would rise, the project should generate money for expansion, under the management of a village committee. Dharnai has 420 households spread across three hamlets; good social infrastructure  – three to four schools, model anganwadi etc. A 100 KW (70kW for lighting in 5 clusters, and 30 kW for agriculture pumps) solar micro-grid was planned.


The project was launched in July 2014, and the process of competitive bidding was employed. Evolved packages based on equity considerations (lower tariffs for the poor), with cross subsidisation based on agriculture. The realisation of unreliability of grid electricity, made villagers hopeful about solar. The village had 10 TVs and 100 fans. However, post the solar installation it shot up to 30 TVs and 300 fans in one month.

The objective of the Dharnai experiment was to challenge the centralised model of electricity generation. In addition, seven lakh INR per year was to be generated from agriculture pumps (electricity offered at half the rate of diesel pumps). However, the VEC did not agree. According to Ramapati, community ownership and decisions making has to be accompanied with capacity building, otherwise it might backfire. Consequently, they looked for agricultural pump users in other villages – as that revenue was critical for the project to function. They have only been able to install eight agriculture pumps so far (project planned for, and needs 10).


Ramapati said that it may seem that stressing community control from the Day 1 was perhaps a mistake. It can backfire as communities are often not ready. Further, presence of the implementing organisation (like the NGO) after technical installation is very crucial. Still, Dharnai is one of the best run mini-grids for such scale projects. No other mini grid in the country is charging as low as 9-13 Rs / unit.