By Dr Anil K. Rajvanshi

It is a matter of shame for all of us that even 56 years after Independence, 63 per cent of all rural households in India do not have electricity and use kerosene for lighting. Even for those rural areas, which are electrified, there is a tremendous shortage of power supply. Thus it is not uncommon for these areas to have 10-15 hours of blackouts and brownouts every day. There is a shortfall of about 15,000-20,000 mw of electricity in the country and we require about 140,000 mw of additional capacity by 2010 with an estimated outlay of Rs 5,50,000 crore. Because of tremendous shortage of electricity, industrial growth and general life in the country is seriously affected. Moreover, with any problems in the national grid, rural areas are affected the most, since the state electricity boards provide urban areas with electricity on priority basis.
However, the recently enacted Electricity Act 2003, which allows for the first time in India a private utility to produce and distribute power, provides a glimmer of hope not only for the country but more so for the rural areas. Hence, small rural private and cooperative power utilities can be empowered to quickly and efficiently supply electricity.
Work done at the Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute in Phaltan, Maharashtra, has shown that each taluka in the country produces enough agricultural residues so that all its electricity demands can be met by using them in 10-20 mw biomass-based power plants. The NARI study also showed that besides providing power, the taluka energy self-sufficiency plan could also create 30,000 jobs/year. With the new Electricity Act, taluka energy self-sufficiency can become a reality since the utility can produce and supply power to its customers without the need to go through SEBs. The taluka utility company can also lease the existing transmission and distribution infrastructure of SEBs so that it need not invest in developing its own. This will also help the SEBs to get regular income from their infrastructure. The NARI study also showed that the taluka energy programme could produce Rs 100 crore/year wealth for its inhabitants in terms of biomass production and setting up of new electricity-based industries. With about 3,500 talukas in the country it is therefore possible to produce about Rs 3,50,000 crore/year extra wealth through the taluka programme.
Recently, the Prime Minister has set up the Rural Electricity Supply Technology (REST) mission in the Union ministry of power. It is hoped through this mission to electrify all villages by 2010. According to MoP officials, funds of about Rs 10,000-15,000 crore will be made available to the rural power utilities at 2-2.5 per cent per annum interest rate. With the new Electricity Act and this type of funding it becomes very attractive for microutilities to come up in rural areas. Thus it is envisaged that a small rural power cooperative can be set up to produce 200-500 KWe of power and supply all the electricity demands of one or two villages. Again this utility can lease the existing SEB power line infrastructure for its purposes. NARI has recently suggested this concept to the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission. It is also envisaged that electric cooperatives may function on the lines of TV cable operators in rural areas.
However, for small power packs of 500 KWe and less to function smoothly in rural areas it is necessary that they be powered by fuel from locally available resources. Thus there is a need to do sophisticated R&D in producing biofuels from renewable energy sources. These biofuels can easily power the existing diesel gensets. Development of liquid fuels like ethanol and bio-diesel from multipurpose crops should be done so that the issue of food and fuel from the same piece of land is taken care of. This will help in creating fuel supply network for small rural based utilities. Besides it will create wealth in the rural areas by producing value-added items like liquid fuel from agricultural residues. Thus the Government of India should extensively fund the R&D programme on biofuels.
Finally, for the rural electricity supply mission to succeed it is necessary that close cooperation between corporate sector, government and NGOs is needed. The corporate sector can provide the necessary technological and managerial support, NGOs can create the necessary trust in such utilities and Government of India can help provide soft financing through its many rural development programmes. An energy self-sufficient and hence prosperous rural India will be the first step in making us a developed nation.

(The writer is Director of Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI))

100% rural power in 10 states
The Centre proposes to electrify 62,000 villages through grid power, during the 10th Five-Year Plan (2002-07) under the Pradhan Mantri Gramodhaya Yojna. The Centre hopes to achieve 100 per cent village electrification in the current Plan. Another 18,000 remote villages will be electrified through non-conventional energy as grid power could prove uneconomical. These villages would be electrified through decentralised plants based on biomass, gasification of biomass, hydel power, solar thermal power etc.