Name of the project:

Hand-holding and backstopping support for long-term sustenance of the remote village electrification project set up by WII at village Ranidhera in the state of Chhattisgarh

Program Area:

E&E

Country:

India

Project Length:

December 2007 – May 2010

Sponsor:

SDC

Contact:

nilanjan@winrockindia.org  
 
Background
Recognizing the role that electricity can play in facilitating economic growth and development considerable focus is being given by the Government of India and other development agencies in energising the remote un-electrified villages where grid electricity is most unlikely to reach in the foreseeable future. In India, the focus lately has been on development of decentralized distributed generation of electricity through the use of locally available and sustainable renewable energy resources.
 
Winrock International India (WII) has been an active player in the area of improving energy access to the economically marginalized rural population. Winrock International India with the support and co-operation of British High Commission (under their Global Opportunities Fund) and the Ministry of New and Renewable energy started the pilot project of remote village electrification through bio-fuel route. The objective of the pilot initiative was to demonstrate the technical and financial viability of running a small, decentralized power plant using non-edible vegetable oil as fuel in place of conventional diesel to provide electricity to a remote tribal village in the state of Chhattisgarh. The power plant has been running successfully for last 23 months (April 2007- March 2009) with assured electricity for stipulated hours everyday. The villagers are also making payment for services provided -a rare feat in any rural electrification project in India.
As a next step to strengthen the project, there was a need to develop the skills of the local operators, to build capacity of the village energy committee and develop other complimentary activities towards long-term sustainability of the project. The present project entitled “Hand-holding and backstopping support for long-term sustenance of the remote village electrification project set up by WII at village Ranidehra in the state of Chhattisgarh” is being supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation (SDC) to address the above felt need at the community level. The hand holding support is for a period of two years and extends from December 2007 till November 2009. The project will be in a position to successfully addressed the various sustainability issues and bring the initiative to a stage where WII can safely exit/withdraw from the project.

Objectives
The objectives of the proposed project are to:
  • Provide technical trouble shooting and back stopping support
  • Provide handholding support to the Village Energy Committee through capacity building and that of the local power plant operators.
  • Ensure long term financial viability of the project through complimentary interventions and leveraging the infrastructure already created as part of the same.
  • Monitoring operation and effect indicators.
  • Sharing of learnings for wider replication
Activity
In order to achieve the above stated objectives, following activities will be undertaken:

  • Providing support to the local operators for technical trouble shooting and facilitating backstopping support
  • Hand holding Support to the Village Energy Committee (VEC) in developing their capacity and skills to address the administrative and operational functions relating to the power plant.
  • Providing complimentary income generation activities to ensure long term sustainability of the project
  • Sharing of learnings from the project for wider replication of the same.
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