developing pathways for energy...

LIGHTING A BILLION LIVES DEVELOPING PATHWAYS FOR ENERGY ACCESS

© The Energy and Resources Institute, 2016

This is an open access publication. Any part of this publication may be quoted, copied, or translated by indicating the source.

ARUN SREEKUMAR, IBRAHIM H REHMAN, BIGSNA GILL, SANGEETA MALHOTRA

Lighting a Billion Lives: Developing Pathways for Energy Access. New Delhi: TERI

Published byThe Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)Darbari Seth Block, IHC Complex, Lodhi RoadNew Delhi – 110 003

Printed in India

LIGHTING A BILLION LIVES DEVELOPING PATHWAYS FOR ENERGY ACCESS

Co

nte

nts

Foreword 5

Preface 6

Coverage 8

Introduction 9

Lighting a Billion Lives in Africa 12

Impact 14

Stimulating Entrepreneurship 15

Financing Energy for the Poor 23

Partnerships 28

Women & Energy 31

LaBL & Sustainable Development Goals 34

Impact and Policy Traction 36

Technology 37

Technology Evolution 41

Surging Ahead 42

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Possibly the only single

campaign to operate at this scale in the world, Lighting a Billion Lives has touched over 4.3 million people, across 23 states in India and in 13 countries in Africa and South Asia.

LIGHTING A BILLION LIVES: DEVELOPING PATHWAYS FOR ENERGY ACCESS

ForewordIn 2016, Lighting a Billion Lives (LaBL) enters its ninth year of operation and while the campaign remains committed to its goal of reaching lives through innovative, sustainable, and responsive energy solutions, it is also now poised to look back and evaluate the growth and learning that has emerged over the past decade.

Possibly the only single campaign to operate at this scale in the world, LaBL has touched over 4.3 million people, across 23 states in India and in 13 countries in Africa and South Asia. The key drivers towards the campaign’s wider reach lie in the replication of proven business processes and localized models, the development of responsive technological innovations, and the pooling of knowledge and experience, to enable an environment of collective action.

However, it may be time to now re-think the path forward, and to devise newer approaches that enable the campaign to increase on-ground implementation but also, at the same time, intensify its role in addressing the most primary development goals of ending poverty and hunger, and promoting better health, education, and quality of life.

Partnerships will play a big role here, and as a step towards bringing together global stakeholders to jointly develop pathways for scaling up universal energy access, LaBL is organizing its first conference in the month of April 2016. The role of energy access in the new era of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and for climate mitigation is ever more critical, especially in terms of the co-benefits it offers in the areas of education, health, livelihood, productivity, and better quality of life.

The year 2016 will be an important year for LaBL, and as a global campaign that thrives on partnerships and collaborations, we look forward to strengthening our existing relationships and forging new associations to scale up access to clean, affordable, and sustainable energy.

Dr Ajay Mathur

Director General,The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)

The Lighting a Billion Lives (LaBL) campaign enters its ninth year of operations this year and continues its work in delivering clean energy to deprived communities through innovative, sustainable and responsive energy access interventions. As of March 2016, the campaign has successfully touched over 4.5 million lives across 24 states in India and 13 countries across Africa and South Asia.

In India, LaBL has mainly operated on an intensive ‘direct-implementation mode’, using its past experience of working on independent off-grid solar projects as a bedrock to expand technological and business solution innovations, positioning itself as a pioneer in the delivery of distributed clean energy solutions. In other regions across South Asia and Africa, which include, Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Uganda, Mali, Mozambique, Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, LaBL has worked to build capacities, facilitate the creation of robust value chains, has generated opportunities for technology transfer and the exchange of knowledge and expertise in energy service delivery.

Even after nine years of countrywide implementation, the campaign continues to grow to find solutions to the formidable energy access challenges faced by poor communities in developing countries. This publication attempts to document the coverage of the campaign and its core implementation strategy, particularly with respect to entrepreneurship, developing value chains, executing partnerships and technology innovation. As the campaign attempts to consolidate the lessons learnt from past experience, it looks to the future with renewed focus on expanding its reach to communities and energy access challenges inadequately catered to in the business-as- usual scenario.

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7

8

Ethiopia

Kenya

Afghanistan

Mozambique

Myanmar

Sierra Leone

Republic of Congo

Pakistan

Mali

Nigeria

Bangladesh

Uganda

Nepal

22200 2220

30000 6000 41000 4100

28810 5762

81635 16877

40000 8000

1000 100

3000 300

3000 300

6000 600

1000 100

2500 500

5000 1000

Lives Families

Jammu and Kashmir

Punjab

Haryana

Uttaranchal

Rajasthan

Madhya Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh

Bihar

Jharkhand

Chhattisgarh

Odisha

West Bengal

Meghalaya

Assam

Arunachal Pradesh

Nagaland

Manipur

Mizoram

Andhra Pradesh

Telangana

Maharashtra

Tamil Nadu

Karnataka

35103

33298

28527

21730

18900

8799

7963

5610

53383800

2168

2083

1100

490

410

350

250

150

130

100

50

50

150

177549 Households

Co

vera

ge


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IntroductionBackgroundEconomically poor rural communities that either do not have electricity supply or suffer from erratic and insufficient supply still have to resort to the use of environmentally unsustainable fuel such as kerosene for meeting their lighting needs. In India, 61 million rural households have no access to electricity and use kerosene for lighting which amounts to 2.2 billion litres of kerosene per year to be burned for lighting. This burning of kerosene results in approximately 5.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO

2)

emissions per year . In response to this unfortunate state, the Lighting a Billion Lives (LaBL) programme by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) was initiated in 2008 towards providing sustainable energy to these rural communities and thus, enable people to receive clean, healthy and adequate light at an affordable cost.

Energy Delivery ModelLaBL initiated its operation with the technology of Solar Charging Station (SCS) which is a community-based lighting option with mobile lanterns. One SCS usually consists of 50 lanterns, 5 solar panels, and 5 junction boxes. These lanterns provides light equivalent to a 40 W incandescent bulb for 4–6 hours and are given on rental basis to households and enterprises in the evening at a nominal charge on per day per lantern basis. Although LaBL began its operation with SCS technology but through years it has evolved various other solar technologies aiming to light up the households in the rural communities. Such other lighting models under LaBL are:

� Solar Micro Grid through which low voltage electricity is distributed over a short distance from the battery banks for 4 hours every night to power the household/shop lights;

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� Solar Home Light Systems (SHLS) that gives an individual ownership on the light, that is, each system provides a household with a facility of two light points and a point for mobile charging. At some places, these solar home light systems are being integrated with improved cookstoves and are called Integrated Domestic Energy Systems (IDES).

� Recently, TERI has also developed Solar Multi Utility Units which incorporates the ability of taking up a productive load so that village level micro enterprises such as spices grinding unit, rice/wheat mill, and an artisan cottage industry can run on a clean, reliable, and affordable source of energy supply.

All these above mentioned technologies are delivered either through fee for service model or loan finance model. While the former involves a large share of capital costs supported by grant, the latter is sustained through a person operating a solar enterprise as its own enterprise by facilitating loans through financial institutions and a partial cost of the enterprise is covered by the subsidy through TERI and/or the partner organizations, including government agencies.In terms of financial mechanism, TERI has graduated from a grant-based model to an equity and investment-based model. Now, there is significant community involvement as co-funding. There have been constant efforts in way of shifting from total grant to a mix of Grant: Equity: Debt. In this regard, there has already been a gradual shift from 90:0:0 to 70:20:10 or 60:20:20 and by 2017, TERI aims to have this mix of proportion to 30:30:40.

Programme ScaleUnder the LaBL programme, the solar lighting has impacted over 4.5 million lives by illuminating over 898,000 households in over 3,100 villages across 13 countries of Africa and Asia and in 24 states of India. In all, 170,000 solar lanterns have been disseminated, 17,700 households have solar micro grid connections, and 7,600 SHS and 27,700 IDES are presently in operation. This involves an efficient network of 34 technical partners, 114 partner organizations, and over 250 energy entrepreneurs.

ImpactsThe scenario of social and economic backwardness changed noticeably after the advent of solar lighting provided through various models of LaBL programme to many rural un-electrified or poorly electrified households as well as schools, productive enterprises, and health centres. LaBL’s solar products have not only augmented access to modern lighting but have provided its users with a range of co-benefits such as considerable reduction in the kerosene usage, increase in study hours of children, reduced health effects due to kerosene smoke, and increased sense of safety due to easy mobility and to be able to deter animals from approaching human settlements. The villagers had to travel over long distances to get the fuel which is no more the case, and are now able to carry out household chores in the dark and charge cellphones at their homes, thus, saving the expense incurred on cellphone charging from a shop in the market.

