CIP- Center for Innovation for the Poor Integrated Energy Centre Replication, urban to tribal

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1 CIP- Center for Innovation for the Poor Integrated Energy Centre Replication, urban to tribal Title: Integrated Energy Centre Replication, Orissa Case Study no: 6 Initiated in: 2013 Key terms: tribal, Odisha, integrated energy centre, replication The Mantriguda tribal Integrated Energy Centre (IEC) case study illustrates the challenges but potential of an IEC replication in a highly remote region, with lack of any eco-system and lower end-user ability to pay. Taking place in Kalahandi district, Odisha, this process of replication highlights an important outcome: tribal communities can indeed accept and embrace a community solar energy intervention. Five months into its creation, the Mantriguda IEC functions with quality service, stable operations and regular monitoring on the part of SELCO Foundation. Although no impact assessments have yet been done, initial results point to potential for productive utilization of solar lights, as well as health, convenience and strengthened community dynamics. Identification Survey was conducted in a region that is being explored as an area for potential interventions of Tribal Labs under SELCO Foundation. Three villages in Koraput region, South Orissa were surveyed out of which 1 unelectrified village (Mantriguda) was chosen as a pilot village. Community Background Mantriguda, a small village of 25 households, is a hamlet of a revenue village (Kantabanji). Of 25 households, 20 are tribal and five households belong to schedule castes. The main livelihood is informal labour work under which they get Rs 60/ per day. Annual income ranges from Rs 8,000-10,000. The community practices subsistence agriculture and store food for the rest of the year; sometimes falling short during July/August. Their basic expenditure is during local festival in January and round the year they save money for this festival. Need Assessment Villagers stressed their preference for solar rather than grid connections from witnessing surrounding villages facing erratic electricity supply and heavy bills. An energy access survey was conducted in November 2013 in a few villages in Koraput region of Southern Odisha as part of preliminary ground level assessments for future interventions. It was found to be largely unelectrified but with a mix of grid connected villages as well. Reasons for these sporadic grid extensions were not provided but perhaps attributable to oversight, misreporting, or resource mishandling which led the villagers to apply to the Odisha Renewable Energy Development Agency (OREDA) for setting up solar systems in their village. However this effort was not quite successful but the desire was not thwarted as several villagers witnessed the benefits of electricity in nearby villages. For electrified villages, the grid usually functions once weekly according to users, with highly erratic supply and heavy bills (which are ignored or partially paid for). It was found other villages in the area had been provided free solar systems by government under various different schemes, so expectations were for free solar lights. The villagers are in a habit of paying Rs 30/ per month towards repair and maintenance account of their solar systems to the village committee. Thus, when the discussions were initiated, regarding the possible energy solutions, the community was reluctant to pay more than Rs 30/ per month for solar. The concept of an Integrated Energy Centre, IEC (refer pg4) particularly the rental services was deemed an appropriate solution given the affordability and social dynamics. Given the vulnerable status of the tribal community particularly given the nature of occupation and absence of services the IEC was customized to suit their conditions. The IEC is also a concept suited to entry point interventions as a way to build trust with the community through a co-designed centralized service.

