Development Alternatives (DA), a New Delhi based Think Tank, has launched a Smart Power for Environmentally sound Economic Development (SPEED) Program, to harness the potential of smart business models to deliver electricity through Decentralized Renewable Energy (DRE) based power plants in underserved regions of the country.
The program seeks to integrate the demand for rural electrification and the need for mobile tower operators to get off diesel, thereby creating an opportunity for Decentralized Renewable Energy providers.
Currently India has more than 320,000 telecom towers that consume over 2 billion liters of diesel annually. SPEED provides them with an opportunity to cut costs, officials at DA said.
“The SPEED model is unique in the fact that it is the only effort aimed at using renewable energy based decentralized power generation for the entire spectrum of electricity needs in a village. Moreover, this is done with investment by private sector companies, the involvement of local community based organizations and, in several locations, telecom companies interested in “greening” their towers through the use of solar energy,” said Shrashtant Patara, senior vice president, Development Alternatives.
SPEED has been engaged in a number of rural electrification programs. A 30kW solar power plant has been established at Diara Rasulpur. It has covered 500 households in eleven villages and 5 new microenterprises in one village of Diara Rasulpur.
A 32KW Biomass Power Plant has been set up in Bara to cater to 150 households, micro enterprises, 3 telecom towers and Irrigation loads. In Baharayen, a 5 KW Solar power plant has been commissioned.
Micro enterprise/shop owners now avail power at roughly 30 percent lower rates than what they paid earlier. With provision of power supply to telecom towers in coming months, telecom tower operators will soon experience more predictability and cheaper tariff rates.
Over the next two years, SPEED projects will be set up at over 500 locations in Bihar and over 250 locations in Uttar Pradesh. Also, 25 to 30 block-level clusters of 15 to 20 projects each will be created in consultation with government agencies to demonstrate the potential of decentralized renewable energy projects in servicing “last-mile” customers who are otherwise neglected by mainstream Distribution Companies.