Even the accidents resulting from the usage of kerosene lamps such as house burning and children getting hurt have drastically reduced. Further, the electrification in rural health centres, equipped with solar energy, has benefitted by providing lighting for extended period and/or emergency night health services, safe child delivery, enhanced security and the local storage of vaccines in solar-powered refrigerators. There is a direct livelihood benefit in the form of ‘green jobs’ for the entrepreneurs managing a SCS by earning through renting. Many of the communities are using this lighting to enhance their business hours post sunset for activities like betel leaf farming, sal-leaf plate making,


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embroidery and other handicraft work, sewing, vending, shopkeeping, running tuition centres, and by providing other village level services.

The Way ForwardThe initiative continues to strive to complement both the sustainable development goals as well as national targets to provide electricity access to all the electricity deprived remote rural areas. LaBL is in a constant process of scaling up its clean energy operations through the replication of already implemented models, development of new partnerships, and pooling of knowledge and experience in order to make the target of a billion lives a reality.

7,400+ Solar Home

Lighting Systems Installed

871,000+Households Illuminated

↑ 12%

169,500+Solar Lanterns Disseminated

↑ 38%

27,200+Integrated Domestic

Energy Systems Installed

↑ 74%

4.3 Million Lives Impacted

57,700+Improved

Cookstoves Disseminated

↔ ↔

24States Covered

3,020+Villages Lit Up

↑ .01%

13 Countries Across Africa & Asia

16,290+Solar Micro Grid

Connections Provided

↑ .01%

↑ 10%

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Lighting a Billion Lives in AfricaSub-Saharan Africa and the developing countries in Asia account for 95 per cent of the global population living without access to electricity or clean cooking facilities. Africa in particular experiences the highest access deficit in electrification rate, despite being rich in energy sources. Only 5 per cent of the rural population has access to grid power connection while the national average rests at 32 per cent. In 2011, Lighting a Billion Lives (LaBL) initiated activities in Africa with an aim to increase the community’s awareness, develop scalable business models, and to create demand for clean energy products and services for lighting and cooking. Increased private sector participation, in partnership with the government, NGOs, and research institutions, has been the key to achieving results in Africa. Clear performance standards and business models have been developed to address underlying issues including, demand generation, mass production, distribution channels, selection and training of sellers, financing, education of users, and after sales service and maintenance.

The four main areas of focus to build a robust energy service delivery mechanism in Africa are:

� Stakeholder Networking and Outreach

� Multi-stakeholder Training and Capacity Building

� Implementation of Cook stoves and Solar Lighting Solutions

� Policy Engagement for Accelerated Development of the Sector

While LaBL has footprints in eight African nations, a major part of these activities have focussed on Ethiopia and Kenya where implementations are being carried out through two national focal points—African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) in Kenya and Horn of Africa Environment Centre and Network (HoAREC-N) in Ethiopia.


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In Ethiopia, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) concentrated on developing and strengthening the energy value chain through the facilitation of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), helping them build backward channel linkages and by providing technology-based training and skill development. In Kenya, where the market is comparatively more developed in solar PV products, TERI employed an incentive-based model to encourage distributors to scale up distributions through the creation of a sales force who received a portion of the payment from every sale. Nearly 700 people have been trained in technical and business skills, including over 450 solar and cook stove technicians and trainers.

As of 2015, the project has impacted over 3,00,000 people with the dissemination of over 33,000 improved cook stoves and the installation of 23,400+ solar lighting solutions. In Ethiopia, the TERI-HoAREC-N collaboration has been instrumental in creating 8 energy enterprises and partnerships with 5 major distributors operating in the regions of Amhara, Oromia, SNNPR, and Tigray. In Kenya, 7 energy enterprises have been set up with the help of national-level distribution partners, sub-distributors, and financial cooperatives. Similar projects have also been undertaken in areas of Congo, Mali, and Uganda, to provide solar lighting and in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda for cook stoves. Over 5,000 households have been impacted in these areas.

LaBL’s work in Africa would not have been possible without the collaboration and support from our country partners which include: The Horn of Africa Environment Centre and Network (HOAREC-N), Ethiopia; African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS), Kenya; United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Sierra Leone; ADPP, Mozambique; Planet Workshop in Congo, Nigeria, and Mali; and Umemi in Uganda. LaBL is also grateful to UKAID for extending programme-level support for the expansion of clean energy solutions in Africa.

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474055.83 liters of kerosenehave been displaced / replaced per month

INR 10 million saved in expenditureson kerosene alone per month

1096 Tonnes in CO2emissions mitigated per month

Over 12,000 childrenbene�tted directly with improvedstudy environments

50 Primary Health Centers across3 Indian states, that cater to nearly 1.5 millionpeople in remote and rural areas

Improved power infrastructures for

More than 8300 Tonnes in Black Carbon

emissions prevented through forced draft improved cookstoves

3100+ Green Jobs created - - of these

870+ women engaged as energyservice providers

Powering Livelihoods: Looming, Cultivation,Embroidery, Weaving, Fishing, Flour Milling,Animal Husbandry, Retail, NTFP collections,Making agarbattis, bidis, sal leaf plates.

Total cumulative o�-grid solar capacity enabled:

0.77 MW equivalent to powering 700 homes for day in the city of Delhi

Imp

act


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Stimulating Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship has been a cornerstone of the Lighting a Billion Lives (LaBL) programme since its inception. Creating, incubating, and accelerating local enterprises for clean energy dissemination has helped promote local ownership and sustainability of technologies deployed in the field. Various configurations of enterprises can be seen in the programme—ranging from village level entrepreneurs who operate and maintain small community systems, to larger suppliers and product developers operating at the state and national levels. Over time, the programme has also focussed on providing access to energy to rural micro-entrepreneurs managing varied businesses in diverse geographies, with the aim of enhancing the productivity of their business. Not only does the programme strive to build individual capacities of these enterprises, but it also attempts to strengthen the market ecosystem for the enterprises to function in a gainful manner.

Why Entrepreneurship?The Lighting a Billion Lives (LaBL) programme aims at providing clean and affordable energy to households through sustainable technology interventions. One of the key limitations in ensuring sustainability of off-grid technology solutions in rural areas is the lack of an ecosystem that supports efficient service delivery, particularly after dissemination of the technology. In a donor-driven approach to dissemination, there is little incentive for local entities to provide post-dissemination service to end-users, thus, making repair and maintenance of technology difficult, if not impossible. The LaBL programme has specifically focussed on developing and facilitating a cadre of village- and cluster-level entrepreneurs for ensuring proper provision of intended energy services at the local level. This system

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of market-driven dissemination with a social goal not only ensures product quality, but it also enables efficient delivery of services at the ‘last-mile’.

The programme focusses on building capacities of entrepreneurs, thereby strengthening the value chain and developing local markets for clean energy products. There is particular emphasis on building the technical and financial capacities of entrepreneurs, through a mix of training and enabling linkages with financial institutions.

In the programme, Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) operate solar charging stations or solar micro-grids at the village level, while cluster-level entrepreneurs (Energy Enterprises) set up Uttam Urja shops to provide off-the-shelf technology, spare parts, and back-end services. This entrepreneurship model is designed such that entrepreneurs at the village and cluster levels have high participation and stake in the clean energy business, and end-users receive affordable after-sales service promptly. Over the years, various models of ‘social’ entrepreneurship have been tested and replicated in the LaBL programme. Some key features that are uniformly incorporated across various models of entrepreneurship are:

Local entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurs are selected from within the beneficiary community to maximize engagement of the business enterprise with its customers. This feature also helps entrepreneurs experience and understand the problems that their products and service offerings seek to solve.

Emphasis on ‘last-mile’ service provision: Providing services to the beneficiary community, like user-training, post-sales repair, and regular maintenance of systems is ensured through incentivzing service provisioning, creating systems for availability of spare-parts and linking service provisioning to the overall business model.

Dual focus on enterprise and consumer finance: Consumer finance is just as important as finance for business operations to drive the demand for products and create a sustainable market. Through partnerships established with banks and micro-finance institutions, the LaBL programme places an equal thrust on providing finance for entrepreneurs and consumers.

Clean energy value chain with multiple interacting stakeholders


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Intensive capacity building: The programme provides intensive capacity building support to entrepreneurs through programme support and phased training programmes. LaBL tries to build technical, financial, and business-related capacities of its entrepreneurs.

Ensuring product quality: All products disseminated through entrepreneurs in the programme are quality tested and certified in The Energy and Resources Institute’s (TERI) solar laboratory in New Delhi, over and above the standard testing reports that product suppliers are asked to provide. The programme also works closely with entrepreneurs to customize and standardize products offered to suit the needs of local customers in the best possible way.

