Renewable Energy Supply for Rural Areas (RESRA)

 Context
The energy situation in rural India is characterized by poor quality of fuel, low efficiency of use, unreliable supply and limited access. About 500 million people in India’s countryside are still without access to modern energy services, leading to limited agricultural productivity, water shortages, and depletion of natural resources and require enormous human effort. This forces them to lower quality of life and environmental degradation. Increasing dependence on fossil-fuels is leading to environmental degradation at the local (land degradation), regional (air, water and soil pollution) and global levels (greenhouse gas emission contributing to climate change). Provision of decentralised and renewable energy based options for meeting rural energy needs offer opportunities for enhancing production and income of rural people along with sustainable management of natural resources. Such options also contribute to lowering of green house gas emissions.
The project “Renewable Energy Supply for Rural Areas (RESRA)” focuses on utilization of locally available biomass (Agri-/crop- residues) and non-edible oilseeds and for energy production (electricity and biogas) to meet the energy demands for different economic activities in the target villages.

Objective

:To develop and demonstrate commercially viable models for decentralised energy supply in rural areas from renewable sources
Implementation partners:
• Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India;
• National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC Limited); and
• Kirloskar Oil Engines Limited
Project approach:
The project would develop business and governance models for decentralised rural energy services by the village and community based organisations in 30 target villages. Electricity generation and distribution systems are being set up and optimized on the basis of demand for electricity for productive uses (irrigation, rural entrepreneurs, community establishments etc.) and the local availability of renewable energy sources (biomass, non-edible oilseeds and solar energy). Village Energy Committees (VEC) are established and capacitated to own, operate and manage the energy production and distribution facilities. Farmers are supported for augmenting and sustaining the biomass production for reliable supply of feedstock for electricity generation. Local NGOs working with the target communities have been engaged for social mobilisation and capacity building of the VECs.
The Project sites:
The project is being implemented in village clusters selected in two states: the Korba district of the State of Chhattisgarh and Kolwan Valley located in the hilly western Ghat region of Pune district of the State of Maharashtra.
Project site 1:
Cluster of 24 villages in Korba
Project site 2:
Cluster of 6 villages in Kolwan Valley
Korba is the power capital of Chhattisgarh and often referred to as its power hub, but many villages in the district are still not electrified and the indigenous communities of the district depend largely on rain-fed paddy, and local forests for sustenance. The identified villages are situated at a distance of about 20 to 45 km towards north and north-west side of Korba. The total number of households in the cluster of 24 villages chosen for the RESRA project is 1814.
Kolwan Valley is drained by Walki River system near Pune and is approximately 15 km in length. The valley has a scattered settlement pattern and in all there are 19 villages and 48 hamlets. Amongst these Nanegaon cluster (four villages) and Kolwan cluster (two villages) are identified for implementation of the project. Besides, a highly deprived settlement of semi nomads, Dhangarvasti, located on high hills is under consideration in the project. The six villages are populated by a total of 924 households.

Target groups:
Rural population across 30 villages in Korba district, Chhattisgarh and Pune district, Maharashtra, local government (village Panchayat), and community based organisations

Technology for Implementation:
In Korba, this project will use mainly tree borne oilseeds (TBO) and raw vegetable oils produced by landless/ small farmers as raw material for the generation of electricity. Presently, TBO (such as Jatropha, Pongamia Pinnata, Mahuva and Kusum) have little commercial value. Electricity will be generated directly by oils pressed from the oilseeds, commonly called Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO), using specially designed small gensets (10 & 20 kW). The deoiled cake left after the oil extraction will be used as feedstock for biogas plants in the capacity of 40 m3 & 80 m3, and the gas obtained from biogas plants will be used for electricity generation with the help of biogas gensets. The slurry from biogas plant is bio-manure which will be used in farmlands, and surplus quantities will be sold in open market.
In Kolwan the scheme envisages setting up of 20 kW & 25 kW power plants with biogas distribution network using agri-waste to produce bio-gas, which in turn is used to run generators for production of electricity, is selected for the project in Kolwan. The Biogas will first be utilized as raw material for generating electricity and the surplus will be sold to the villagers. This will ensure smooth functioning of the power plant and also generating additional income to the Village Energy Committee.
Solar energy based stand alone units are used to supplement energy production wherever appropriate.

