Solar populism: a free solar home lighting scheme for people

As elections approach, political parties in India are promising the sky to woo voters. Populism is the flavour of the day. It is not even 'Buy 2 Get 1 free.' It is 'Buy Nothing, Spend Votes, Get Everything free', at least in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP), known for its role in putting the city of Hyderabad on the world Information Technology map, has promised a Cash Transfer Scheme in which the government would directly deposit Rs. 1000 to Rs. 2000 (US$ 20 to 40) in the bank accounts of middle class and below poverty line (BPL) people every month. It has also promised to provide free colour TVs and free electricity for houses with two bulbs, a fan and a TV.

Instead of promising free electricity and free colour TVs and other such freebies in the name of development, political parties must promise to supply free solar home lighting systems to all.

Solar home lighting systems basically contain a solar panel to capture the sun’s energy, a battery to store it, a few light bulbs and maybe a fan.

All schemes of providing free electricity and free colour TVs would pale in comparison to a scheme promising free solar home lighting systems. Here is why. See the advantages of a free solar home lighting system scheme for Andhra Pradesh:

1.  Free electricity is automatically ensured as the sun is always there in the tropical latitudes in which Andhra Pradesh in located. The storage battery ensures that power is provided throughout the night as well.

2.  The problem of power cuts is taken care off. No more chest beating about providing 6 hours electricity or 12 hour electricity a day to farmers. Electricity would be available for 24 hours a day, free of cost.

3.  As the state government does not have to suffer huge subsidy bills by supplying free electricity, the money could be used to fund other social sector programs, or more solar home lighting systems.

4.  Solar home lighting systems can bring electricity to remote areas in Andhra Pradesh which otherwise are not connected to the electricity grid because of costs, corruption or sheer neglect.

5.  No problems of low voltage and fluctuating frequency. As a solar home lighting system is independent, it is insulated from problems in the electricity grid.

6.  Because it is insulated from the electricity grid, the solar home lighting system is immune to faults, voltage and current surges. Fuse blows would be rather infrequent. Maintenance rather low.

There are even more important advantages. A government scheme promising solar home lighting systems for villages having electricity problems would provide a massive stimulus to the solar energy industry in India.

Such large scale production would help manufacturers achieve economies of scale and help reduce the cost of solar energy for the common man. Lowered costs would further increase demand for solar energy systems, which would further push costs down.

As solar energy is clean and green, it would prevent tonnes of carbon dioxide from being emitted into the atmosphere. It could be advertised as a major initiative by India towards fighting climate change, showing that India is serious about it.

There are, of course, problems. The biggest problem with solar energy is the cost. However, a solar home lighting system to the poor will not cost more than the packages that are currently being promised by the parties.

Take, for example, Chandrababu Naidu’s promise of Rs. 2000 (US$ 40) per month cash transfer for BPL families. That would translate to Rs. 120,000 (US$ 2400) over five years per family. A colour TV, at the least (decent 14 inch) would cost Rs. 5000 (US$ 100) per family.

On the other hand, a solar home lighting system kit containing two 9 Watt compact fluorescent lamps (CFL), a 20 Watt DC fan, a low maintenance battery and a 18 W solar panel module costs only about Rs. 25,000 (US$ 500.) With the subsidy that is being offered by the government, the cost comes down to about Rs. 20,000 (US$ 400) per family.

There are 11 million BPL citizens in Andhra Pradesh. If you take a family as containing four individuals (two parents and two children), that would be about 3 million BPL families in the state. The cost of such a scheme for all 3 million BPL families could come to Rs. 7,500 crore (US$ 1.5 billion) , including the subsidy.

If you spread the target over five years, it would cost the government Rs. 1500 crore (US$ 300 million) per annum. The Andhra Pradesh government, in its budget for 2009, is already spending over Rs. 4000 crore (US$ 800 million) on energy. So, this scheme is financially within the reach of the government.

And remember, this money will be spent not just on providing kits but also on taking electricity to all villages, even those not connected. In other words, it could be much like a Rajiv Gandhi rural electrification project in its purpose, just the means being different.

Not just home lighting systems with bulbs and fans, even motor pumps can be run by solar energy and solar motor pump kits are also available in the market.

Another problem is that solar energy is not as green as it seems. Solar panels, necessary to capture the sun’s energy and convert it into electricity, are manufactured from sand.

Solar panel manufacturing is a very energy hungry process. As much of India’s energy is sourced from thermal power plants, solar panel manufacturing would indirectly end up releasing large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

However, it is a cost that could be born as the benefits outweigh the costs. The electricity that would otherwise go into powering up your fan or light could go into manufacturing a solar home lighting system.

We could also explore cleaner energy sources to power up solar panel manufacturing. Advances in organic solar cells promise to drastically reduce the cost of solar energy and the environmental effects of solar panel manufacturing.

This idea is eminently applicable is all states, not just in Andhra Pradesh. In fact, such a scheme at the national level would give a tremendous boost to solar energy in India as well as help the government reach numerous developmental goals by ensuring electricity supply to all families in the country. The developmental prospects are tremendous.

This scheme requires greater awareness. Both political parties and citizens need to be made aware of the advantages of such a scheme. If there is political will, this scheme can be a success.