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The Power of Team Work
Lopamudra Hazra
lhazra@devalt.org
A team
of young professionals from
Development Alternatives has developed a
profitable model for energy based socio-economic development in several
villages of Uttar Pradesh. It is highly appreciated by the client -
National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Ministry of Environment
and Forests, Government of India.
The opportunity came as a
consultancy sought by NTPC - a public sector power corporation. The
requirement of NTPC was to prepare detailed project reports on renewable
energy based rural electrification for domestic lighting.
However, DA believes that the value
of electricity is directly proportional to its ability to provide the
necessary services. In the rural context, the priority is livelihood
opportunities rather than domestic lighting. Taking the consultancy as
an opportunity to confirm this belief, DA took up the challenge. In
addition, it was in harmony with DA’s mission of promoting sustainable
development through livelihood creation.
Following the initial field visit,
the team realised that there were three challenges ahead:
1. To suggest an appropriate Renewable
Energy system (as REs are not yet off-the-shelf solutions) ;
2. To develop a profitable revenue
model to ensure sustainability ; and
3. To build an institution to run the
power plant profitably for the sustainable development of the region.
Based on theis requirement, a
multidisciplinary team was formed. The team members were young
professionals from varied spheres like forestry, energy, economics,
environment and social engineering. The team decided that extensive
interaction with villagers would be essential to keep the solution
closest to the ground reality.
The selected region is hilly and
covered with forests. The economy is largely agrarian. However, a
significant number of people work in two large public sector
corporations in that region as contract labour. The major crops of the
region are arhar, makka, and till. Here, Mahua oil seed is
a forest produce that is available in abundance. The average annual
income of a family (of seven) in this region is around 25,000 rupees.
In household surveys and meetings
with villagers, two distinct categories of demands emerged. Men wanted
alternate livelihood options since agriculture is rain-fed, whereas
women were concerned with the family welfare. They demanded clean
drinking water prior to domestic lighting.
The assumption of DA turned out to
be true. The message was clear that the target communities wanted
electricity for income generation and health purposes more than domestic
lighting. However, the client’s sole concern was domestic lighting.
Therefore, DA presented two models to the client, describing their
costs, impacts and degrees of sustainability: One was only a lighting
model, whereas the other one was a socio-economic development model.
The socio-economic development
model proposed biomass based electricity generation for domestic
lighting and commercial purposes. The proposed micro-enterprises would
operate on locally available resources and produce items that were in
demand locally. It also depicted the detailed cost-revenue calculations
for the power plant and micro-enterprises.
The team calculated the
expenditure-revenue of the power plant. Based on the paying capacity of
the beneficiaries and endorsed by the local people, DA calculated
tariffs for domestic and commercial utilities. The team also prepared
village maps with the Global Positioning System (GPS) to show the
locations of habitation, power plant, community buildings etc. It also
helped in calculating the exact length of transmission as well as the
distribution pattern.
Resource analysis was done very
meticulously. All usages of biomass (cooking, space heating, fodder,
manure) were considered. The forest department provided the availability
of free falling wood. The team actually measured the availability of
agro residues and weeds. For doing so, it collected and weighed dry
biomass from representative areas.
The team interacted with local NGOs
and tried to intertwine their efforts with the model in order to
accelerate the process. For example, Aditya Birla Tecnology Park wanted
to promote sunflower cultivation, but was worried about the market of
oil seeds. Actually, with the availability of electricity, villagers
could produce oil that sold at a good price. In addition, sunflower
stalks proved to be an excellent fuel in terms of electricity
generation.
The second model stated how small
amount of additional investment could magnify the impacts several times.
As a result, not only was the socio-economic development model accepted,
but it also triggered a change of attitude in the client. The client
went one-step ahead towards propelling economic development by financing
the cost of one micro-enterprise per village.
DA recognized the effort of
the team by presenting the TARA Award for teamwork. Following the
acceptance of the reports by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, DA
received several requests from various clients for similar consultancy
services. However, Development Alternatives is keen to witness the
results after implementation. In fact, DA is all set to replicate the
model in large numbers, once it has passed the implementation test.q
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