Customizing business models: The programme recognizes that market contexts vary from region to region, and so does the capacity of entrepreneurs to engage in the market. Hence, an effort is made to devise marketing, finance, and revenue generation models for every selected entrepreneur in the programme that is the best fit in the local context.

Configurations of EnterprisesThe oldest type of enterprise engaged with the LaBL programme are the VLEs who operate at the village level and manage a community system, benefitting 40–50 households. In most cases, VLEs share a part of the hardware costs at the time of installation. The VLEs collect a daily or monthly rent from end-users, which generates income for them and helps them meet the maintenance and repair costs which accrue annually. TERI professionals conduct a week-long training for the VLEs and village users on basic aspects of the technology and operating the business.

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In order to overcome the challenges related to availability of spare parts at the village level, and attending to more complex technical problems in the community level systems, the LaBL programme set up ‘Technology Resource Centres’ (TRCs), that had technicians supported from a local LaBL project. However, long-term sustainability of TRCs was not assured after termination of the project that supported them. Hence, a strategic shift was made in the programme from TRCs to Energy Enterprises (EEs), who operate at the level of a cluster of LaBL programme villages (block or district level). EEs directly engage in the market through sale of standalone lighting and clean cooking systems, installation of solar lighting systems, and provision of after-sales service. EEs were connected with technology developers and product suppliers, so that a steady flow of spare parts is assured.

The nature of EEs selected and incubated under the LaBL programme has been quite diverse. Independent retailers, village/district cooperatives, self-help groups, producer groups, and technology developers have been supported in the programme as EEs. In some cases, micro-finance institutions and NGOs have also incubated and closely worked with EEs, with support from the LaBL programme.

Building CapacitiesCapacity building is an integral component of the process of developing enterprises in the LaBL programme. The programme gives importance to building financial, technical, and business-related capacities of its entrepreneurs through programme support, training, and promoting institutional and market linkages. TERI is recognized as a capacity building hub for clean energy entrepreneurs in the United Nation’s Sustainable Energy for All programme (SE4All). Financial capacity: Obtaining finance for business operations in the clean energy sector at the village level is one of the greatest challenges facing the scale up of energy access solutions. In case of micro-entrepreneurs in rural areas, this becomes all the more challenging due to low investment capacity, which makes the business proposition look ‘high-risk’ for financial institutions. The LaBL programme employs four strategies for enhancing financial capacity of entrepreneurs—(a) providing an initial inventory of products to entrepreneurs; (b) providing result-based finance to entrepreneurs to meet part of their service provision costs; (c) linking entrepreneurs and consumers to banks and micro-finance institutions that are willing to provide small-ticket, high-risk credit; and (d) leveraging support from government programmes on energy access.

Technical capacity: As already described in earlier sections, poor quality of clean energy products results in trust deficit amongst consumers and edges out good-quality products in price competition in the market. LaBL supports entrepreneurs to ensure quality of products being sold through energy entrepreneurs through back-end testing at TERI’s solar laboratory, and field testing of products at regular intervals. The programme also facilitates linkage of entrepreneurs with LaBL-approved manufacturers to foster product supply chains. There is a very high thrust on technical training provided to entrepreneurs through classroom courses (organized at periodic intervals), site visits and practical exposure in the field. TERI has also developed online training modules for entrepreneurs on solar and biomass technology supported by the SE4All capacity building hub. In some cases, entrepreneurs and their technicians have also been provided with a tool-kit having essential equipments for repair of solar systems.

Business skills: Branding, marketing, proposal development, and product diversification are some essential business skills required of entrepreneurs working in the rural clean energy sector. Since many of the micro-entrepreneurs working with the LaBL programme have little or no prior experience


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in the clean energy sector, TERI professionals provide week-long training on branding, marketing, and basic accounts-keeping to the entrepreneurs. Support is also provided for developing proposals for submission to donor agencies and the government. TERI professionals work closely with each entrepreneur to determine his/her business plan and growth strategy, and facilitate market linkages with financial institutions, product partners, and other enterprises accordingly.

Creating Value NetworksThe LaBL programme attempts to create a dynamic system of interacting market and non-market agents that create value in the local clean energy market. The linkages and inter-relationships between these agents forms a value network, going beyond a linear supply chain usually found in market channels. The multiple entities involved in this network may have diverse goals and mandates, ranging from the purely social goal of rural development to the purely commercial goal of profit maximization. However, in all cases, entities in the value network have a stake in the business, thus ensuring that the successful implementation of the programme remains an overall goal of all value network entities.

The social goals in the value network are represented by TERI, donor agencies, government departments, and NGOs. These entities engage in the value network not to maximize returns on investment or to make profits, but to achieve their respective mandate of maximizing social good. Entities may also be involved in activities that do not yield any short-term returns in a market setting, and may be unfeasible for entrepreneurs to engage in. For instance, NGOs are usually involved in awareness generation and user training activities which may be expensive for entrepreneurs to perform. Government departments participate in projects when they see a clear convergence of the mandate of

Access to RuralDistribution Channels,Product Innovation,Policy Change

Product supply,Warranties, Credit,Spare parts

Manufacturer

Grass rootPartner(NGO)

Technical &BusinessCapacityBuilding

Branding,Marketing &Promotions

Linkages withManufacturers,suppliers & FIs

Awareness,Benefits, NewMarket Access

Equipping the EE to provide reliable and responsiveafter sales maintenance services

EnergyEnterprise

End User

Interest buy-down,Facilitation Fee

Local FinancialInstitution (RRB/MFI)

Small ConsumerLoans, Interestsubsidies

Product RangeLanterns, SMG installations, panels, home light

systems, IDES, improved cook stoves, sparesand luminaries

Value Network in the LaBL Programme

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Like her four brothers, Rasulan was born blind.

Her large family of seven had no physical assets

like land, agricultural machinery or any form

of employment that could have ensured a

steady and reliable flow of income. To support

their family, Rasulan’s parents worked as daily

wage laborers and were barely able to meet

their basic needs for survival. When Shramik

Bharti, a Lucknow based NGO and empaneled

grassroot partner of the Lighting a Billion

Lives© programme, learned about Rasulan and

her family’s situation, they encouraged her to

become a member of one of their self-help

groups. They also tied up with a local medical

institution for the visually impaired and worked

with Rasulan and her four siblings to provide

them basic levels of education and specialized

training to be more independent and productive.

As a result, Rasulan and her brothers developed

a sense of confidence and became more

interactive with the outside world.

Following this, Rasulan was nominated by her

self-help group members to be appointed as

VLE (village level entrepreneur) under TERI’s

clean energy program, to run and operate a

solar charging station. With proper training

and capacity building from TERI, customized

and simplified to help Rasulan gain a sound

understanding of running a solar charging

station and to operate it independently, she

became an earning member in her family and

despite her visual impairment, was the only

one to bring in a regular source of income

that allowed her family to fulfill their basic

requirements as well as set some money aside

in savings.

These savings were then invested in setting up a

small daily needs shop, the operation of which

was jointly handled by all members of the family,

and the revenues from which provided them

with the chance to break out of their helpless

and poor living conditions, to that of a more

dignified and respected one. Rasulan’s story is a

simple but powerful example of the positive and

empowering outcome of women’s inclusion in

the energy access value chain. It demonstrates

the need for the identification of roles, simple

as they may be, such that the ripple effect of

women’s participation not only strengthens the

delivery of energy services, but also results in

their development and empowerment and of

the community as a whole.

Rasulan’s story is a simple but powerful example of the positive and empowering outcome of women’s inclusion in the energy access value chain.

government policy with the expected outcomes of the project. There are various national and state-level programmes for which the LaBL programme has leveraged resources.

Commercial goals of the value network are represented by technology developers, product suppliers, entrepreneurs, and financial institutions. Product suppliers and entrepreneurs have a conventional supply chain relationship, usually institutionalized through a contract. The timely supply of good quality products and adequate quantity of spare parts is essential for sustenance of the enterprise. Financial institutions may offer finance to entrepreneurs or end-users. The viability of business, quality of products, and satisfaction of end-users is important for financial institutions to recover their loans. Financial institutions involved in the LaBL programme have ranged from commercial banks and regional rural banks to micro-finance institutions.

