The Norwegian Prime Minister visits Scatec Solar’s rural electrification project in Rampura, India
The Norwegian Prime Minister, Mr. Jens Stoltenberg, today made a visit to Rampura in Uttar Pradesh, the first village to get a Community Solar Power Plant by Scatec Solar. The visit comes as the company, together with Indian and Norwegian governments, is about to launch the scaling-up of the solar energy project for rural electrification in India. Indian and Norwegian governments in partnership with Scatec Solar will jointly finance the expansion from two to 32 villages, impacting approximately 1800 families.
Delhi, 5 February 2009
- With technology from Norway
and sun
from India
, this
project proves that private companies, government organisations and rural
communities can work together to achieve sustainable development, says Prime Minister
Stoltenberg. He is in India
to have
talks with the Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Manmohan Singh and to attend the
Delhi Sustainable Development Summit where he will deliver a keynote address. He
took the opportunity to visit Rampura to examine the opportunities solar energy
represents in bringing climate friendly power to areas that currently have no
access to electricity.
In 2008 Scatec Solar took the initiative to develop a
sustainable and scalable model for off-grid solar systems in rural areas. After
a successful implementation of solar systems in two villages, Rampura and
Gopalpura respectively, another 30 villages in India
will now
have Community Solar Power Plants (CSPPs) installed. The project target is to
install approximately 300 kWp in 30 villages not currently connected to the electricity
grid. In total this will have an impact on approximately 1800 families.
- Our intention with the two pilot projects was to
demonstrate that decentralized solar PV is a viable solution for rural
electrification. The support from the Norwegian and Indian governments is confirmation
that given the right approach and the right partnerships, solar PV provides
significant benefits for rural development,” says Alf Bjørseth, founder and
board member in Scatec Solar, host and guide for the Prime Minister in Rampura.
.
After the implementation of the two pilots fully
financed by Scatec Solar, the company was invited by the Norwegian and Indian
governments to expand the project with another 30 villages. This
public-private-people partnership is co-financed by the Norwegian Agency for
Development Cooperation (Norad) 63%, the Indian Ministry of New and Renewable
Energy (MNRE)
30% and Scatec Solar for
7% of the total project costs. Indian Renewal Energy Development Agency (IREDA)
will take care of the project monitoring.
-With the expansion of the project, our ambition is to
develop business models and financial vehicles to
ensure a roll-out of village plants on a large
scale, says Bjørseth, who is currently in Delhi in connection with the Delhi
Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS), where he will give an intervention on 5
February.
Commercial aspects are considered throughout the project.
Examples of activities are silk reeling, flour mills, horticulture, butter
churner and drip irrigation.
To increase
the local involvement and to assure that local interests are taken into
account, the project engages five non-governmental organizations (NGOs), namely
Pradan, Haritika, Srijan, Development Alternatives and Ledeg. The NGOs act as
door openers into the project villages, and work to mobilize the villagers and
analyze the needs of the community. The NGOs work with the villagers to promote
the development of income generating activities which may take advantage of the
arrival of electricity to the village.
An important outcome of this project is to make
electrification of villages result in increased income generation and economic
development in the villages, which also will ensure the sustainability of the
project. This consists of a robust business model that is based on a local
revenue scheme that is sustainable and easily replicable. The electricity
tariffs are based on what villagers currently pay for different sources of
energy, such as kerosene and diesel. Another major outcome of the project is
the establishment of a Financial Advisory Group, whose mandate is to develop a
new and innovative financial incentive scheme which may spur a rapid roll-out
of CSPPs on a significant scale.
The project villages are situated in four different states, namely, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir .
