Government of Norway and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India launched a project which aims at preparing the ground for scalable commercial village electrification by renewable energy. The project was launched by Norwegian Minister of Environment and International Development, Mr Erik Solheim in February 2009.
As a part of the project, community solar power plants (CSPP) are being built in about 30 villages in 4 different states in India, namely Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir. The project claims to have provided uninterrupted power supply since the inauguration.
The project has contributed the villages in several ways such as strengthening the economic activities of women; improved studying conditions for children; increased social activity through the Women Self Help Groups (SHGs). In a way this is an important step towards women empowerment, besides other benefits.
As a part of the project, ten villages across Dumka and Godda districts in Jharkhand have been covered. These villages have silk reeling centers run by women self help groups. Solar panels have been set up on top of these centers and the power thus produced is utilized by these centers. Now the women can run the machine on solar power which results in doubling their production capacity.
Further, the school children get together in the centre in the evening and study in the solar power. Some villages also have plans to buy community TV. Earlier the villagers were not able to consider any other livelihood option due to lack of power. Now other power based livelihood options can also be explored.