Rasulan’s Story: A visually impaired girl who became an entrepreneur


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Fostering Inclusive MarketsMarkets tend to be exclusive of the rural poor, due to problems pertaining to lack of market access, poor paying capacity, and inadequate information. Hence, the LaBL programme attempts at creation of market strategies to reach out to the ‘bottom of the pyramid’ of rural and urban markets to maximize social benefits. Considering the spread and the size of markets at the bottom of the pyramid, such approaches lead to increasing the customer base. To bridge the gap between technology and its intended beneficiaries, the business model may adopt specific mechanisms to make the product acceptable and affordable for the poor. How much the clean energy product should be priced for making it affordable to the poor remains in the realm of market research. Some strategies commonly adopted by the LaBL programme to reach out to BoP markets are listed as follows:

Appropriate Pricing: The LaBL programme tries to ensure that rural consumers acquire good quality products at affordable prices. One of the ways to achieve this is through direct product subsidization, wherever the project allows. This is particularly pertinent among communities with extremely low paying capacities. Another strategy is to reduce the operating costs to such a level that the entrepreneur breaks even in two years, consumers find the energy service affordable, and there is sufficient profit to ensure future commercial viability of the business. The trade-off between profit margin and size of the market helps in determining the differential pricing strategy in different markets.

End-user finance: Most high performing clean energy products may be costlier than the monthly income of a typical rural household. Providing loans to end-users can help in distributing the upfront cost of the product over a number of months, reducing the immediate financial burden due to purchase. The choice of the most suitable model to provide upfront finance will depend on the maturity of the banking sector and the socio-economic conditions of the targeted beneficiaries. The norms and regulations for lending are more relaxed in the case of micro-finance institutions. LaBL has executed partnerships with banks, micro-finance institutions, and SHG federations to provide consumer finance.

Information dissemination: Lack of information is a significant non-financial barrier for purchase of clean energy products. Many rural households using traditional energy devices are not aware of the benefits of adopting clean energy products. Civil society organizations play a critical role in generating awareness among members of the community which are normally marginalized or ignored by conventional communication channels. In the case of entrepreneurs, the costs of effectively communicating a message, about the benefits, can be a difficult barrier to overcome.

Involving local actors: Participation of local (village level) actors in the energy products supply chain can help in making the business model more inclusive. The level of engagement of local/village level actors with rural households in their vicinity is generally observed to be high. This helps in forging stronger relationships between the buyers and sellers and minimizing conflicts in the business model due to divergent interests of various actors.

Convergence with government programmes: Cookstove and solar lighting programmes converging with other government schemes (e.g. related to health, livelihood, gender, forestry) draw the benefit of better physical and financial resources that government programmes can offer. Some government programmes also have the mandate and institutional set-up to reach out to poor households in rural areas, which can greatly benefit the entrepreneur’s business operations.

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ConclusionEntrepreneurship will continue to remain an important element of the LaBL programme implementation model in the years to come. However, new models of entrepreneurship will have to evolve, with time, to achieve the scale mandated by the programme’s vision. Over time, the pattern of entrepreneurship in the programme has graduated from village level enterprises to encompass larger cluster-level enterprises and product suppliers. While the current structure of the programme allows replication of the entrepreneurial model in future project areas, autocatalytic scaling up of the business model can occur only through integration of the diverse value chains spread across the country. To make enterprises independent and self-sustaining, it will be important that enterprises have a greater stake in the business, while simultaneously building technical and financial capacities to upscale their business to new markets.

From Solar Shop To Energy Enterprise: Riya SolarSandeep Singh began as a small time shop owner in Kannauj, an ancient city known for its history and heritage in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Before joining the TERI-DFID programme as an Energy Enterprise (EE), Sandeep operated for a few years as an enrolled ‘Akshay Urja Shop’ under the Indian Government’s drive to make solar energy products easily available in rural and semi-rural regions. However, after the initial establishment support, Sandeep’s solar activities remained restricted to basic promotions and the sale of cheap and low quality, often Chinese made, solar products. Business suffered as his products did not last very long and he did not have the necessary skills or spares to make repairs or replacements.

In 2012, TERI identified Sandeep as a suitable EE. With requisite capacity building, training and skilldevelopment workshops to initiate him as an EE, Sandeep developed a better understanding of solar technologies, their benefits and long term cost implications and the importance of maintaining a quality standard in products that he offered to his customers. With an investment of 0.15 million rupees, Sandeep re-established himself as a TERI empaneled energy enterprise, re-christening his solar shop as Riya Solar and actively began promoting high quality clean energy products.

As Sandeep worked closely with TERI, within the first year of operations he was able to supply and install solar charging stations at numerous villages within his district. Subsequently, his areas of operation expanded to include 3 more districts and he earned exponential revenues to the tune of 7.4 million rupees by the end of his second financial year. TERI also helped Sandeep establish supply linkages with quality solar product manufacturers including Green Light Planet, D.light and Gautam Solar; battery suppliers including Southern Batteries, Base and Exide and solar PV manufacturers.

In the next financial year, 2014-15, Sandeep started diversifying into other solar products and took up the installation of turnkey solar systems including solar micro grids and integrated domestic energy systems (IDES) and concentrated more and more on better quality products. With a healthy revenue track record, Sandeep was also now able to easily source loans from the bank. He further collaborated with two other well performing EEs in neighboring districts and provided installation and maintenance support in addition to becoming a supplies hub for them. At the closing of this financial year in March 2015, Sandeep booked a revenue of 13.7 million rupees and continues to grow his business every month.


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Financing Energy for the Poor

The LaBL campaign is mandated to provide clean energy solutions for subsistence and low income populations in developing countries. These contexts are highly risky for private investors and financial institutions. While equity contribution from beneficiaries is limited projects financed entirely by donors or the government negatively impact community ownership and long-term project sustainability. In this section, we present various approaches adopted for financing clean energy projects in the LaBL campaign. Overall, it has been observed that mixed financing models that allow hybridization of various sources of finance are not only the most viable, but also the best suited for financing ‘pro-poor’ energy access.

Finance Gaps in Low-income Energy MarketsEnergy markets in rural areas are mostly immature, offering low initial returns and posing substantial risks for private investors to gainfully engage in infrastructure development. Given the low paying capacities of rural households and lack of awareness about clean energy products, equity contributions in clean energy projects are usually negligible. The role of governments and donor organizations in creating an enabling environment for the market to evolve and in financing high gestation-period clean energy infrastructure is the key to catalyzing ‘pro-poor’ energy access. However, assessments have shown that development assistance for energy access has been historically low, with the annual funds earmarked for clean energy projects dwindling year after year. Fossil fuels, nevertheless, continue to enjoy heavy financial support from governments across the globe. Surprisingly, the prevailing funding pattern is inspite of recognition of the fact that off-grid lighting is probably the most practical means to ensuring sustainable energy for all. The LaBL campaign was instituted at a time when the rural clean energy

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market was highly disorganized, if at all there was any. Over time, even though clean energy technology has advanced by leaps and bounds, availability of finance persists, as a bottle-neck, in off-grid lighting and improved biomass cookstove projects. In the following section, we describe some approaches to financing clean energy projects adopted in the LaBL campaign.

Optimizing Sources of FinanceThe LaBL programme has attempted to entwine public and private sources of finance in its projects. The collaborative role of both types of entities has not been limited to provision of finance, but has also involved strategic planning for convergence of mandates. This approach has gone beyond conventional roles of public and private entities in public-private partnership (PPP) models, encouraging partnership at every stage right from the inception of the project. However, finance from the government, multilateral/bilateral agencies, and corporate social responsibility grants have been principally utilized for meeting the initial hardware and balance of system costs, with a smaller percentage of equity and/or debt contribution. On the other hand, payment from the village community has mostly financed the operation and maintenance of clean energy systems, with the role of grant-making institutions limited to providing ‘incentives’ or results-based finance for achieving a preset performance standard.

Approaches to Financing LaBL ProjectsFull grant: In the initial years of the campaign, the entire hardware and balance of system costs of community lighting projects was financed through a grant from a donor organization. Various types of donor entities, including government departments, government agencies, multilateral organizations, bilateral organizations, corporate organizations, private charities, and individual philanthropists have contributed to scaling up the reach of LaBL in its formative years. While this model of financing permits provision of clean energy to remote and extremely poor rural communities, long-term disadvantages like low community ownership and decreased legitimacy of the village level entrepreneurs (VLE) to collect user fees have been observed.

Grant + Equity: After the first two years, the impact and global presence of LaBL helped in attracting increased funding from diverse donor organizations and individuals. Initiatives such as ‘Greenathon’ launched in partnership with a renowned TV media house in India encouraged people from various walks of life to make private contributions to the campaign to ‘adopt a village’ with clean and reliable lighting. At the same time, it was realized that the full-grant model of program implementation was not tenable or sustainable in the long run. Hence, the campaign made a strategic decision to insist on equity contribution from the VLE and beneficiary households to cover 20–40 per cent of the hardware cost, or the entire balance of system costs. While this model helped scale up the programme to many Indian states previously untouched by the campaign, it was felt that the insistence on equity contribution made community lighting systems unaffordable for villages that predominantly consisted of BPL households.