Business Model:

Business Model for the Power Generation and Distribution
The current and the future electricity needs of the village community have been assessed through a detailed survey among the villages, where the demand profile includes productive loads for commercial, irrigation rural micro-enterprises, and the non-productive load includes the domestic, community and street lighting loads.
The power plants will operate for assured 330 days in a year, and power distribution has been optimised by managing the demand for various applications. As per the survey results, the estimated requirement of electricity for various applications is calculated as follows:
 Domestic Load
0.120 kW per household consisting of 3 Light Points (3 * 20 W) and 1 Fan/ TV Socket per household (1 * 60 W) Community Building Load :- 0.180 kW per building consisting of 3 Light Points (3 * 40 W) and
1 Fan/ TV/Computer Socket (1 * 60 W) Street Light
18 W each Productive Electrical Load :- Irrigation Pump: 5 to 10 HP / 3.730 to 7.46 kW
Ÿ Load for Rural Micro-enterprises: 10 HP / 7.460 kW
Ÿ Commercial Load: 200 W
Revenue Model
Based on the paying capacity of the villagers, and keeping in view the economic status of the villagers and their existing expenditure on kerosene, grid electricity etc. the tariff plan has been suggested for each cluster. The tariff plan is:
• Electricity for domestic use INR 2–3 per kWh
• Electricity for commercial use INR 5–10 per kWh.
• Electricity for Girivan (a private colony in Kolwan) INR 12 per kWh
• Surplus Biogas will be sold to households for cooking purposes at INR 8 per m3.
The bio-manure will be sold in the open market at prevalent market rates. At the current market price, this is expected to be INR 1500 per Ton.
In Korba, the tariff plan is:

• Electricity cost: INR 2.0–8.5 per kWh
• Selling cost of oilcake: INR 5.0–6.0 per kg
• Selling price of manure: INR 6.0–8.0 per kg

The schematic of revenue generation model is shown below:
The chart indicates that the revenue inflow is by selling of electricity to households, irrigation and commercial establishments, selling of surplus de-oiled cake after oil extraction and slurry as manure from biogas plant. The major revenue outflow will be on oilseed procurement, their transportation at the project site, operation and maintenance and management of operation.
Since the proposed project uses raw oils from Pongamia and Jatropha Curcas, the project adds economic value to the collection of seeds and extraction of oil and creates employment opportunities for the landless, small farmers, women, and the rural poor. The incomes of these vulnerable groups are expected to increase substantially from tree planting and seed collection. In addition, as the project promotes the planting of energy trees on wastelands and degraded forest areas, there will be substantial environmental benefits to society.

Governance model:
Village Energy Committees (VECs) are being formed at cluster level comprising of 3 or 4 villages. Sub-committees are being planned in each village of the cluster as an integral part of the VEC. The responsibilities of the VECs include operation and maintenance of the electrical systems, management of feedstock collection, door-to-door revenue collection, book keeping etc.
The VEC will be directly responsible for the nodal village in the same manner as each Sub-committee manages the business at each village. VEC functioning according to the mandate the Panchayati Raj Institutions Act have members of the village Panchayat as members in the VEC. In order to promote social equity, VECs has representation of various section of the community including women, weaker sections of the society, youth and other progressive farmers. The Sub-committee will also maintain the backward/ forward communication linkages between the villagers and the VEC.
Thus, the governance model will promote community participation and decentralized decision making in the project. A process of electricity generation which is owned and maintained by the community is being developed to ensure long time sustainability of the project.

Planned outcomes:

• Development of business model for renewable energy based decentralized energy generation and distribution to fulfil energy requirements for productive uses in the rural areas
• The farmers in 30 villages in Korba (Chhattisgarh) and Pune (Maharashtra) have access to reliable energy services based on renewable energy
• Enhanced capacity of the VECs, village panchayats, state level policy makers and public & private implementing agencies for effective implementation of the pilot projects
Intended Impacts:

Commercially viable models for decentralised rural energy supply based on renewable sources are developed and disseminated for up-scaling under the Rural Electrification Programme of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

Ongoing Projects