India is in the top of the list of developing countries and sixth largest consumer of energy. Energy consumption pattern and availability of type of resources are interlinked with the socioeconomic development of the society and country. In India, 70 percent of this energy is imported in the form of crude oil and natural gases. Continuously increasing prices of petroleum products leads to large financial drain. On the other hand, In the rural areas the demand of fuel is catered through fuel wood, farm manure and animal excreta like cow dung which supplies energy for cooking food specially.
For eg. Sustainable annual yield is 86 million tonnes whereas demand is more than 200 million tonnes and in the villages 90% energy is supplied through fuel wood. According to reports 87% village are electrified. So, the rest of the villages are dependent on kerosene for lighting and even electrified villages also do not have access to electricity 24 hours. So, more or less villages are also dependent on the conventional sources of energy. In most of the villages conventional energy sources demand and supply gap is continuously increasing due to several reasons:
Forest area is continuously decreasing due to conversion of forest land into agriculture land.
Due to increasing population demand of fuel wood is increasing uninterrupted.
Energy efficiency of fuel wood is low if compared to petroleum products, so more fuel wood is required to meet the increasing demand.
Cow dung is also an inefficient fuel and is not readily available now.
Due to upsurge in demand, prices of kerosene are also increasing and due to its dependence on imports, prices can't be controlled by the Union Government. Hence the government expenditure on energy is continuously mounting and it is creating overburden on the economy.
As all the conventional resources of energy are depleting with the escalating demand, the signs of struggle are being shown within the communities to satisfy their household needs. This scarcity has elongated the time of searching the fuel wood for women as they have travel a long distance. The increasing population has prompted the tendency of nuclear families and due to increasing number of nuclear families, energy requirement and consumption is increasing day-by-day and this leads to augment the struggle within the communities. Several examples of struggle and resistance can be seen in communities or struggle between community and Government.
Alternative Energy resources
To tackle the problem of energy crisis Government of India have many intervention programmes. Lot of investment has been done in various alternative options available for energy. These options are:
biomass energy
solar energy
wind energy
Geothermal energy
Hydroelectrical energy
Today the Government of India has largest decentralised solar energy programme, the second largest in biogas and fifth largest wind power programme in the world.
Alternative Energy resources and community
As quoted above, rural areas are facing the acute energy problem due to depleting sources of energy due to type of resources and the consumption pattern type. The continuous use of animal residues and fuelwood is making the resources unsustainable and it can be a factor to increase the struggle within and outside the communities.
In this situation, alternative energy resources can provide a solution to combat the problem of energy and henceforth struggle for energy. This also has been identified by the government so government is preparing for decentralization of planning and implementation of rural energy interventions, with the involvement of local communities. In this approach villagers are the beneficiaries and the caretaker of the energy resources.
These rural energy programmes can't be undertaken in isolation, as these energy interventions can be interlinked with other development initiatives and programmes. This approach achieves two wide purposes:
It can resolve the acute energy crisis problem of communities because requirement of the energy can be fulfilled on the sustainable basis.
Due to participatory approach it can gain wide acceptance within the target communities.
Due to linkage with other development programmes it can also be helpful to achieve the target of overall development.
From the above mentioned sources of energy biomass and hydro-energy plants can be successfully installed and used with the help of community for their own use. Although wind energy and solar energy plants are expensive as installation cost is very high but once installed, the cost of production is minimal and these two resources are readily available in the tropical country like India.
A lot of successful examples are presented below where through community participation energy resources have been created with the help of government or by some other agency or an NGO or an Institution.
Success Stories
TERI (The Energy research Institute) with the help of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd and Gas Authority of India Ltd. Implemented the project of providing different equipments of solar energy. This projected has covered 35 villages of 3 districts. The details of the location are given in the table
Project area
Energy plan focus
Energy devices installed
Local institutions
involved in the
management
Solan
30 villages in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh
Agro-climatic zone: Western Himalayan
Water heating and
cooking
Community solar water heaters
(750 lpd capacity): 3
Improved chulhas: 116
Solar cookers with electric
back-up: 51
Mahila mandal
Local NGO-DEEP and DP
Sultanpur
3 village panchayats in Sultanpur district of
Uttar Pradesh
Agro-climatic zone: Upper-Gangetic
Cooking and lighting
Biogas plants (2 m3): 24
Improve chulhas: 250
Nutandeep improved kerosene
lanterns: 500
Solar lanterns: 65
Village panchayat
Local technicians
Jaisalmer
4 villages of Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan
Agro-climatic zone: Western dry
Lighting
Solar lanters: 275
Village panchayat
Local technicians
Gurgaon district in Haryana has a large number of Biogas plants which has been dysfunctional for many years. Villagers, therefore, were not confident about the technology. In an effort to renew the faith of the people in biogas technology, an attempt was made to rectify two dysfunctional plants in villages Tajnapur and Sultanpur. This was done in a participatory manner with the cooperation of all the household members. The results of this intervention were successful and it regained the faith of the villagers and it enhanced community involvement also.
(source: Paticipatory Rural Energy Planning-Preeti Malhotra, Soma Dutta & Venkata Ramna P, The Energy Research Institute)
The Barefoot College, Tilonia, Rajasthan
The Barefoot College has been pioneering solar electrification in rural, remote, non-electrified villages, since 1989. The College has demystified solar technology and is decentralizing its application by making it available to poor and neglected communities. By 'demystification' of solar technology and 'decentralisation' of its application, we mean placing the fabrication, installation, usage, repair and maintenance of sophisticated solar lighting units in the hands of rural, illiterate and semi-literate men and women .
As part of the decentralization and demystification process, the College essentially trains a few members of the community to be 'Barefoot Solar Engineers' (BSEs), who will install, repair and maintain solar lighting units for a period of five years at least, as well as set up a 'Rural Electronic Workshop' where components and equipment needed for the repair and maintenance of solar units will be stored.
The village must agree, in writing, to build or donate a building for the Rural Electronic Workshop (REW), select Barefoot solar engineers and allow them to go to India for six months of training, as well as identify the individuals who will be responsible for punctually collecting the monthly household fee. This way the entire rural community can take part in solar electrification and control and manage it together.
Problems and Constraints :
Imbalance of power within the community and biased political scenario is detrimental to these projects, as whole community is refrained to participate in these projects.
Caste and Class divide in the community can be harmful as people don't want to participate in the community project.
The technology used is very costly as the fixed cost is very high.
Technology used in such projects is very complicated and it requires lot of maintenance which is also very costly.
Conclusion:
The alternative sources of energy have emerged as the hope to combat the problem of acute energy crisis and to meet the energy demand of the country which will push the development in the whole country. At community level use of alternative energy resources in a participatory fashion can resolve the problem of energy in the village and through community action it can facilitate the path of overall socio-economic development.
