by Jenil Munim (Master's student at Technical University of Munich)
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The Journey of a thousand miles to trap the Sun
The data revealed by the Indian Family and Health Survey (2021) shows that around 4.3% of rural households in India still lack access to electricity. These 4.3% of rural unelectrified households roughly translate into 8 million Indian households and around 40 million people. The mini-grids powered by solar energy are proving as the most sustainable solution to provide electricity access to these unelectrified remote villages. India is home to more than 15,000 solar mini-grid projects. This was the reason why we chose India to write our Master’s thesis/Project Studies on the socio-economic impact of mini-grids, by considering the case studies from rural India.
We four students began our journey from the chaotic but magnificent megacity of Mumbai. For the first 10 days, we stayed in the state of Maharashtra by spending our days in the rural sites near Mumbai and Pune. At this place, we met our colleagues from the social enterprise named “Gram Oorja” which provides technical support for the implementation and maintenance of solar mini-grid projects. The mini-grids we visited in this state were functioning on a community-owned model. This is where we started our fieldwork by studying the social and economic impact of mini-grid projects. We focused on entrepreneurial opportunities arising from access to electricity. We observed the opening of new grocery shops selling cold drinks and beverages, women running tailor shops, and the operation of flour mills because of the electricity connection they received. The one fascinating entrepreneur we found was owning large speakers and a music system that rents out his DJ system during festivals and weddings. We also surveyed households to assess their wealth and observed a very high penetration of smartphones and eye-catching ownership of motorbikes among villagers.
During our time in Maharashtra, we also attended the TUM SEED 2-day workshop in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai (IITB). We met more than 60 researchers, industry experts, students, and people from the TUM SEED Center’s partner universities. We got the chance to learn from their shared insights, ask questions about our experiences in the fields, and discuss with them the sustainability of mini-grids, influencing factors, and dynamics in the life cycle of mini-grids. We dove deep into the intricacies of "Rural Mini-Grids: Sustainability Challenges and the Way Forward. It was inspiring to see that all these individuals and experts representing countries such as Ghana, Namibia, Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Peru, Indonesia, the US, Germany, Nepal, and Nigeria, along with mini-grid experts from India, face similar challenges and work together in the same research field. This dynamic mix of presentations and shared experiences created an enriching environment for learning and growth.
After staying 10 days in Maharashtra, we left for the state of Jharkhand to spend a week there. In this state, we studied community-owned mini-grid sites implemented by Gram Oorja and privately owned mini-grid sites by the Mlinda Foundation. Different from our previous trips, we got to know the pre-paid energy system that the Mlinda Foundation is offering in rural areas. We visited the districts of Gumla and Simdega to continue our study on finding entrepreneurs, examining household wealth, and trying to understand how different stakeholders perceive social impact. We met some courageous women entrepreneurs who were used to running mustard seed oil production units in a community ownership model.
We spent the fourth and last week in Uttar Pradesh, visiting rural sites near Lucknow. The min-grids we visited here were privately owned by Tata Power. In this state, people had chosen electricity from solar mini-grids provided by Tata Power instead of government energy as it was more reliable. We observed several small-scale industries flourishing because of the high-quality electricity they were receiving from Tata Power. We were amazed by the opening of one charging station in a small town for electric auto rickshaws (tuk tuks).
During our stay in India, we were treated with heartwarming hospitality by the rural people, who opened up their hearts and offered us food, fruits, and tea. To show gratitude in return, we shared our German chocolates with them.
One of the funniest memories we will never forget was when we were required to push our car due to muddy roads in heavy rains on hilly terrain.