Pilot Electrification in Jawadhu Hills, Tamilnadu, IndiaIn Partnership with DHAN Foundation, April 2016

A PHOTO STORY

MOU discussion with Mr MP Vasimalai (centre), Executive Director, DHAN Foundation, Madurai, Tamilnadu, India.Also in the picture are Anjum & Arun Amirtham, Mr R Adhinarayanan and Mr A Ramesh.

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Interaction on sustainable agriculture and energy with villagers in T. Kallupatti, close to Thirumangalam, Madurai district.

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An “eco house” provided by the state government of Tamilnadu with solar panels for 4 lamps and a fan.Only two of the villagers were able to avail of the government’s scheme.

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Solar Panel on Roof Battery and Electronics

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Jawadhu Hills

The location of the pilot electrification – Jawadhu Hills, a tribal area of Tamilnadu.The India Hub of zeroPoverty will be opened in Bangalore in August 2016.

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India Hub

DHAN FoundationHeadquarters

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Mobile telephony, including 3G data, is available in the remotest villages of India.India is now the second largest market for mobile phones, after China.

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Orientation discussion with DHAN field workers in Jamuna Marathur, the closest town to the pilot electrification site.

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5C-CoRE Rural Electrification ModelThe 5C-CoRE™ Model for Rural Electrifi cation

Technology

Rural

CommunityAdvocacy &Local Anchoring

Planning,Measurement& Evaluation

Customer Support& Training

Governance

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Solar Home System: Modular, Upgradable and Scalable

Scalable Solar Home System

Solar Panel

Mobile Handset

Charger LED

Battery

Scalable

Solar

Controller

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Scalable DC Technology Portfolio

6 Wp 12 Wp 24 Wp 48 Wp 96 Wp uGrid

Basic 1

Basic 2

Edutainment

Comfort 1

Comfort 2

CommunityM2S2

(* Available 2017)

*

*

Power

Performance

*

220V ACECOSYSTEM

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With the DHAN team. On the far left is Mr R Adhinarayanan, Programme Leader for Climate Change Initiatives.

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The hilly terrain of Jawadhu Hills. The sky was clear.

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Electricity grid reaches some hamlets. But there are frequent black-outs.24x7 electricity is a privilege reserved for the metropolitan regions of India.

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Local villagers are ingenious to find clever ways to secure electricity, when possible!Transmission and distribution (T&D) losses - including theft - amount to 28% in India.

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4 km of the journey from the closest town, Jamuna Marathur, was by van.

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Another 4 km could be covered on a motorcycle.

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The last 2 km had to be covered by foot!Villagers need to routinely cover 10 km by foot each week to buy kerosene and many other provisions.

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Interacting with some of the rural girls, while waiting for the rest of the team to arrive by motorcycle shuttle service.The DHAN Foundation and the TVS Trust have been active in the area since over a decade. SHGs are well established.

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Water is drawn from a local well. The water, also used for drinking and cooking, is rather murky.

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The path was steep and slippery, at places…

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… and long.

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Livelihood depends on cattle and agriculture.

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Life seems well organised. Here, hay is stored on stilts for protection from damage by rain.

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Even the cattle seek the protection of the shade that trees provide, for refuge from the scorching sun.

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Interaction with the villagers is led by Mr Adhinarayanan, Programme Leader, DHAN Foundation.

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The villagers are curious and attentive.

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A typical hut in the hamlet. There are no windows - for protection from sunlight and heat, by day, and wild animals, by night.

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Sangeetha displays the naked kerosene lamp, which they use for lighting. It is inefficient, sooty and harmful for health.Watery eyes, blackened nostrils and smoke-filled homes are the symptoms. Pulmonary respiratory disease is common.

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Solar energy has been tried by some families in the past, but it has failed.Something as simple as a faulty switch results in the technology/product falling into disuse, just after 3 months.

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Arun demonstrates the zeroPoverty Solar Home System. He realizes squatting could be a core competence!

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The basic configuration of zeroPoverty’s solar home system comes with two lamps and a mobile charging adapter.

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The villagers want to know if they can add more lamps to the system.

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The lighting that a solar home system provides primarily impacts children (for education) and women (healthier air quality).