Grant + Equity + Debt: In order to ensure that the campaign reaches out to villages where the community has inadequate financial capacity to make equity contribution, LaBL partnered with various financial institutions (e.g. banks and micro-finance institutions) to leverage debt for VLEs who were willing to invest in community lighting systems. The loan would be recovered by the VLE through user fees collected daily or monthly. This development has led to higher thrust on judicious selection of VLEs and equipping them with business development and accounting skills through intensive training programmes.


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Western Union Finances Rural LightingWith an aim is to make electricity available to those who have never seen or experienced light in their homes, Western Union Company, a leader in global payment services, partnered with Lighting a Billion Lives (LaBL) to enable access to clean lighting in several remote and un-electrified villages in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh.

Under this collaboration, Western Union committed to contribute up to INR 100 for each Western Union remittance received in India from designated countries for the period October 15 to November 30, 2015. The contributions through this exercise have been significant and have made it possible to support the installation of integrated domestic energy systems (IDES) in a total of 10 villages across the four states. The first set of installations were completed in December 2015, where 200 households across five remote villages in Purnea, Bihar received the IDES systems. Further installations in 10 more identified villages across Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh will commence soon.

Viability Gap Funding: With the establishment of a network of ‘energy enterprises’ across India, the campaign has espoused a market-based approach for dissemination of standalone clean energy products. Development of value chains and better price exploration has allowed the delivery model to become commercially viable. While government support and institutional finance continue to be leveraged, LaBL has supported energy enterprises through a one-time viability gap funding that helps make the clean energy business commercially viable by plugging gaps in availability of finance.

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Meeting Operating CostsThe unique micro-entrepreneurship arrangement of LaBL, involving ‘village level entrepreneurs’ (VLEs), was developed to unbundle service provision to low-income consumers from capital cost of the energy infrastructure. In the fee-for-service payment model adopted in community lighting systems, consumer households pay a democratically determined daily ‘rent’ to the VLE in return for four to five hours of energy provision through pre-charged solar lighting systems or a micro-grid connection. The daily fee, which varies from INR 2 to INR 5, is meant to be utilized for two purposes—(a) to provide returns to the VLE to recover equity contribution and repay debt, or to serve as compensation for operating the energy infrastructure, and (b) to finance repair and maintenance of the technology. In most cases, the latter part of the user fees is deposited in a community managed ‘urja fund’ (energy fund), usually a bank account operated by the VLE on behalf of the community.

In cases where ‘energy enterprises’ have been set up to provide service to a cluster of villages, the enterprise is responsible for maintaining an inventory of spare parts and deputing technicians for service lighting systems in villages. In this case, the cost of service is borne by the VLE for community lighting systems, and by the beneficiary households for standalone clean energy products (e.g. solar home lighting system and integrated domestic energy system).

Innovations in FinancingCarbon Finance: The use of clean energy products by rural households can mitigate emissions of greenhouse gases and particulate matter resulting from the burning of fossil fuels (e.g. kerosene) and solid biomass (e.g. firewood, crop residue, and cow dung). One of the innovations was introduction of an Integrated Domestic Energy System (IDES), combining lighting and cooking energy options and setting up a ‘Climate Fund’ that provided for payment based on stove usage. A global consortium of TERI, University of California (San Diego), and Nexleaf Analytics known as Project Surya developed the methodology for channelizing micro-payments from the carbon market to the bank accounts of users of IDES. The pilot project involving 4,000 households in rural Odisha has demonstrated how these micro-payments are used by women to repay loans borrowed from financial institutions for purchase

of clean energy products. The entire system is monitored through the use of wireless, mobile-based sensors installed on biomass cookstoves.

Results-based Financing: Through a grant supported by UK-AID, TERI provided ‘incentives’ to NGOs for scaling up the LaBL programme and to entrepreneurs for providing repair and maintenance service to solar lighting systems in villages. Through a process of rigorous monthly monitoring, TERI paid monetary incentives to NGOs and entrepreneurs on the basis of their monthly progress in achieving the


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goals of their involvement in LaBL. While the incentives financed a part of the capital cost of installing community lighting systems for NGOs, they served as financial assistance to entrepreneurs to meet the cost of spare parts and service provision in villages.

Bundled Finance: One of the primary reasons impeding availability of consumer finance for purchase of standalone lighting systems is the low ‘ticket-size’ of the loan, discouraging financial institutions from incurring the transaction cost of disbursing the relatively high-risk loan. To solve this problem, the LaBL programme focussed on two levels of bundling (a) as mentioned earlier solar lighting, clean cooking, and mobile charging were integrated as a packaged product (Integrated Domestic Energy System or IDES); and (b) in many places, Joint Liability Groups were made, thereby increasing the ‘ticket-size’ of the required credit. More than 10,000 IDES have been financed by banks and micro-finance institutions in Bihar, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh since 2013.

Jeevika–LaBL initiative: An example of a mixed financing approach In 2013, TERI partnered with Jeevika, the State Rural Livelihoods Mission of Government of Bihar to disseminate integrated domestic energy systems among its mission households. Jeevika is mandated to form self-help groups in the poorest villages of Bihar that engage in micro-credit and income-generating activities. In this project, finance was provided by Self Help Groups to buyers of IDES (that comprised a forced-draft improved cook stove, two LED luminaries, a mobile charging point, and a consolidated battery pack charged by a solar panel). The systems were integrated at the local level by ‘energy enterprises’ some of whom were from the Jeevika SHGs. The enterprises invested their own capital in the business, TERI provided results-based viability gap funding for sale of IDES to identified poor households. These households, which were also members of self-help groups, had easy access to micro-credit from their groups through a corpus provided by Jeevika. While in the earlier stages of the project, TERI’s contribution was made from a UK-AID grant, the Power Finance Corporation contributed a portion of the grant from its corporate social responsibility funds. This initiative reached out to more than 13,000 poor households in Bihar.

80+ Corporates, including public sector unitsCorporate partners have been avid supporters of LaBL’s agenda of clean energy access. Their support as donors through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) grants has enabled LaBL in implementing customized and cost-effective technology solutions across India. The generous support from the corporate sector led to emergence of over 3,000 village level entrepreneurs who manage and operate solar energy facilities.

25+ Financial InstitutionsLaBL’s partnership with financial institutions has been instrumental in facilitating consumer finance and enterprise finance for clean energy access in rural areas. The collaboration has enabled thousands of households to pay for clean technology solutions. At the same time, enterprise finance has led to emergence of micro- energy enterprise in rural and remote areas. The financial institutions partnered with LaBL include commercial banks, regional rural banks, non-banking financial institutions, micro-finance institutions and self-help group federations. LaBL has facilitated the inclusion of clean products in the lending portfolio of several financial institutions.

25+ Government InstitutionsGovernment institutions including the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy in India have been providing unstinted guidance and support to the initiative. Through capacity building and knowledge sharing LaBL has facilitated dovetailing of energy access into other development agendas of the government. The reach and connect of government programmes have been leveraged in several states for penetration of the LaBL programme in remote rural areas. Some examples of government departments that have supported the LaBL programme are the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and the Department of Telecommunications of the Government of India. In states, the rural livelihood missions of Madhya Pradesh and Bihar have been close working partners of LaBL. In some states, such as Odisha, sanitation and tribal development programmes of the government have been leveraged for clean energy access.

80+ Grassroots institutionsInstitutions such as NGOs, self-help groups, producer companies, and village cooperatives have provided LaBL its essential grassroots connect. This collaboration has enabled LaBL to maintain its ‘pro-poor’ approach, reaching out to households in remote areas such as hills and forests. Through the network of these institutions, the programme has also reached villages in districts affected with left-wing extremism and regions affected by natural disasters.

PartnershipsLaBL’s success and achievements are a reflection of the commitment of all partners, supporters, volunteers, and patrons

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10+ Multilateral and Bilateral institutionsLaBL’s collaboration with multilateral and bilateral institutions has facilitated

action research in the area if energy access. With support from agencies such

as Department for International Development (DFID), The Norwegian Ministry

of Foreign Affairs, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Swedish

International Development Agency, and the Embassy of Finland, LaBL has

been able to nurture a network of clean energy entrepreneurs. At the same

time, support from these agencies has enabled design, development and

commercialization of technology solutions, and implementation of unique

delivery models and financial instruments in rural areas.