2 Technical Specifications Sun King Pro 2 product of Green Light Planets was selected, primarily because it was the only vendor present in district. The system is 1W LED with 3.3 V LFP battery, 3.3 W panel. Features include: battery indicator and solar charge. While in use, digital LED meter displays battery power remaining and digital LED meter displays charging effectiveness to help optimize panel placement. System Design Integrated Energy Centre (concept o developed by urban lab at SELCO Foundation and contextualized to suit the tribal context): located within the community and providing clean lighting to 25 households with the potential to explore other services that can be channeled through the Centre. Structured through an operator model, selected by the community, with the centre located in his house. Financials: Pricing Rs. 30/month per household fixed rate. Monthly collections total Rs.750, equally split for operator, maintenance fund and SELCO Foundation on-going costs. System almost fully subsidized by SELCO Foundation Monitoring and evaluation: weekly visits by SELCO Foundation team Impact The IEC lights do not represent economic savings since Kerosene is received for free from government. However it represents better quality service * and initially shows benefits in quality of light, health outcomes and potential productive uses. The IEC intervention has also strengthened community dynamics for decisionmaking and resource sharing. It serves as a focal point to deepen understanding of community dynamics and also add on services needed by the community. As typical with IECs it was designed over the course of several months, with direct participation of community members. The technology choice was highly limited due to geographical context; thus the team selected the best quality to price product with local presence (80Km from the centre), in this case, a solar lantern solution for all tribal households with a one year warranty and no repair service. Five main processes were replicated from other IECs based on applicability to this context: 1. Location of IEC: The team worked with the villagers to decide the most conducive IEC location within the village. This is an important aspect for two reasons-first, co-location within community enhances a sense of ownership and second the consensus process builds trust. Initially, it was proposed the IEC be housed in a community building (to remain separate from caste dynamics), however the building was shaded by trees and was not suitable for the solar PV hence location was shifted to the IEC operator s 1 house. 2. Rental Model: Portable lights were rented out for a daily fee to the community vs. a stand-alone system being installed as this was more affordable to the community in the absence of access to formal credit. 3. Common Fund: While the capital costs of the systems were taken care of by SELCO Foundation and thus the community only had to pay a daily rental fee per system, the daily collections were segregated three ways to be used to pay the operator, a maintenance fund and other ongoing costs of the centre. The operational costs are covered through the rent received (Rs 30/- per house per month) for service provided. The operator collects Rs 750/ month of which Rs 250 is given him as operator fee, and Rs 250 for maintenance is kept and Rs 250 is returned to the Selco Foundation representative every month. Every repair of the light would cost the operator Rs 100 for transport to reach the town and a day wage s loss. 4. Operator Model: The model entails a member from the community (acceptable to the community) who is interested in managing the centre but does not bear any costs towards setting up the centre other than perhaps housing the centre itself. The operator is trained in basic accounting and management of the centre. This model works in the absence of an entrepreneur willing to set up the centre or if the social dynamics are not conducive to community ownership. 1 This operator was decided by the community, through three main criteria: a person who does not migrate, can read and write, and has family who can manage the IEC in case of temporary travel.

3 5. Daily Collection: A daily collection mechanism was adopted that was seen to match cash flows more clos and be attractive to an operator vs other frequencies such as monthly or weekly and so on. The tribal Integrated Energy Centre has providing solar lights to 25 households from February The collection of rent is monitored on monthly basis. The team continues to work on structuring collections and monitoring, as well as training the operator on basic maintenance and troubleshooting. An impact assessment after six months of operation has been scheduled. 1Initial community meeting to discuss plan of the proposed Energy Centre 2 Bamboo being cut to build a support for solar panels 3 Solar panels being fixed on bamboo sticks to avoid theft 4 Solar panels fixed on bamboo - ready to be installed 5Operator s house where solar will be installed INNOVATION Energy Access intervention for tribal community through replication of IEC concept Customized services based on community needs

4 CONCEPT NOTE: INTEGRATED ENERGY CENTRES Integrated Energy Centres are solar powered community centre s that can host a range basic services and activities lacking in an under-served community. The centre aims at positively impacting quality of life and livelihoods by addressing fundamental energy needs and services relying on energy. Energy centres are essentially solar powered independent service centers for rural/urban/peri-urban spaces where a combination of energy services (such as lighting, mobile charging, charged batteries, and others) can be provided on a daily/monthly rental basis. Integrated energy centers (IEC) are energy centers that are co-located with any community space like a library, education centre, health centre etc.; or vice versa i.e. education, health, finance services can be introduced in the energy providing unit so that these centers will become a hub for the underprivileged to access services that are either difficult to obtain or unreliable. Additionally, every IEC promotes the use of alternate energies, educating users with possible methods and technologies that can be implemented for their need, and connects users to the provider keeping the user interests at highest priority. The model Figure 1: The IEC operational structure An IEC works best in communities with energy scarcity. The services, activities and structure of an IEC are generally designed depending on the need in a particular community. Each IEC is custom designed to best suit local environments and situations such that every aspect of it can be sustainable. Income generated by the IEC through the various services is supposed to recover all costs including running, maintenance and capital costs of the centers. The centers are typically run by partners, operators, groups or entrepreneurs from the community itself. IECs are owned and operated by individuals from within the community through three unique financial models: entrepreneur-based, community-owned and partner/ operator owned.

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