A Bright Idea

In India off-grid means remote, rural areas where there are no roads, frequent sandstorms and villagers who live in mud thatch or tin huts. Only 44% of rural households have access to electricity, with 50 million homes off-grid and 50% of Indian homes unable to afford even subsidized electricity. This rooftop solar panel program provides clean, renewable, Direct Current (DC) electricity to 40,000 rural households many of whom would not have lights otherwise. Households consume less than 500 kWh of electricity per year. For comparison purposes, the average American home consumes an average of 900 kWh of electricity in a month. The innovative and award-winning DC system created by the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, provides families with the rooftop DC solar panel, a small-sized battery with a controller to stop charging when full, an inverter-less converter to Alternating Current (AC), light bulbs, a fan, a mobile charging unit and a socket for other uses. To visit one of the project areas, we traveled by boat to river islands that are home to extremely poor Jute farmers. Their weather is characterized by regular floods and extreme heat.  Local people are constantly at risk of diseases such as dengue and malaria.

The project uses a combination of carbon finance and microfinance to bring clean renewable solar energy to power lights and appliances for rural households. Families save of up to 1/3 of their household income which helps them repay their loans and provide long term savings that can be used for other needs. While decentralized roof-top solar to generate power is another energy option for rural homes, the cost of a conventional solar PV system to provide basic light and fans (and cell-phone charger) have been problematic because of poor design and high battery costs. For off-grid homes, where electricity is only traveling a short distance, DC that provides a constant voltage or current is an excellent solution. DC energy has a small footprint because it is easy to harness and store, requires a smaller battery, and a smaller rooftop panel to gather electricity.

Rural households who have been without a source of clean efficient energy for the entirety of their lives. Villagers who can now study and work in the evenings because they have light. It helps the planet by avoiding substantial quantities of fossil fuel emissions from kerosene lanterns.

We chose this project because of its technological innovation and the possibility of quick distribution to millions of poor households that are not connected to the grid.

The DC system is created by a top-level academic institution namely – Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India. The technology removes the requirement of AC to DC and DC to AC conversions which helps in reducing costs. Solar DC Inverterless systems offer the most efficient way of utilizing solar power without compromising on affordability in poor rural communities not connected to the national or regional grid.