25+ Academic and Research InstitutionLaBL’s partnership with academic institutions has contributed immensely to

designing, customizing, and testing clean energy technology. Various research

studies on the socio-economic impact of clean energy provision have also been

conducted in partnership with national and international research institutions.

In collaboration with the University of California, San Diego, The Energy and

Resources Institute (TERI), has been able to create evidence for the usefulness

of renewable energy technologies and pilot a range of financial instruments and

ICT-based technology solutions that augment poor people’s ability to purchase

and use clean energy products.

15+ Technology partnersCollaboration between Technology Partners (TPs) and LaBL has been a journey of

mutual learning. While the TPs have been continuously upgrading their product

offerings to meet specific needs of the rural users, LaBL has facilitated this

through knowledge sharing and handholding.

250+ Micro enterprisesAs part of the DFID-TERI partnership, facilitation for institutionalization of Energy

Enterprises (EEs) was provided to entrepreneurs in rural areas. EEs provide after

sales-service to end users at the last mile and also undertake retail sale of clean

energy technologies. These EEs manage an inventory of spare parts and provide a

menu of options to end users based on their preference and paying capabilities.

3,000+ Village Level EntrepreneursOver 3,000 village level entrepreneurs (VLEs), under LaBL, operate and manage

micro solar facilities at the last-mile and provide access to solar energy for

consumptive and productive uses.

Volunteers and TorchbearersVolunteers and torchbearers are young students who earn first-hand experience

as part of their association with LaBL. The volunteers and torchbearers participate

in community mobilization and awareness generation activities of the LaBL team.


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IDBI CSR Initiative with LaBLIn September 2014, IDBI partnered with Lighting a Billion Lives (LaBL) to support the provision

of clean lighting and cooking solutions to un-electrified and remotely located villages in Bihar,

Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Odisha. We are delighted to share that the implementation phase

of this project has been completed and 5,000 households, across 111 villages, in these states

now have access to a cleaner and more efficient mode of lighting and cooking. Three types

of technologies have been installed under this project, based on local need assessments and

consumption patterns. These are solar charging stations, supporting 50 LED lanterns each, solar

micro grids that provide lighting to 50 households per unit through LED luminaries, and standalone

integrated domestic energy systems that include two LED luminaries, a mobile charging facility,

and an improved cook stove. One of the key efforts under this project was to bring light to

extremely remote areas where communities had never been exposed to electricity. Notable among

these are the villages in Kalahandi and Rayagada districts of Odisha. In Rayagada, Dongria tribals

of Duragudi village experienced the joy of electricity for the first time. The Dongria Kondh is an

indigenous tribe located in the Niyamgiri hill range in Odisha, an area of densely forested hills, deep

gorges and cascading streams. With support from the local NGO partner, Mahashakti Foundation,

41 Dongria homes now receive power supply for lighting from a centrally installed solar micro grid.

NTPC–LaBL PartnershipIn October 2014, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Limited and The Energy and

Resources Institute (TERI), with support from the District Administration of Angul, joined hands

to provide clean energy access for lighting and cooking to 500 households, across 12 villages,

in and around the Satkosia Tiger Reserve in Odisha. The objective was to deliver a clean energy

technology that addressed lighting and cooking requirements through a single system. TERI’s

integrated domestic energy system (IDES) was adopted as the technology of choice and comprises

of two LED luminaries, a mobile charging point, and a forced draft improved cookstove, powered

by solar panels. The system is designed to sustain a daily load of basic household energy needs,

and delivers enough power to provide light for five hours, mobile charging for two hours, and

battery backup to run the fan in the forced draft cookstove for four hours.

Users preferred the forced draft Improved Cookstove (ICS) over the traditional mud stove as it

took less cooking time, required lower fuel quantities, and emitted significantly lower amount

of smoke compared to a traditional mud stove. Users also expressed that the steel stove offered

convenience due to its portability and could be moved to cook inside as well as outside the house.

The installation of the IDES has greatly reduced the burden of fuel collection, which was a major

source of physical drudgery for the women. With no alternatives for lighting other than kerosene

lamps, the LED luminaries that come with the system are also a huge boon for the households. Not

only are they now spending less per month on fuel for lighting, but are also enjoying better visibility

inside their homes, leading to higher productivity rates. The mobile charging facility is a particular

upgrade and convenience for the users, as they are now able to remain in contact with family

members who are travelling or staying in distant cities.


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Women & Energy“Women can and must play an active role in planning, producing, supplying, and managing of energy. There can be no energy for all that is sustainable unless we tap into the energy, engagement and expertise of women”.

Lakshmi Puri, Acting Head of UN Women, April 2013

Empowerment through Inclusion Women are a key, though underutilized, resource in the energy service delivery process. Primarily viewed only as energy consumers, in the majority of affected regions, it is the women who experience energy poverty much more severely than men. There is a clear correlation between poverty, the lack of access to energy, and gender inequality, as it is well-known that men and women in developing countries have differing roles and responsibilities, which is reflected in their energy needs and priorities. In most ‘BoP’ communities across the world, the entire burden of providing for a family’s energy needs fall on women. In the absence of modern sources of energy for lighting and cooking, women spend nearly 40 hours a month collecting fuel wood, which further, when used to cook over open fires causes her and her family to develop severe respiratory and lung diseases. On an average, women endure 14-hour long work days to fulfill just the basic needs of their families that is, fetching water (which requires them to walk several miles every day) and providing food. With no time, energy or opportunity to pursue any developmental or livelihood activities, women remain confined to their homes, making it nearly impossible for them to break free from drudgery and poverty. Forced into lives of dependency as non-earning members, they end up having limited or no decision-making powers and are allowed lesser and lesser access to education, credit, land, and power.

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Noor Jahan’s story, that recently not only caught the attention of the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, but also of the media and the public at large, is one such example of this inclusive and collaborative energy provisioning approach. In 2012, under a Lighting a Billion Lives project sponsored by Indus Towers in the Kanpur Dehat region, Noor Jahan, a 70-year-old widow, was identified and trained to operate and manage a solar charging station (SCS). The intervention proved to be a huge boost for Noor Jahan, economically, socially, and individually.

After the death of her husband, she was left to support her five children single handedly, and struggled to make ends meet as a daily wage labourer. Making just over a thousand rupees every month, living conditions in her home and family deteriorated severely.

This changed in 2012. Trained and equipped to manage the solar charging station in her village, Beri Dariyawan, Noor Jahan became a village-level energy entrepreneur, and was able to earn nearly double the amount of money she made as a daily wage labourer. Renting out lanterns to her fellow villagers at the nominal rate of `3 per day, she became a revolutionary energy provider in a village that was otherwise devoid of any electricity supply. Slowly and steadily, Noor Jahan has been able to build up her saving and even support her children, who are grown up individuals now. There has been a collective improvement in the quality of lives of Noor Jahan and her fellow villagers who experience better health, cleaner indoor environment, and better light to work or study in.

The energy sector has largely been viewed and approached as a capital-intensive, large-scale, and commercial space where energy service delivery follows a bullish supply driven approach. In the process, however, most energy provision initiatives view and consider women as merely recipients of the intervention and fail to factor in the gender dimensions that may actually influence and reveal the effectiveness and sustainability of the solution; in the absence of active consultations with local women, many clean technologies fail to succeed simply because women’s needs and interests have not been considered.

Participatory processes are important requisites in mainstreaming women into the energy access value chain. But more importantly it is the form of participation that is devised over and above the mere presence of women that will define true gender inclusion.4 Women’s particular roles in their families and communities, as well as their credit risk profile, make them potentially more suitable and effective than men for specific roles within the energy access sector. In turn, this helps women to benefit from new employment opportunities and higher incomes and creates positive implications for the community at large.5 Through the course of its clean energy access interventions, TERI consciously adopted the practice of Energy Provisioning through Inclusive Collaboration (EPIC), as a simple premise


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when developing localized energy service delivery models—identifying specific roles for women to facilitate last mile disseminations and the serviceability of clean lighting and cooking technologies.

Keeping in view the commercial viability of the clean energy intervention and the social objective of inclusion and empowerment, the EPIC approach effectively enables grassroots institutions to function as commercial energy enterprises and involves women as active participants in the energy provisioning process, creating a gender sensitive value chain and an empowerment opportunity that manifests itself through enterprise and skill development, the disintegration of gender stereotypical roles, and positive societal transformations.

A simple approach that consciously involves and prepares women to become valuable participants in the delivery of clean energy as entrepreneurs, service providers, and promotion agents, has enabled Lighting a Billion Lives to establish over 800 such women energy providers across India. It is indeed gratifying to see the progress of these women being recognized by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi himself. Noor Jahan’s story is a testimony to the success of nearly 800 other women across India, who like her, are also micro energy entrepreneurs, and who, as agents of last mile energy access offer a viable, sustainable, and much needed local solution to a global problem.

