Solar energy Lighting up a billion lives

The recently released Global Status Report on Renewables 2007 says that grid-connected solar photovoltaics (PV) has been the fastest growing energy technology in the world with 50 per cent annual growth in cumulative installed capacity in 2006 as well as in 2007. The majority of the above capacity comes from about 1.5 million homes across Germany, Japan, Spain, and the US which have installed small PV systems (a few kilowatts to tens of kilowatts) on their rooftops, feeding the electricity into the grid through two way meters and enjoying the benefits of net metered electricity bills at the end of the month. Technologies such as Building Integrated PV (BIPV), where PV panels double up as electricity generators as well as building facades, tiles and. walls by replacing the building material with aesthetically designed PV panels, have begun to get noticed by the architects and builders. This market is virtually non-existent in India which otherwise has had a good track record of utilising solar PV technology for off-grid applications ranging from power for off-shore oil and gas platforms to lighting up remote rural homes with solar home systems. Of the total reported 25 lakh homes worldwide that use solar home systems today, about 3.6 lakhs are in India, second only to China which has 4 lakh solar home system users. In fact, India's early commitment to promote solar PV arose from its concerns about energy access and energy security for all these cardinal principles form the backbone of Integrated Energy Policy almost three decades later. Solar-powered lanterns can bring clean, bright lighting to rural households. The market for solar PV continues to be relevant in such decentralized off-grid applications even after huge resources were made available under the rural electrification schemes of the Ministries of Power and that of the New and Renewable Energy; about 7.6 crore rural homes still use kerosene for lighting. Though lighting is not synonymous with electrification, and which by no means can be equated with energisation (that includes energy for cooking, among others), it still is one of the primary amenities required by a household to step on to the socio-economic-cultural developmental ladder. This basic amenity is not provided to 56.5 per cent of the 13~8crore rural homes and 12.4 per cent of roughly 5.37 crore urban homes in India which continue to burn biomass, wax candles and kerosene lamps, spending Rs. 2 to 5 per day. Apart from the low levels of illumination provided by these devices, smoke and fire hazards due to accidental pilfering of kerosene and tipping of candles are common. The solar lantern, a portable lighting device that uses CFL, has its own rechargeable battery inside that can be charged every day using an 8 to 10 watt solar panel. This is an ideal device to light up homes that currently use biomass or kerosene for lighting. About 5.8 lakh solar lanterns have been distributed in India in the past 7 to 8 years under the programme of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, but its penetration is miniscule considering the size of the population; that is the potential target is over 7 crore rural homes. The solar lantern with its solar panel currently costs about Rs. 3,200-3,600 of which the user generally pays only 50 per cent as the remaining amount is supported through a central subsidy. It is also given free to some user categories. However, an upfront payment of Rs. 1,800 often becomes a deterrent for the prospective user who can afford and probably is willing to pay smaller amounts on a daily or weekly basis. Such a scenario points to a potential micro finance market, provided, prospective user can be convinced about paying an installment for a device that does not fetch him/her any direct income. Bangladesh's success of micro financing users of solar home systems rests on this approach of linking enterprises and livelihoods; it involves selling and using solar home systems. A solar lantern, though much cheaper compared to a solar home system, has not found much favour either with the lender or with the borrower except in a few pilots where the less expensive versions of white LED based solar lanterns are being sold to rural communities. While white LEDs and other advanced lighting technologies are going to 'revolutionize the lighting market, one should not forget that these technologies have to penetrate the urban market first, before they can be found acceptable by rural masses. The urban home has just recently shifted to CFL from its incandescent bulbs and white LED based lighting devices (torches, night lamps) are still novelties. Till such time the white LED replaces the CFL completely, the CFL solar lantern will probably continue to find favour in rural homes as their first modern lighting device. This, despite the fact that it is costlier compared to its' LED counterpart, because the former requires more wattage and hence a larger solar panel. When we shift the focus to the benefits rather \ than costs of switching to solar lanterns from the current options of kerosene lamp and candles (or ~ nothing), the results are interesting. As per the I National Sample Survey Organization's survey on energy consumption patterns in 2005, and TERI's rural energy projects data, a rural household consumes an average of 4 litres of kerosene per j month for lighting. A total of 7.6 crore rural households would thus be consuming an average 3.6 billion litres of kerosene annually. At