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Mobile phones improve social connectedness as well as access to the sporadic daily wages job market.

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The villagers have a lot of questions. The men are keen to have a television. A radio, for cinema songs, is simply not enough!

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On average, a family spends Rs 200 to Rs 300 on kerosene, Rs 50 for transportation andRs 100 for mobile charging, per month. The solar home system is paid back in weekly installments of Rs 100 over a year.

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The zeroPoverty Solar Home System floods the dark interior of Chinnamma’s and Sangeetha’s hut with light.International rural electrification standards recommend 200 lumens. zeroPoverty offers 300 lumens of light.

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A brighter home is a cleaner home and a healthier home.

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The difference between the kerosene lamp and the light from zeroPoverty’s Solar Home System is like day and night!

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All smiles! zeroPoverty’s solar home system brings light, life and laughter.

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Learning & Feedback from Field Trip

• Strategic alignment in terms of vision and mission with partner NGOs is critical.• Collaboration requires a strong trust base.• Remote off-grid areas can be hard to reach.• In some cases, there has been experience with solar technology - however,

products have failed for very simple reasons; rural folk are helpless without support.• Maintenance-free technology is required. "Top-up" lead-acid batteries are not cared

for simply because "distilled water“ is an unknown concept for rural consumers!• Each LED lamp provides 10 times as much light as a naked kerosene lamp.• Women seemed more enthusiastic than men on the impact of lighting in the hut.• Men were keener on the possibility of having a TV - radio was simply not good enough!• There is a keen sense of enterprise as well as a very high level of local ingenuity & creativity.• There seemed to be an un-articulated demand for more lamps.

"Can we add additional bulbs to the system?“• There was also an eagerness to negotiate, which indicates a clear market pull.

"Can we pay back in two years instead of in one year“• Concern was voiced if the solar home system will be made redundant when the government

finally provides grid-based electricity; or if grid-electrification will pass them by if theyindependently opted for solar electrification instead.

• There is a democratic decision-making process within the community.

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Next Steps

• zeroPoverty has participated in the Social Business Development Seminar offered byseif - Social Enterprise Initiative Foundation, Zurich, in October/November 2015.

• The initiative has won an extremely positive response at the BOP World Conventionin Mexico City, in December 2015.

• The development of the social business has the mentoring support of theimpactBOOST programme offered by seif, in collaboration with UBS.

• MoU towards strategic partnership with DHAN Foundation.• Registration process for the legal entity in India was kicked off in April 2016.• The hiring process for the Indian team is on-going.• Field trip and pilot demonstration undertaken to Jawadhu Hills in Tamilnadu in April 2016.

• Planning for the next six months:• Feasibility report based on rural survey of five communities (May/June)• Official validation of solar home system through national laboratory (June)• Installation of pilots systems in five communities in Tamilnadu - Jawadhu Hills, Kolli

Hills & Kalrayan Hills, and Karnataka - Gulbarga & Yadgiri district (June)• Pilot Testing and Evaluation of the results and feedback (June/July/August)• Opening of the zeroPoverty office in Bangalore (August)• Launch of phase 1 of rural electrification limited to TN and Karnataka (August-December)• Expansion to Assam in North India in partnership with DHAN Foundation (2017)

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2016 Q1

Planning

Alignment with partner NGOs

Product Qualification

2016 Q2

5 pilot communities

100 Families

1 Partner NGO

2016 Q3

10 Villages

1000Families

1 Partner NGO

2016 Q4

30 Villages

3000Families

1 Partner NGOs

2017 Q1

60 Villages

6000Families

2 Partner NGOs

40 Rural Jobs

Deployment Plan 2016/2017

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“It will be

wonderful to

deploy this social

business venture

along with you and

be a part of this

initiative in India

and worldwide…”

Dipal C. BaruaBangladeshi Pioneer in

Rural Electrification

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Partners

Concept & Design Implementation Technology

Grants

BRIGHT GREENENERGYFOUNDATION

Krishna RevankarIndependent ConsultantFormer CEO, Emmvee Solar Sys

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d

Switch on power. Switch off poverty.

Arun Amirtham | +41 79 282 72 54 | arun@zeroPoverty.ch

Arun Paul Sandra Amanda Oscar Das Premi