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Initiated in 2007 at the ‘Clinton Global Initiative’, the LaBL campaign was identified as a pioneering effort towards sustainability globally. The problem of energy access requires innovative solutions encompassing issues of technology, finance, institutional capabilities, and fiscal policy. In response to this problem, LaBL campaign was inaugurated in 2008 by Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, during the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS). The system comprises a congenial Public–Private–People participatory approach at the grass roots levels, where technologies such as Solar Charging Stations (SCS)/Solar Micro Grids (SMG) are set up in prioritized areas, aimed at providing affordable and accessible lighting solutions to communities in need.

Education To complement the Government’s efforts in creating quality infrastructure for aiding modern education in the backward and remote districts of the country, TERI implemented a solar lighting project in schools where the supply of electricity is either not available or is highly erratic. During 2011-13, installation of around 105 KWp as Solar Charging Stations and Micro Solar Power Plants in 157 schools in the states of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Meghalaya took place. This has directly impacted around 27870 lives of students through reliable lighting facilities and energy for running ICT applications.

Health The solar lighting technology has been deployed in 57 Primary Health Centres across various districts of Assam, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh. This has resulted in the extended provisioning of lighting and/or emergency night health services, clean light for safe child delivery, external lighting for enhanced security and the local storage of vaccines in solar powered refrigerators. Under the LaBL programme, water purifiers have been provided in some of the villages in Odisha for portable drinking water and to address the water-borne health related issues.

LaBL & Sustainable Development Goals


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Livelihood Generation In order to augment the livelihood of the rural community, various appliances such as multipurpose grinder, leaf plate pressing machine, weighing scale, polythene sealing machine and water pump sets have been powered with solar energy in the community centre of one of the villages in Odisha. These appliances have enabled the villagers to engage in productive activities such as grinding spices, packaging, and leaf plate making. The village groups now carry out processing of their agro-based products themselves and earn higher revenues on selling by avoiding the role of middle-men. The provision of solar power ensures high productivity of these appliances.

Women Upliftment Many of the village level entrepreneurs selected by LaBL for operation and maintenance of solar lighting systems are women, who are trained by TERI. For example, the collaboration of TERI and Shramik Bharti (Kanpur-based NGO) in 2012 to deliver clean energy solutions to its member communities led to involvement of differently abled or more disadvantaged women among the group as the entrepreneurs of the clean energy programme. Under this, 104 women were trained and appointed as Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) that helped earn the VLE around 78USD a month. This steady monthly income gave women a sense of security and empowerment.

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Impact and Policy TractionInaugurated by the Prime Minister in 2008, the Lighting a Billion Lives (LaBL) programme has

so far impacted over 4 million lives across 22 states and 10 countries covering 3,000 villages.

Implemented through a variety of business models, LaBL has helped catalyze decentralized energy

access across India. The programme has also had an impact on national policies and programmes,

e.g., developing innovative pathways for clean energy dissemination, thus, expanding the network

of private and public players engaged in this sector, widening the menu of technology options and

influencing the move from mere technology provisioning to ‘energy service’ delivery.

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has been fortunate to make contributions to large scale,

significant, and high impact programmes of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE),

Government of India, the driver and leader of decentralized energy policy and programmes in

India. While the programmes of MNRE involve manifold technologies and stakeholders, two

specific programmes of LaBL, viz., Solar Lantern-based Charging Station Programme to bring basic

lighting to Left Wing Extremism affected Districts, and the concept of micro grids for multiples of

10 households have been adopted by MNRE.

In Bihar, the partnership between JEEVIKA (a Rural Livelihoods Initiative of the Government), Power

Finance Corporation, Women Self-Help Groups, local entrepreneurs, and PV system suppliers has

evolved a business model to accelerate access as well as develop a sustainable mechanism that

provides doorstep service to end users through the involvement of local entrepreneurs. Similar

business models were successfully implemented in Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, etc.,

bringing together diverse stakeholders on one platform.

The main focus on enterprise-based energy service delivery through Charging Station Operators

and Micro Grid Owners known as village level entrepreneurs (VLEs), who significantly share the

capital cost necessitating involvement of financial institutions. Thus, the programme has brought

together micro-finance institutions, regional rural banks, end users, and local entrepreneurs to

collectively facilitate energy access. This has also encouraged rural lending institutions to develop

and actively provide financial packages for decentralized energy provisioning.

The LaBL programme encouraged the transition from sealed lead acid batteries to Li-Ion and Li-Fe-

PO4 batteries in SPV lanterns. Similarly, the suppliers and vendors have been encouraged to widen

the menu of lighting options to cater to different needs of diverse stakeholders such as students,

hospitals, etc.

Uttam Urja shops emerged as the last mile delivery of energy services at the block/cluster level to

provide off the shelf quality products and deliver after sales spares and services to end users.


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Technology Technology evolutionTechnology innovation in the Lighting a Billion Lives (LaBL) programme is an adaptive and evolving process. Over the nine years since its inception, there have been manifold technological advancements in solar lighting technology, helping make the overall technological system efficient and cost effective. For instance, solar PV modules have become cheaper and efficient with time, making it possible for local manufacturers to manufacture crystalline panels of internationally comparable quality. Storage systems have evolved from the bulky and high-maintenance lead acid batteries to the comparatively light-weight and low-maintenance lithium ion batteries. Similarly, there has been a shift in luminaries from CFL to LED lamps, thereby reducing the load on the power generation system. While LaBL has strived to keep up with advances in the solar lighting technology space, there are several other factors that have guided technology evolution in the programme.

One of the important factors that has influenced technology development and customisation has been end-user behaviour and preferences. Often, technologies performing well in controlled conditions of testing laboratories do not last long in actual field conditions, when subjected to daily use by multiple users. For example, in solar lanterns, switches, reflectors, plastic casing and wire connectors are among the first components to show signs of wear and tear. Another example is that of the battery component in lighting systems - which go into deep discharge if used more than the stipulated duration. Controlling user behaviour in field conditions is difficult and sometimes impractical, inspite of user training conducted at the time of technology installation. The technology, no matter how advanced, must be sufficiently robust to endure rough use by village users. Preference of end-users has also played an important role in selecting appropriate technology or in customising it. This has been demonstrated well

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in the case of improved cookstoves developed by TERI, which forms a part of the integrated domestic energy system. A participatory technology development model has been followed for designing forced draft cookstoves, of which nearly 11 technology variants have been developed. In a market-based approach for dissemination, taking into account user preferences while selecting technology assures high demand for the product. Cost of technology is another important factor for technology selection to ensure affordability of the clean energy product. The appropriate price point of the technology is determined on the basis of cost of production, cost of marketing, paying capacity of users and their willingness to pay.

As the program expands to new geographies and reaches out to previously unserved communities, the context of technology evolution changes with time. In a dynamic process, there is a constant need to innovate and customise, so that the technology solutions offered by LaBL are truly affordable and useful for its target beneficiaries.

Technology optionsCentralised Solar Lantern Charging Station (CSLCS): CSLCS is a charging station where a number of lanterns charge simultaneously through a junction box from one or more number of solar photo-voltaic (SPV) modules, which are centrally located. The CSLCS option offers possibility to use large capacity SPV modules that in turn offer better efficiencies and lower unit costs (INR/Wp) as compared to small capacity SPV modules that are used individually and dedicatedly with each solar lantern. A single unit in a typical CSLCS in the LaBL campaign consists of a SPV module feeding a junction box containing multiple ports for facilitating the charging of a certain number of lanterns simultaneously. A set of SPV modules is installed on the shadow-free area of the charging station. The voltage and current of each SPV module is chosen in a way that it is capable of charging a

particular pre-determined number of lanterns. A lantern is a portable lighting system consisting of lighting device (lamp), a maintenance free storage battery and electronics that are all placed in a case made of plastic or fibre-glass. During the day, the storage battery of the lanterns is charged through the junction box ports by the electricity generated from the SPV module. When the lantern is fully charged, it is disconnected from the JB and then can be used as an independent portable lighting source. Lantern is suitable for both indoor and outdoor lighting applications. The specifications of the lanterns are generally based on their light output and typical power rating. A junction box basically contains the electronic interface circuitry that is required between the SPV module and the lanterns. It houses the necessary protections such as short-circuit and reverse-polarity protections for effective charging of the lanterns. For proper distribution of current and the protection of the lanterns, the JB in CSLCS contains current limiting circuits for each individual port. A CSLCS caters to around 50 households in a village, where households take the lantern on rent on a daily basis from a system operator or a village-level entrepreneur.


