Energy Sharing & Women Entrepreneurship
I have already explained the drawbacks of Grid connected system in the remote villages over rooftop solar in my previous article. I will explain a little bit more before starting my next article.
Solar Rooftop | Rural Spark
There are many advantages of the Solar Rooftop solution for the remote villages-
The Solar rooftop solution has very low installation cost if compared with the Grid, it is a stand-alone system which can full fill user needs as well as they can sell remaining energy to their neighbors through which they can earn money.
The Rural Spark India is working on the same principle where we sell our energy kits to the rural villagers so that they can full fill their demand as well as share remaining energy.
The above picture shows how kit installation connects several villagers. The Rural Spark Energy Kit includes Router which is a smart converter, Smart charger which can charge & discharge at the same time, it is a modular battery pack which is used as a backup when there is no sun, it can be used to charge mobile phone, tv, fan, rechargeable lamp etc through router.
The design of the kit is made in such a way that the villagers can rent out rechargeable lamps, modular battery pack, USB bulbs to earn more income & create entrepreneur among villagers, charging station has several USB ports to charge lamps, mobile phones etc. to make money.
Since the villagers cannot buy the Rural Spark energy kit because of their low income, so the router is made to work on a weekly/monthly token system which activates the router so that it can be used for all the required work. When the expense of the kit is completed(takes 2 years of monthly of installment)the router is unlocked & villagers can use it for a lifetime without any payment. Some of the examples of energy sharing idea are shown below.
There are some more interesting stories. The women of villages also come & participate in the revolutionary idea called “Energy Sharing” they rent out the kits from home collect rent by their own which makes a wonderful example of “Women Entrepreneurship” read more stories from the link given below
Women Entrepreneur -
Since Energy never used as a direct source, it is always used as a byproduct. It is either used as to glow bulbs to make our children study in the night, watch TV for entertainment, use it for fan or to use it at a large scale, but we made a new byproduct of the energy, we made women entrepreneur in the villages to do business independently. They are now a businesswoman, they are not only a wife, a mother, a daughter-in-law & this is our contribution towards the women entrepreneur growing world. After installation of several kits in the villages we saw smile on the children faces, we saw the woman to come out of their home to do business, these are the motivation we got & decide to move on next level to work for “Women” because we can not make a village, a state, a country or a planet without “Women Involvement”
There are also positive impacts on the business as well as education of the children in the night, there are some Local Energy Suppliers who we identify & target to sell the kit, after that the LES(Local Energy Supplier) starts renting out lamps, battery packs etc. & so the locals who don’t have Rural Spark Energy kit can also use to continue their business even when there is no sun, children can continue their study after sunset. So the one Rural Spark Entrepreneur Kit provides energy at least four houses.
After the installation of several kits in Bihar & Jharkhand, our next design will be of high capacity where LES can also share electrical energy along with lightning & battery packs.
