Majority of energy resources required for day-to-day operations are limited and irreplaceable. If not monitored or used accurately, the next generation will face acute energy crisis. As energy crisis would deepen across the globe, increasing costs and import of conventional resources will not only reflect a bad effect on the economy of a country, it will mostly trickle down to the poor and middle classes of society.
Perhaps, one good strategy to optimally utilise energy sources is to harness them at the local level and India has cracked this code. One of the best and cheapest solution towards “unlimited power” is the Sun which could be harnessed at many levels, from rural to urban.
From Cities to Villages, India’s unlimited Solar Potential
Endowed with vast solar energy potential, India has taken huge strides to expand this energy resource in the urban and rural trenches of the country. “About 5,000 trillion kWh per year energy is incident over India’s land area with most parts receiving 4-7 kWh per sq. m per day,” the Ministry of New and Renewable energy states.
Speaking at the 94th Episode of Mann Ki Baat on 30 October, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Today, India is combining its traditional experiences with modern science, that is why, today, we have become one of the largest countries to generate electricity from solar energy.”
For India, sunlight is available in abundance alongside technologies to harness and convert it into electric power. To achieve this, Solar photovoltaic power can be effectively harnessed providing huge scalability across the country.
Starting from the villages, India has begun optimal utilization of Solar Energy resource that not only fulfil Sustainable Energy Goals but also fills the pocket of those who harness it!
Infact, how solar energy is changing the lives of the poor and middle class of India can also be a subject of study. The First Solar powered village of India, Modhera, has established itself as the nation’s first hamlet to be powered by solar energy.
Modhera Surya Gram – No bill, Extra Income
Most of the houses in Modhera Surya Gram, located in the Mehsana district of Gujarat, have started generating electricity from solar power. Many houses in the village get zero electricity bill at the end of the month, instead, they receive a check from the ‘electricity income’ that is being generated.
In the daytime, solar panels provide power to the village, while in the evening, BESS, India’s first grid-connected megawatt-hour scale battery energy storage system, provides power to the houses.
“Seeing this happen, now people of many villages of the country are writing letters to me stating that their village should also be converted into Surya Gram,” PM Modi said in his Mann Ki Baat hoping that “the day is not far when the construction of Suryagrams in India will become a big mass movement.”
Today, Modhera meets its complete electricity requirements with a 6 MW solar plant with a 15 MWh battery energy storage system on 12 hectares (0.12 km2) of land located 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from the village. About 271 houses (of the 1600 houses) in Modhera have installed rooftop solar systems. With this, people in the village can save 60% to 100% on their electricity bills.
Driven by the example of Modhera village, India is now working in the direction where the producer and the consumer of electricity are the people themselves.
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