carbon emission intensity, or a release rate, of 2.4 kg CO2 per litre of burnt kerosene, the atmosphere gets polluted by 9 million tonnes of CO2 annually. This may well translate into a US $ 90 million carbon! market annually at a modest rate of US $ 10 per tonne of CO2. Quite apart from direct carbon revenue benefits, each solar lantern offers a net annual savings of Rs. l,200 by way of avoided kerosene subsidies estimated at approximately Rs.25 per litre. If the cumulative subsidy amount is instead targeted at solar lanterns, it would lessen the burden on a rural household to switch to a solar lantern. The number of solar-powered lamps distributed in the country is just a fraction of the need. Further, let us explore the benefits of solar lanterns to various developmental schemes of the government as well as the corporate sector (under social responsibility commitments). The Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya is a flagship scheme of the government that provides hostel facilities for schools for girl children of SC/ST and OBC categories. In the absence of reliable grid supply in most of these hostels, either the school authority, district administration, or in some cases, families of the hostel residents spend money on kerosene and candles for their wards. Provision of solar lanterns will strengthen the objectives for which these hostels have been set up, and be a good example of public-private partnership if the corporate sector came forward to equip the hostels with solar lanterns. There could be many other examples of such interventions improving health, welfare and livelihood opportunities. Let us now once again shift the focus, this time to the delivery and after sales service of solar systems. Who, where, how and at what cost can deliver and service these devices in remotest corners? Apart from the resources available through avoided kerosene subsidies, how will an initiative of lighting millions of homes using solar lanterns be financed and sustained? Let us first think from the user's perspective. A household or a rural enterprise (shop, kiosk) would probably not have a constraint in spending Rs. 2 to 5 per night for the use of solar lantern, even without actually owning the device. Some may even want to rent additional lanterns if charged lanterns are available on rent within a village. Also, it cannot be assumed that a village resident can easily purchase an item worth Rs. 3,200. Alternately, he/she may want to spend about half that amount (Rs. 1,600-1,800) to purchase a lantern without the solar panel and pay a daily fee for charging, if such a facility is locally available. We are talking about a delivery and service model familiar to most rural and peri-urban communities where households purchase new or recycled car batteries and charge them from the nearest battery charging shop running either on diesel generating set or grid electricity. This fee for- service model is well established and thriving in most power deficit areas. These one-stop entrepreneurial outlets offer repair, maintenance and all other related services. If this model were to be adopted for solar lanterns, then we are talking about setting up solar charging stations at village level, with not just solar charging services for lanterns but also for mobile telephones, and other battery-operated devices. Other locally available renewable resources such as wind, biomass etc. can be harnessed to augment the capacity of charging stations. These solar charging stations would be operated and maintained by local youth, NGOs and local enterprises that can be selected through a process offering maximum equity (or any other criteria) and can be trained and incubated for a pre-specified time. These charging stations can be set up using resources from the government (they can be treated as basic infrastructure) or from corporations setting up rural outlets for their own products and services; solar charging stations would be an added value to their services. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh receives a solar lantern from TERI director general R K Pachauri at a summit on sustainable development. All of the above is not wishful thinking, it is already happening in parts of West Bengal, Rajasthan, Haryana, Assam and is likely to extend soon to Bihar, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh under the "Lighting a Billion Lives" Campaign, an initiative of TERI that was formally launched by the Prime Minster on February 7, 2008 at Delhi's Vigyan Bhavan. As Dr. R K Pachauri, Director General of TER and chairperson of IPCC, this year's joint winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, says, "Millions and millions of people do not see light after the sun goes down. Some 1.6 billion people worldwide do not have access to electricity. LaBL will be a vehicle to deliver a package of technology-based solutions to meet the various needs of a community through schemes like 'Adopt a Village'. The institute has developed several products like solar torches, solar fans, solar milk churner, and biogas plants, which are being used widely in rural areas. Our aim is to enable all rural communities to be self-reliant and develop capabilities for removal of poverty." A solar lantern is a powerful tool to take rural communities from darkness to light. It is also a commitment that would bind governments, corporations, the non-governmental sector, civil society and individuals to light up a billion lives not only in India, but across the globe.