Ordinarily, it consists of an array of solar panels, which transmit power to a central unit called the Power Conditioning Unit (PCU). The working of solar micro-grids is quite simple and easily understandable. This is where the solar micro-grid technology becomes highly relevant. Unpredictability of power supply isn't allowing such villages to reap benefits of power supply. Such poor-quality of electricity supply isn't really changing lives in the villages that got only recently electrified. Presently, many states are facing issues like power outages, load shedding and voltage fluctuations. What rural development demands is not mere power supply villages on official records, but also a good-quality electricity service that can actually transform the rural regions. The rural electrification push by the government has managed to push electricity supply to millions of households across the nation. This is why the government is also working on the issue with a number of electrification schemes like the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) and Saubhagya Yojna. There is a comprehensive gap in urban development and rural development with the most basic of issues being lack of quality power supply to the villages. India, being a developing country, continues to battle wide urban-rural disparity. Rural electrification remains one of the priorities in socio-economic development of rural areas, encouraging poverty alleviation, accelerating growth goals and removing urban-rural disparities.īan Ki-moon, former Secretary-General of the United Nations has even described energy as “The golden thread that connects economic growth, social equity and an environment that allows the world to thrive” (UN, 2012). A central unit powers street lights, an LED television & set-top box installed in the village community centre and an irrigation pump during the sunlight hours.īaripatha's case shows how solar micro-grid technology can push India's rural electrification goals.

Two solar home-lighting systems are installed in each household that also function as a charging facility for mobile phones and other devices. The village could never be electrified by grid power but use of solar micro-grid technology installed by Jakson Group, a leading solar EPC company in India has finally led to its electrification. It employs youths in the village and is based on a low cost model that involves only regular cleaning of panels and maintaining optimum water levels of batteries.īaripatha is the first village to be fully electrified by using solar power in Odisha. The village boasts of a community-owned solar project. However, the small village has become a sign of what solar power can achieve in India's rural electrification goals. It has a very small population of just 350 people with 61 households. Ever heard about Baripatha? It is a tribal village near Odisha's Bhubaneswar.

Micro grids slar