A Bright Idea

“We chose this project because of its technological innovation and the ability to quickly impact millions of poor households that are not connected to the power grid.

The direct capture system (DC) was created by the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, India. The technology, called Solar DC Inverterless, removes the requirement of AC to DC and DC to AC conversions which helps in reducing costs. This system offers the most efficient way of utilizing solar power without compromising affordability in poor rural communities not connected to the national or regional power grid.”

Project Type: Technology Based Avoidance/Reduction

Carbon Standard: Gold Standard

Vintage: 2019-2021

Additionality: The project uses a combination of carbon finance and microfinance to bring clean renewable solar energy to power lights and appliances to rural households. Savings of up to 1/3 of household income spent on kerosene, a fossil fuel, for lighting enables household repayment of the loan as well as provides long-term savings of funds that can be used for other needs.

Permanence: The electricity generated by the system permanently displaces the need for burning kerosene for lighting.

Site Visit: Q4 2019

This project replaces inefficient fossil fuel energy sources such as kerosene with a rooftop solar panel program that provides Direct Current (DC) electricity. Now 40,000 rural households have access to clean, renewable energy. In India, 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.

In India off-grid means remote, rural areas where there are no roads, frequent sandstorms and villagers live in mud thatch huts. There are very few local resources.

To visit one of the project areas, we traveled to river islands on a boat for several hours that are home to extremely poor Jute farmers. Their weather is characterized by regular floods and extremely hot weather and the population is constantly at risk from diseases such as dengue and malaria. Due to distance and regular flooding that can wash away infrastructure, it would be difficult to establish a regular grid connection.

These households consume less than 500 kWh of electricity per year, the equivalent of the energy used in one month by your electric water heater or room air conditioner. 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, includes 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. .

• Provides a clean reliable source of energy & light in a place where some villagers had never seen an electric light before
• Provides monetary savings that can be used for important household necessities
• Provides cleaner air without kerosene lanterns
• Customers are able to monitor the system to understand how to better utilize it for their needs
• Fans help keep disease-carrying mosquitos away from sleeping babies and families

• Encouraging villagers to change their traditional ways
• Must have DC powered appliances available