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Push for decentralised renewable energy to meet the needs of rural India

“The centralised grid based approach of RGGVY has not been able to meet people’s aspirations. Rural areas have always been neglected in this energy hierarchy. Decentralised renewable energy can break this hierarchy and provide quick, reliable and sustainable power to people. 

With Centre’s ambitious Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana failing to provide quality electricity access to rural India, at a National Consultation organised by Greenpeace, restructuring of RGGVY to include decentralised renewable energy for quick and reliable electricity to all, was the key issue on focus. The consultation brought together government agencies, energy experts, policy makers and civil society representatives….

“The centralised grid based approach of RGGVY has not been able to meet people’s aspirations. Rural areas have always been neglected in this energy hierarchy. Decentralised renewable energy can break this hierarchy and provide quick, reliable and sustainable power to people. The planning commission should consider and include it in the scheme,” said Divya Raghunandan, Campaigns Director, Greenpeace India.

This shift to decentralisation was echoed by Deepak Gupta, Secretary, Ministry of new and renewable energy, recently at the global energy forum at Vienna, Austria.  He highlighted the need for a fundamental rethink in India’s approach to rural electrification, and the failure of the currently prevalent grid extension approach towards fulfilling the mandate of electricity for all. He emphasized on decentralised distributed generation models (DDG) operated at the local level which rely on renewable energy sources and technologies as the way forward to deliver on energy access. This would deliver faster on access while reducing costs around centralised grid extension…….

Greenpeace calls on the Planning Commission and the Ministry of Power to mainstream DRE in RGGVY in a significant way. The scheme should:

• Take up a target of small scale renewable energy generation (mix of mini-grid and off-grid) infrastructure development in the 12th plan period.
• Include electrification for 100 per cent households in a village.
• Embed the social audit component in the scheme to enhance accountability of the system.
• Include guidelines for energy infrastructure for irrigation and medium and small scale industries as part of rural energy programme
• Inclusion of Panchayati Raj Institutions to enable better implementation and monitoring of the scheme.

Greenpeace will share the recommendations emerging out of today’s consultation with the Planning Commission and the Ministry of Power.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/decentralised-renewable-energy-holdskey-to-rural-electrification/441180/

July 2, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | decentralised, India