The Hindu : Karnataka News : Here solar power brightens people's lives

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 26, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Here solar power brightens people's lives

By Divya Sreedharan

Subba Reddy's brother, Manjunatha Reddy, displays a solar-powered light tester at their silkworm rearing centre at Kaiwara in Kolar district.

CHICKABALLAPUR (KOLAR DISTRICT), NOV. 25. As an eerie, low-pitch rumble emerges from a long, high-ceilinged and completely sealed hall, Subba Reddy beams at the blazing sun.

His silk worms are eating well. That means he and his four brothers will reap a good harvest from their silkworm rearing centre spread on 15 acres at Kaiwara in Kolar district.

Mr. Reddy and his brothers are successful sericulturists in Kolar. Their cocoons produce 1,200 kg of silk a month helping them earn Rs. 1.5 lakhs. They believe that solar energy has a key role in the fat silk worms they raise.

Power cuts are common in Kolar, which comes under Bangalore Electricity Supply Company and is only 50 km away from the State capital.

Power shutdowns not only make daily life a misery, but it also hurts Kolar's main activities — sericulture and milk production. Now, more and more people are, like the Reddy brothers, looking at solar power.

Using the sun

The brothers have solar panels atop three silk rearing halls on their farm. This gives them the lighting needed for rearing silkworms.

"A bank loan took care of Rs. 75,000 that was needed for the three solar power systems," says Mr. Subba Reddy.

Though they still use power supplied by BESCOM for heating, monthly lighting costs now come to about Rs. 250 from the earlier Rs. 700. "We are very happy now," the brothers say with a smile on their faces.

For Shell Solar India, the company that installed the power system, the smiles indicate how well its "rural electrification" project is doing.

Shell Solar is part of the $12.5 billion (in 2003) Royal Dutch/Shell Group and its aim is to boost solar power use among people like the Reddys.

"Doing that will boost rural entrepreneurship," says Shell India's Manager-External Affairs/Corporate Identity, Shailaja D. Sharma.

Shell Solar is based at Chamarajpet in Bangalore and has centres in 22 districts and places such as Kolar, Belgaum, Chickaballapur, Davangere, Shimoga, Hubli, and Hassan. The company also has centres in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.

Shell Solar, in fact, works with grameena banks to ensure that the rural folk can afford its products.

And apparently, the approach works. Canara Bank, Kaiwara, has so far disbursed 20 loans for solar water heaters and 20 loans for Shell Solar lighting systems. The company sells "off-grid" stand-alone lighting systems here. One such system has helped M.V. Ashok Kumar, a doctor at Hoskote Cross, to light up his clinic and a nearby pharmacy.

The Milk Producers' Society, Mylapanahalli, also uses solar lighting. Basavarajaiah, society secretary, says lighting bills are now one-third of what they used to be.

Dr. Sharma says the group has set up a Shell Foundation that, along with the United Nations Environment Programme, provides "consumer finance" through banks, "to encourage people to buy solar energy products, not just our systems."

Projects

In India, the foundation has eight projects, including one with street vendors in Mangalore. The vendors use solar-powered lanterns and pay Rs. 15 each daily, to charge the lanterns at a common centre.

Globally, Shell Solar has 350 megawatts of installed capacity. The company thinks the future of solar energy lies in rural areas. The Reddys echo that. They want solar power for their home next.

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