Project Summary

Sustained dissemination of electricity contributes to improvement in quality of life. Approximately one billion people in the world have no access to electricity, out of which a staggering 244 million people (mostly rural poor) live in India. Despite having access to grid, consistency in electricity supply remains a challenge exacerbating the situation. India being a sunshine country has strong potential for off-grid solar electricity generation, which could be particularly leveraged for rural interiors. Since 2014, the Solar Urja (energy) through Localization for Sustainability (SoULS) team at IIT Bombay has been engaging with rural poor households to implement 7 million solar lamps in five states of India. 

Objectives

The project has two key objectives:

1) to provide school-going children in rural poor households with off-grid solar lamps; and

2) to build entrepreneurial capacity and render training to rural poor households particularly women on assembly, distribution, maintenance, and manufacturing of solar products.

Key Findings

1. Evidence from this project shows that dissemination and implementation of off-grid solar technologies in poor communities is a function of complex interactions of social, economic, and technological sub-systems.
2. The willingness to pay for decentralized solar systems by rural poor increase if these communities have the opportunity to adopt and use these technologies.
3. Entrepreneurial capacity of the project beneficiaries (especially rural women) improved overtime. Multiple women in the project areas opened solar technology shops, that contributed increase in the overall household income.