Designing micro-business models and identifying suitable technology for livelihood clusters in Assam, all powered by clean energy.

Hamara Grid is working closely with WRI and ICCO on the following deliverables in the districts of Goalpara and Morigram in Assam

• 1.   Exhaustive situational analysis to gain a better understanding of local communities, local stakeholders, and livelihood clusters. This offers a detailed picture of the energy-livelihood nexus, the ability and willingness to pay for improved energy access, and the accessibility of markets.
• 2.   Initiate the process to identify and design micro-business models for these productive models.
• 3.   Support the ICCO and WRI in identifying appropriate technology to be powered by clean energy solutions.

Rural Development of North East India through Mini-Grids

Hamara Grid will work alongside rural communities to provide 24*7 clean electricity in over 1000 villages in North-East India. The Mon district in Nagaland, the home of the Konyak tribe, has been selected as the area to initiate this development mission with support from government authorities. The aim is to electrify all 132 villages of Mon district in a phased manner over a three and a half year period, impacting 237,600 Konyak lives. The project will be implemented in 15 villages in the first phase, 35 villages in the second phase, and the remaining villages in the third phase. A non-profit company, the ‘Mithun Rural Development Foundation’, has been floated as an SPV for the Mon Project. The project was launched on the 21st of September and the first 3 pilot solar mini-grids will be operational by the end of January 2021, powering 650-700 Konyak tribal households. Over 15 productive loads (PUE) have been converted and incubated across three mini-grid villages to energize the local economy, as well as stimulating demand. A further 7 pilot mini-grids will be commissioned in early 2022.
Know more about Mithun Rural Development Foundation [MRDF]

Improving Mini-Grid Project Performance in Myanmar

Team Hamara Grid worked closely with Smart Power Myanmar (SPM) and mini-grid developers in Myanmar to improve mini-grid performance through monthly technical advisory engagements with developers, improving the commercial viability of solar mini-grids by fostering productive use of energy (PUE), and the technical optimization of the solar mini-grids. The team also worked with local teams and developers to generate demand for scalable productive loads across four regions of Myanmar: Bago, Sagaing, Ayeyarwady, and Tanintharyi. Hamara Grid also helped improve the capacity of VECs and local teams in mini-grid demand management in Myanmar.

Capacity Building of TPRMG staff in mini-grid demand management strategy in Uttar Pradesh, India

Team Hamara Grid worked with Smart Power India (SPI) on building the capacity of Tata micro-grid staff to stimulate demand for energy and incubate local micro-enterprises in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, India.

Capacity building of TRIF staff in mini-grid demand management strategy and research on climate assessment in Kurdeg, Jharkhand, India.

At the bidding of the WRI, Hamara Grid has partnered with the Transform Rural India Foundation (TRIF) to identify and implement scalable productive loads in their operational mini-grid villages in the Kurdeg block of Simdega, Jharkhand. The aim is to stimulate an increase in the productive use of the energy (PUE) provided by the mini-grid in an inclusive, sustainable, and climate-friendly manner. It can then be scaled across rural communities and geographies, as well as triggering the socio-economic development of tribal communities in Jharkhand. In mid-December 2021, the team successfully converted five fossil-fuel based water pumps (1.5 HP) to clean electric water pumps (0.75 HP) in Kurdeg as part of a PUE pilot. As well as reducing CO2 emissions by 1.5 tons, it has reduced irrigation costs by an estimated 74%. This pilot will inform and impact the scaling of productive loads powered by village mini-grids in this region and beyond.