The Common Service Centres (CSC), the government's e-governance services arm, has announced collaboration with Tata Power to set up solar-powered microgrids and water pumps in rural areas across India.
Tata Power has proposed to set up 10,000 microgrids to support rural consumers through CSCs. The collaboration will amplify the government's ongoing campaign to provide clean and sustainable energy to households and businesses in rural areas.
The partnership will increase energy access and provide economic opportunity to the company by providing off-grid or microgrid power. This will help rural customers move away from burning relatively expensive fuels such as kerosene and can provide basic energy services and meet economic needs.
Under the collaboration, over 3.75 lakh CSCs will be involved in supplying solar water pumps to farmers and help in setting up micro grids in residential and commercial establishments in rural areas.
The partnership is initially expected to create employment to a minimum two persons in each panchayat where microgrids are proposed to be installed, thereby leading to generation of 20,000 jobs for rural youth.
The association with Tata Power will help it reach out to farmers and rural enterprises with clean energy solutions and will not only create new employment opportunities for village level entrepreneurs (VLEs) but also offer Tata Power a grasp over the potential rural market.
VLEs will help in providing connection to rural citizens, including MSME units for commercial purposes. The power available through these units will be affordable, qualitatively better, decentralised and serviced by a local entrepreneur. VLEs will also be trained in installation of domestic and commercial connection.
The association will also meet energy requirements of CSCs and address the need of 24hours’ supply of electricity to BharatNet in villages. A micro-grid has been piloted in five villages of Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh and learning from this will be useful in full rollout.
