Presenter : Anshuman Lath

1. Energy access in rural India
Enabling Agriculture
Hyderabad
September 23, 2016

2. Business Overview : Gram Oorja
• Gram Oorja fulfils the electricity, cooking fuel and water needs of tribal communities in
the remote, off-grid regions of India using PV micro-grids, biogas based cooking grids
and solar pumps
• Ensures operational and financial stability of projects through an effective metering
and tariff mechanism and organising appropriate finance
• Currently working in tribal villages of Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Odisha, Rajasthan and
North Karnataka.
• Plans to expand into the tribal belts of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh as well as the
North-East.
• Clients include some of India’s largest foundations like the Tata Trusts and ICICI Bank
Limited and policy and research institutions worldwide
• Founded by entrepreneurs from premier institutions like the IITs and IIMs and with
experience in social, financial and energy sectors

3. Products
Solar micro-grids ranging from 5-20 kWp
Biogas grids ranging from 50-200 cubic meter size for cooking
Solar water pumps (AC & DC)
Electrification of education and health institutions

4. Funders
Funders
Community
Partners/
customers
Beneficiaries
A
C
•Bosch Solar
•Sir Dorab Tata Trust
•ICICI Bank
•Rotary
•Grundfos Foundation
•Tribal communities
Funds
Orders
Business Model
• Gram Oorja works to integrate the various aspects to ensure delivery of sustainable
projects
Long Term
Handholding

5. Our Activities

6. Target Markets
•69 districts with more than
25% tribal population
•Gram Oorja plans to expand
into the tribal districts of
Madhya Pradesh,
Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan

7. • Deep relationships with social service organisations who work intensively with
communities
• Ability to understand needs and aspirations and design appropriate systems
• Ability to source appropriate finance ensuring sustainability of projects
• Ability to work in geographically and politically difficult markets nationwide
• Has been able to provide a good base for testing various products anywhere in India
• Strong survey reach and skills
Gram Oorja – Unique Value Proposition

8. Solar water pumping - Agriculture

9. Dongripada
Village – Dongripada
Taluka – Jawhar
District – Palghar
Pump size – 3 HP
PV size – 3 KWp
Total head – 55 m
Pump capacity – 28,000 lits/day
Irrigated land – 5 acres
Type of irrigation – Drip
Crops – Vegetables & flowers

10. Jhumkapatia
Village – Jhumkapatia
Taluka – Rasol
District – Dhenkanal
Pump size – 7.5 HP
PV size – 7.8 KWp
Total head – 35 m
Pump capacity – 1.25 lakh lits/day
Irrigated land – 9 acres
Type of irrigation – Drip
Crops – Vegetables & fruits

11. Survani
Village – Survani
Taluka – Dhadgaon
District – Nandurbar
Pump size – 7.5 HP
PV size – 7.5 KWp
Total head – 25 m
Pump capacity – 2.5 lakh lits/day
Irrigated land – 17 acres
Type of irrigation – Flood
Crops – Vegetables

12. Survani
Pump size – 7.5 HP
PV size – 7.5 KWp
Total head – 25 m
Pump capacity – 2.5 lakh lits/day
Cost comparison with diesel engine:
Diesel engine required to achieve equivalent output of water – 10 HP
Its diesel consumption – 2 lit/hr
Operational time – 5 hrs
Diesel rate – 55 Rs/lit
Expenditure on diesel per day – Rs. 550/-
Life of the solar pumping unit – 25 years

13. Solar Micro-grid – Commercial load

14. Bhamane
Village – Bhamane
Taluka – Joida
District – Uttar Kannad
Number of houses – 32
Population – 160
Project – Hybrid micro-grid
Technologies used – Solar PV
& micro hydro

15. Bhamane
Total generation – 8 KW
PV size – 3 KWp
Turbine – 5 KW
Rice huller – 3 HP
Flour mill – 3 HP

16. 1. Setting the stage
• The first stage is Deep interaction with the community
• Assess the needs and willingness of the TG
• Inherent leadership in the community, if any, comes to the forefront
• Get the women on-board
• Building trust and goodwill is essential
This stage could be the most significant cost apart from hardware

17. 2. Designing to meet future aspirations
Once on-demand power is provided, people discover and
add new uses for electricity:
• Utilization of the system steadily increases
• Lifestyle changes and livelihood opportunities warrant high
loads that must be planned for
– In Darewadi, a flour mill, two computers and a water pump account for
~16-18 units per day
– Water pumps have transformed the lives of women by eliminating 4-5
hours of work during dry months
– Water pumps will enable some farmers to graduate from an annual
crop to two crops per year

18. Sample Load Profiles

19. 3. Devising a sustainable tariff
 Metered consumption based charging is
essential for
– accountability
– discipline
– load management
 Creating a corpus with billing collections
is essential for
– battery replacement
– day-to-day O&M

20. Example of monthly paper bill (in Darewadi)
Battery bank

21. 4. Minimizing battery backup
• Minimizing battery storage has several advantages
– Reduced upfront investment
– Reduced battery replacement costs
– Minimizing environmental impact
• Manual optimization through separate feeder lines for household, commercial and
street-lighting loads
– Enables better management during periods of low generation

22. Feeder line circuits
Darewadi during monsoons

23. 5. Meeting safety & quality standards
• The installations should meet safety standards as
per utility specifications
• Higher upfront investment but longer term
sustainability
• Possibility of interconnection with
the grid, depending on future policy
• Ensures safety of people and cattle
• Helps meet the psychological need
of being connected to the world

24. 6. Closing the loop: Transfer of ownership
• Entrepreneurs cannot stay engaged indefinitely for day-to-day management,
resolving disputes, etc
• A representative trust or village council plays a critical role in the success of the
project
• People more likely to maintain if they feel like owners
• Anecdotal evidence from
Darewadi

25. Biogas based Cooking Grid

26. Biogas based Cooking Grid

27. Rationale
• Cleaner, healthier and less cumbersome cooking systems with Biogas.
• Less burden on women to collect firewood.
• Reduction in smoke-related health problems due to burning of wood.
• Saves time, energy and money spent in getting firewood/kerosene/LPG.
• Increases time for family and for productive cottage industries.
• Reduced burden on forests due to less dependency on firewood.
• Nominal harmful greenhouse gas emissions due to the use of clean energy.

28. Biogas cooking grids at Kolvan
Individual Consumer
School i.e .
Commercial Consumer
Scrubber and
Boosting System Gas Line
Flame @ Site
Flame @ End
User
Flame @
Commercial User
Biogas
Plant
Consum
er

29. Roof Top installations for Schools
Gram Oorja has installed small PV systems
for running electrical load in schools &
organizations including few lights, fans &
computers:
• Pragati Pratishthan School
• Sadhana Village
• Ghatandevi Shikshak Prasarak Mandal
• Shree Gadage Maharaj Secondary
Ashram School & Junior college
• Mahajan Guruji Secondary and Higher
Secondary Ashram School
• Kranti Jyoti Savitribai Phule Primary,
Secondary & Junior College
• Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram

30. Roof Top installations for Primary Health Centers
Gram Oorja has installed PV systems for
running electrical load in 11 Primary Health
Centers in Nandurbar District to ensure
24x7 electricity for operating lights, fans,
medical equipment and refrigeratiors for
vaccine storage.
The system configurations were:
 Solar Photovoltaic capacity: 3 kWp
 Solar Photovoltaic capacity: 6 kWp

31. Biogas cooking grids

32. Acceptance