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102 © Jain, Mital, and Syal 2016 | Rural Electrification through Solar Energy
It also states that off-grid, decentralized and low- area, have been enjoying the benefits of electrifi-
temperature applications will be advantageous cation under Remote Village Electrification Pro-
from a rural electrification perspective and gram.
meeting other energy needs for power, heating
and cooling in both rural and urban areas. Impediments in Solar Energy Policies
On March 3, 2001, the Prime Minister of India It was seen that most of the beneficiaries were
convened a meeting of all the Chief Ministers of farmers with a low socio-economic status. The
states to build a national consensus, where rural electricity being supplied through solar power
electrification got the top-most priority. Im- was basically used for lighting in the households.
portant resolutions included in the consensus Under the projects, basic lighting facilities with
were (a) electrification of all villages and house- two light points (around 9W each) and one
holds is to be undertaken; rural electrification is socket (around 40W) for operating electronic
to be treated as a basic minimum service, (b) ru- gadgets for each of the willing households in the
ral electrification is to be completed by 2007, and village were provided (flexibility of points may
electrification of all households by 2012. be allowed within total 58W). Thus, every house-
hold is eligible for a maximum of 58Watts unless
Taking the said missions forward, the National the house owner himself wants less. The technol-
Action Plan on Climate Change was launched in ogy for such projects is simple and the source of
2008 with eight missions under it, dealing with power abundant, making it the obvious choice
various issues. Under the National Solar Mission, for electrification in rural areas. It was reported
one of the programs for off-grid power solution that the installation costs were borne by the Cen-
is the Remote Village Electrification Program, tral and State governments and the beneficiaries
which was brought out by MNRE. This Ministry had to pay some monthly amount per CFL that
is implementing this program by providing fi- they use. However, it was seen that there was a
nancial support for electrification of remote un- variation in the amount of money being charged
electrified census villages and unelectrified ham- from the villagers per CFL per month. Under the
lets of electrified census villages where grid project, the households were eligible to get elec-
extension is either not feasible or not cost effec- tricity for six hours a day. However, it was re-
tive. Such villages are provided basic electricity ported that the electricity was available for only
facilities through various renewable energy three to four hours a day.
sources, particularly solar. The beneficiaries of
this scheme are the village households, which get Most of the respondents said that one of the ma-
solar power for their basic lighting require- jor barriers in the current solar electricity they
ments. Additionally, street lighting systems with were getting was that it was not available during
11 W CFL are also considered under the project. the night when they needed it the most. Some re-
ported that most of the important events such as
The Ministry provides a subsidy of up to 90% of weddings happen at night, but electricity is not
the costs of the renewable electricity generation available at that time.
systems (including the cost of Annual Mainte-
nance Contract (AMC), if any, for 5 years). The The villagers also reported that the electricity
balance cost of projects can be financed through available to each household should be increased,
contributions from respective State Govern- i.e., they wanted to run more appliances such as
ment/CSR funds/entrepreneurs’ investment/ water pumps, fans, refrigerators and TV sets, not
loan/beneficiaries’ contribution or other sources just a single light bulb. Most of the respondents
other than Government of India fund. However, also said that they wanted light for the entire
it will be necessary that at least half of the bal- night for their kids to study. Thus, in the short
ance cost is met from State Government’s fund- time that the electricity was supplied, the fami-
ing (MNRE, 2011a). About 1,400 solar-powered lies would start using a lot of appliances like
villages in Chhattisgarh, which are not connected lights, fans, TV etc. and thus, the plant would trip
to the national grid because they are in a remote due to overloading, leading to another problem
of discontinuous electricity supply. It was dis-
heartening to know that during the four hours
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