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Solar Micro-Grid (SMG): Fixed, centralised installation of photovoltaic power panels that serve connections of 2 light points and a mobile charging facility across 50-80 households in a village, SMGs are well suited for households or shops situated close to each other or in a cluster, the solution is modular and flexible and can be expanded in scale as necessary. The connection to an SMG provides the end user with 4 to 5 hours of clean and bright lighting. TERI followed a flexible approach and implemented micro-grids of different capacities to serve 20 to 100 households from each micro-grid. The supply is done at 24V for providing lighting services for 4 hours in the evening using LED lamps of a total of 3-6W per households (1-3 light points/household, 100lm/W) and power to charge mobile phones. Each connection has two 1W LEDs and one mobile charging point. Users may choose to

pay extra for additional lights, however, a maximum of eight 1W LEDs is provided. Twenty households are usually connected from each micro-grid of 240Wp capacity within a maximum grid length of 90 metres to keep the technical loss and the installation cost at the minimum.

Solar Multi-utility Centre (SMU): A SMU is basically a stand-alone off-grid SPV energy based centralised charging station that is optimally designed to provide electricity to operate appliances under one roof and also charge battery based utilities. Centrally located within a village, the applications and facilities included in this SMU centre is maintained by a local entrepreneur and provided at affordable fee-for-service to the beneficiaries of the villages. Thorough scoping exercises in the village resulted in the identification of range applications such as powering of bamboo stick making machine, turmeric grinding machine, water purifier and charging of small batteries, solar lanterns etc. The appliances were suitably motorised and customised for efficient integration into the SMU along with suitably sizing and designing the other balance of system

components such as PCU, charge controllers, junction boxes etc. for powering the various AC and DC appliances. While retaining the flexibility of interconnection of solar modules as per requirement, the SMU was divided into three sub-systems with exclusive SPV array capacity dedicated to each sub-system so that the solar power could be optimally utilised with ensured operational hours for each application. The entire SPV capacity of 5kWp was not utilised with current appliances for providing an option for additional loads in future. The operating voltages of the sub-systems were suitable decided (96V, 12V etc.) based on the types of AC and DC loads. Battery-bank as a backup power source adds to the reliability of the system by bringing in the flexibility of availing the facility even during non-sunny

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hours of the day. DC charging applications, such as centralised charging of solar lanterns, prompted the design of customised junction boxes with suitable protection circuits as a part of an efficient centralised charging station concept. State-of-the-art Remote Monitoring System (RMS) has been further integrated into the SMU to capture electrical parameters in order to remotely monitor the operation, functioning and utilisation of the SMU. Data from RMS based monitoring help analyse the real time utilisation pattern of the services and also monitor the technical failures leading to prompt repair and maintenance.

Integrated Domestic Energy System (IDES): IDES is an independent system installation that can be customised and configured to serve specific requirements and consumption needs of households and small shops. The system runs on its own solar panel and supports two to three light points and a mobile charging facility. End users may incorporate a small solar fan or television into the system by modifying the panel size and battery backup. The system is also well suited for isolated homes in rural belts that are too far away to receive a solar micro grid connection. A hybrid version of the solar home lighting system, the IDES is an integrated system that provides a clean cooking solution in addition to a solar panel, two light points and a mobile charging facility. Developed to address the other major concern of indoor air pollution in rural households, the system addresses basic

lighting and cooking energy requirements and reduces emissions by 30%. The forced draft improved cook stove is improvised based on locally available materials and adapted to suit the region and usage behaviour and is designed to provide 4 hours of cooking time in a day. The system has 20 Wp/12V SPV modules, that charge a central battery bank comprised of low-maintenance tubular batteries (10-20 Ah). Two LED luminaries, usually of 2W each is provided with the system. There is provision for including a BIS approved forced draft cookstove in the system. IDES is centrally controlled by a charge controller, that may also include ports for charging a mobile phone.


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Technology Evolution

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Surging AheadWith the current rate of population growth outpacing energy provisioning, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that even in 2030 in a business as usual scenario, there will be 1.4 billion people without access to electricity and close to 2.7 billion dependent on biomass for meeting cooking energy needs, thus, bringing us back to where we are today. Hence, recognizing the need to have an accelerated approach to household energy access, the Lighting a Billion Lives (LaBL) programme reinforces its focus on developing new business models, widening the menu of decentralized energy options; networking with similar regional and global initiatives; building capacities of diverse stakeholders and policy advocacy at the national and global levels.

First, the programme will forge new partnerships and develop business models with innovative and flexible relationships between diverse public & private, and market & non-market actors involved in energy access provisioning. Such relationships would focus on synchronizing and synergizing performance-driven operations of private sector players with the funding support and social-welfare mandates of donor agencies and NGOs. The approaches for ‘hybridizing’ commercial and social objectives will have service quality as its core strength, but with a fair amount of flexibility to innovate in terms of the product, service or business relationships. Based on the learnings from different ‘hybridized business models’ that the programme has already pioneered, LaBL would launch mega campaigns and networks to bring together corporates; government entities and programmes; manufacturers and local entrepreneurs; and financial institutions.

Second, the economic growth and development imperatives demand that we are able to quickly move populations from basic lighting access to energy provisioning that encompasses enterprise and livelihood enhancement, i.e. from tier 2 to tier 3 and tier 4 levels of access. While the programme has


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successfully catalyzed the basic energy provisioning, it would now focus on expanding the menu of options to cater to different energy needs, moving from basic lighting to energy service provisioning. This would mean launching off-grid initiatives that cater not only to consumptive but productive needs as well such as the initiative to operate the looms in eastern UP by decentralized photovoltaic systems.

Third, given the positive feedback and the success in catalyzing the off-grid market in India, the programme envisions a more global presence building on its existing initiatives in South Asia and in several African countries. LaBL intends to expand its reach in South Asia by launching a ‘Campaign’ in Afghanistan, expanding the ‘Lighting a Million Lives’ chapter in Pakistan and initiating similar efforts for Nepal and other countries in Africa. The process would also involve networking with global and regional initiatives such as ACCESS, Lighting Africa, Lighting Asia, etc.

Fourth, LaBL would embark on a major initiative for building capacity of different stakeholders and for sharing the learning from its diverse interventions. The capacity building effort would be primarily routed through the ‘SE4ALL Capacity Building Hub’ of TERI. E-learning modules focussing on decentralized energy interventions would be developed to share with stakeholders globally. The process has already been initiated with development of over 10 hours of basic e-learning modules on solar photovoltaic lighting and improved cooking energy options for rural energy deprived households. The said modules have already been shared across states in India and countries in Africa.

Finally, the programme would focus on documenting the learning and influencing policy through a concerted effort at the national, regional, and global levels. A global Advisory Committee would guide and facilitate the process of knowledge management and sharing. Global outreach efforts such as the ‘LaBL Convention 2016’ would focus on sharing the learnings and experiences of the programme. Policy advocacy would be undertaken by formulation of policy briefs and through structured advocacy initiatives.

In 2013, TERI received the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) Project of Year (2013) award in the

NGO category. The award specifically recognized TERI’s work and contribution towards society

under the LaBL initiative. PMI took into account LaBL’s model in terms of project processes and last

mile delivery, which are strategically carried out to effectively provide clean lighting solutions to

rural communities across selected states in India. Over the years the campaign has received many

prestigious awards, such as Nasscom Innovation Awards 2011 under the social innovation category,

CXO Award 2011 under the best IT initiative for social change, etc.

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ContributorsIbrahim H Rehman Senior Director, Social Transformation Division, TERI

Arun Sreekumar Area Convener, Rural Resources Management, TERI

Bigsna Gill Associate Fellow, Lighting a Billion Lives

Martand Shardul Associate Fellow, Lighting a Billion Lives

Sangeeta Malhotra Consultant, Lighting a Billion Lives

Compiled byArun Sreekumar Area Convener, Rural Resources Management, TERI

EditorAnushree Tiwari Sharma Editor, TERI Press

Design & LayoutSantosh K Singh Graphic Designer, TERI Press

R K Joshi Graphic Designer, TERI Press

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The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)

A dynamic and flexible not-for-profit organization with a global vision and a local focus, TERI is deeply committed to every aspect of sustainable development. From providing environment-friendly solutions to rural energy problems to tackling issues of global climate change across continents and advancing solutions to growing urban transport and air pollution problems, TERI’s activities range from formulating local- and national-level strategies to suggesting global solutions to critical energy and environmental issues. With over 1,000 employees drawn from diverse disciplines, the Institute’s work is supported by ministries and departments of the government, various bilateral and multilateral organizations, and corporations of repute.

www.teriin.org

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