Access to Reliable Electricity in God’s Own Garden

Kongwang is a small village located in Amlarem of Jaintia Hills district, Meghalaya with total 13 families residing. Trailing up 30 minutes from a deserted road near the Bangladesh border, this village is so remote that it looks like it is in the middle of nowhere. With an approach that is narrow and traversable only by foot, the village is a pristine and untouched spot of Meghalaya with breathtaking views all around.

Problem of Reliable Energy Access in Kongwang Village Problem of Reliable Energy Access in Kongwang Village

There was no access to reliable electricity for the people of Konwang. Having light, for them meant smoky homes and inhaling fumes from kerosene lamps. Following are the few problems they faced in their daily life due to inaccessibility of electricity:

• Simple activities like cooking, washing, and binding betel leaves were impossible to perform after sunset as evenings were lit up only with the dim glimmers of candle lights, kerosene lamps, and intermittent bulbs run on dry-cell or rechargeable car batteries.
• Due to the unavailability of electricity, it was difficult to do any productive work. They could merely navigate inside and around the house, making the villagers feel extremely unsafe, insecure, and immobile after dark.
• The car batteries provided a better level of lighting, but recharging them was a major challenge, not only because of their hefty weight, but also due to the unreliability of the quality of charging services that were sparsely available.

Steps Taken to Address the Problem

Kongwang was identified as one of the first villages for the installation of a solar charging station (SCS) and for the implementation of stand-alone integrated domestic energy systems (IDES) under the TERI–POSOCO CSR partnership in 2012–13.

Maintenance of SCS: Iashahlang Kongwang who is the village level entrepreneur (VLE) and his daughter Balanrika, who is the Secretary of the village cooperative society (VCS) and a teacher at the village school operates and manages the solar charging station.

Results

The success of the project has also been possible due to the ‘sustainability’ approach that was kept in mind during implementations and covered the following considerations: No operating cost towards feedstock No carbon dioxide emissions Replacement of a highly subsidized albeit non-renewable fuel such as kerosene

Fee for service delivery model, which offered a simple and affordable renting arrangement. Benefits and the impact experienced in the lives of the residents after the implementation of the project are as follows:

• Households saved an average of Rs 500 per month by transitioning to clean energy alternatives. The money was earlier spent on procuring 5l of kerosene every month.
• Monthly incomes increased by nearly Rs 8,000 on an average for households which operated and managed solar charging stations and rented out 35 lanterns daily.
• Women also earned more as they were able to work extra hours in the evenings to bind betel leaves and sell higher volumes in the local market.
• Men were able to use the lanterns after dark to collect betel nuts and firewood in the forest, increasing their productive use of time even after sunset.
• Children’s grades improved considerably as they were able to study in the evenings.
• It became much safer and easier to navigate through the village at night and mobility was significantly enhanced.
• Members of the community had better opportunities to interact and congregate by the lamp lights in the evening, a social opportunity that was highly restricted due to poor light sources.

Source: TERI. 2015. Lighting up Lives in God’s Own Garden. Journey towards a Billion 8(2):10–11