US Markets Loading... h m s

HOMEPAGE

Tech

Something magical is happening with renewable energy in India

Rebecca Harrington

2016-03-02T17:32:24Z

Across India, 300 million people aren't connected to the electrical grid.

Advertisement

Even for many who are, transmission can be spotty, resulting in frequent brown outs or complete power outages.

india electricity energy blackout — A woman uses a battery operated torch to prepare a meal inside the kitchen of her house in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh on June 19, 2012. Adnan Abidi/REUTERS

Because of this lack of electricity, many Indians are turning to solar power as a way to get their own energy off the grid. That means that in some areas, people adopt renewables before they ever start using fossil fuels like coal.

Kartikeya Singh, a doctoral candidate at Tufts University, has been researching India's energy poverty for nearly a decade. He shared his photos, his findings, and his stories about this grassroots solar energy movement with Tech Insider.

Advertisement

When you live without power, "there's so much that you miss out on," Singh said. "As a child, [you're] not able to study at night. Basically your day ends when the sun goes down."

india energy blackout — Muslim girls study by candlelight in Noida on July 30, 2012. Grid failure left more than 300 million people without power in New Delhi and much of northern India for hours in the worst blackout for more than a decade. Parivartan Sharma/REUTERS

"Economic opportunities are also limited," he said. "Small shopowners have to shut shop. And in many cases, when they're using kerosene after the sun goes down, their business is not as robust as say if they had electricity."

shopkeeper india power outage energy — A shopkeeper waits for customers at a grocery shop during a power-cut in Mumbai on September 2, 2014. Shailesh Andrade/REUTERS

Advertisement

The Indian government has pledged to connect the last household to the electrical grid by 2019.

india power energy electricity — Electric power cables tangled up by kites are seen on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, India on January 14, 2016. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's efforts to rescue India's ailing power sector and end the country's notorious blackouts is facing some hurdles. Amit Dave/REUTERS

Source: Bloomberg Business

But expanding the grid can take a long time. This is Singh's ancestral home in the village of Jakhan, where his grandfather applied for grid access in the 1970s. They just got electricity a few years ago.

Author's Ancestral Home

Advertisement

Until universal access to the grid becomes a reality, the Indian people are taking power into their own hands — and adopting solar energy at a remarkable rate.

Microgrid in market panels

Back in 2007, Singh (far right) surveyed people about their solar energy use. "I literally went into the villages door-to-door, had a million cups of chai, basically sitting down, talking to people," he said.

Author fieldwork — Singh interviews someone about their solar home lighting system on the outskirts of Dabkan village in the state of Rajasthan. Courtesy of Kartikeya Singh

Advertisement

Singh found that many local entrepreneurs see solar as a viable business, like this man who bought his own microgrid.

Mlinda2 — A microgrid is like a much smaller version of the formal electrical grid that's usually powered by renewables like solar. Courtesy of Kartikeya Singh

Source: DOE

He sells electricity to his neighbors — who can plug into his solar-powered microgrid — and powers the many batteries you can see here.

Microgrid batteries

Advertisement

Solar-powered lanterns are also increasingly popular. Here, a family showed Singh all six that they own to light up their home at night.

GLP

This woman ran a business in the state of Uttar Pradesh renting solar-charged lanterns for 2 Rupees a day. If a customer didn't bring it back on time, they got a fine.

LBL

Advertisement

She charged the lanterns from solar panels on her roof. You can see her husband here posing with them.

LBL1

This is a franchise of Orb Energy, where a local man has bought the rights to sell Orb solar products. The advertisement reads, "Now our children can study without power cuts."

Orb2 — The franchise is located next to a bank and near the marketplace in the town of Channapatna. Courtesy of Kartikeya Singh

Advertisement

"You won't find many solar products that don't charge cell phones," Singh said. In 2010, a <a href="http://unu.edu/media-relations/releases/greater-access-to-cell-phones-than-toilets-in-india.html">report</a> found that more Indians had access to cellphones than toilets.

solar cellphone charging microgrid in market — A solar-powered microgrid charges many phones in this local market. Courtesy of Kartikeya Singh

Renewable energy also changes the game for Indian farmers. Half of their incomes can go into paying for diesel pumps to get water for irrigation, Singh said. So installing solar-powered irrigation pumps, like this one, can help cut both costs and carbon emissions.

solar irrigation pump

Advertisement

Even this gas station is powered by solar, in a somewhat ironic twist.

Petrol Station Solar

One particularly inspirational story of solar adoption comes from a place called <a href="http://www.barefootcollege.org/">Barefoot College</a>. Women from villages across India and around the world get grants to come learn how to build solar lighting systems.

women making solar 2

Advertisement

When Singh visited, they were making circuit boards. Though many are illiterate, "they can tell you what all the components are in English," he said.

women making solar 1

The women, who are mostly grandmothers, build other solar-powered items, too, like this cooker. Since 2008, the program has brought electricity to over 450,000 people in 40,000 households.

women making solar 3

Source: Barefoot College

Advertisement

At night, children can come to the solar-powered school at Barefoot College to learn.

solar night school — A female instructor teaches her pupils in Tilonia Village in the state of Rajasthan. Courtesy of Kartikeya Singh

Source: Barefoot College

This movement to provide power, while unfortunately borne out of necessity because of the lack of access to formal electricity, is incredible. "It's democratized power for the people," Singh said.

solar inverter — A woman poses in front of her solar-powered inverter, which can feed electricity into appliances during an outage. Courtesy of Kartikeya Singh

India Energy

Advertisement

Jump to

Main content
Search
Account