Proposer Name: Dev Prakash Burman, Sugato Mukhopadhaya and Tanmay

Sadhu

INTRODUCTION

Paraiapara village is located about 6-7 kilometers away from the IIT Kharagpur
campus. With the population of over 1300, many villagers face problems related to
electric supply in the region. Since the major occupation of the villagers is either
farming or working in local establishments such as fish markets and smaller
industries nearby, many can’t meet up their energy demands and the expenses
related to it. Some villagers rely on the shared electricity supply from the neighbors
while some are unable to pay the electricity bills on time. While few of those who
have access to an electric supply often have to face regular blackouts during the late
evening.

Our team designed a solar-powered lamp with higher power efficiency to improve
the conditions of the villagers. The design was based on the exhaustive survey made
from the villagers to understand their needs and living conditions. In order to ensure
that the models are made robust to withstand the climatic conditions such as heavy
rainfall and is cost effective. In order to meet these requirements vendors were
selected to find the basic components of the product at optimum costs and was
assembled by the team and was distributed to villagers at free of cost as part of the
Beta test.

The report mentions the efforts that our team made to develop a product for the
villagers which is aimed to improve the Rural Energy System of the village Pariapara.
The product was distributed to 9 villagers facing electricity problems. This was an
initial step taken to judge practicality of the idea and its cost-effectiveness in the
region. The initiative was taken with financial help from the faculty of Agriculture
and Food Engineering Department, IIT Kharagpur.

PRODUCT

The product is a Solar lamp which consists of a solar panel on one side and a set of
LEDs on the opposite side. There is a potentiometer that can regulate the brightness
of the LEDs as per the requirement. This lamp needs 5-6 hours minimum for
complete charging under the sun and it can provide around 3-4 hours of light
continuously.
If maintained properly the lamp can be used for over a year. The lamp is portable
and can be used as a torch as well. The solar panels, LED strips, potentiometers,
capacitors and other parts from vendors in optimum price were purchased without
compromising the quality of the product and assembled together to make a robust
model. The product casing was made to bear mishandling and rainy conditions
(hence waterproof). The lamp was made portable to ensure that it can be made
easily accessible to the villagers and bypass any installation procedures and to make
as user-friendly as possible.

IMPACT MADE

The product was distributed to 9 villagers at free of cost during the month of August
2017. Before the distribution, exhaustive surveys were made to identify the villagers
to whom the product was to be provided. The survey was made to gather the
following information: -

● Electricity consumption of the villager.

○ To know how much income is spent on electricity
● Their economic status.
○ To know if they can afford solar-powered lamps/products
● The family size and number of school going children
○ To determine the number of solar lamps to be distributed
● Problem faced with electricity supply if any, such as blackouts.
○ To mitigate inconveniences due to lack of electricity
● Other means of the Light source other than electric powered appliances.
○ Use of kerosene oil, candles as a secondary source which can be
replaced by green solar lamps
VILLAGERS WHO GOT BENEFITED

● Dinesh Biswas. He is a farmer who has been relying

on the electricity supply for his families’ day to day
activities. He had been
using the product for
the last 15 months
now, and so far he had
been using it as an
alternative source of
light in his house.
There has been a
slight improvement
on his expenditures on
electric bills. The lamp has been found helpful by Dinesh’s children to study
during late night. He has been to use it for about 3 to 3.5 hours on the regular
charging of 5 to 6 hours of charging under sunlight.

● Mangal Murmur works at the local fish market with

electric supply often accompanied with regular blackouts.
The solar-powered lamp has become a reliable alternative
source of light in comparison to lamps during the
blackouts in late
nights and allowing
them to have their
family dinner without
much worry for the
last 15 months. With
this, they are also
able to save much on
their electric bills.

● Karuna Pariya and Tapashi Pariya:

They are family members having
different households.
They did not have any
supply of electricity and
solely relied upon
kerosene lamps. They
were provided with a
solar lamp each and they
were glad to admit the
convenience of this
device. Unfortunately, due to mishandling one of the lamps got
 broken and the other gave a reduced output of ½ - 1 hour. But they were glad
for the service they got until then and were ready to invest in other solar
powered products.

● Anant Rai: He is a farmer who earns rupees 150 per day. We

gave him the solar lamp and he put it to good use. The lamp
was properly maintained, he charged it all day and got 3-4
hours of light output. He properly used the device every day till
date. He has a son whom he takes to tuition and the solar lamp
comes in handy. Before that, he used kerosene oil during
blackouts. He was interested to invest in other solar products.

● Mithali Manna: She is a housewife. She regularly

used the solar lamp and admitted to be a great
help during blackouts. She used the device for 10
months after which it's efficiency decreased. She
was interested to invest in solar products in the
future.

COMPARISON OF THE ELECTRIC CONSUMPTION

BEFORE AND AFTER DISTRIBUTION

Units consumed before

Solar Powered Lamps Units consumed after solar- %Age price
Name usage(kWh) powered lamps usage(kWh) Price saved saved
Mithali
Manna 333 320 71.5 3.90
Dinesh
Biswas 336 324 66 3.57
Anant Rai 345 333 66 3.47
Karuna
Pariya 350 337 71.5 3.71
Mangal
Murmu 343 330 71.5 3.71
Tapashi
Pariya 348 334 77 4.02

The impact of the product was not limited to the villagers who used it but it was to
the neighboring villagers as well. Mayura Pariya, Pratima Palmalm, Malati
Murmur, and many other villagers were interested to invest in the product’s further
development. Few other villagers to whom the solar-powered lamps were provided
like Shankar, couldn’t properly use the device. They completely mishandled it a
result of which the lamp stopped working. This revealed us the other aspects like a
tougher lamp body and awareness regarding proper usage of the lamp which must
be brought into focus for longer life.

FUTURE SCOPE

After we successfully distribute solar-powered devices in a certain village, we can

expand this venture to nearby villages. Employment can be generated in publicizing
and marketing of this product. People can also be trained for maintenance and
repairing of such products to generate income and of distribution for a village or
group of villages can be established.

CONCLUSION

Our approach remains simple, first, we do an exhaustive survey of villages to extract

the relevant information regarding the basic requirements of the villagers and their
living conditions. Taking these things into account the solar-powered lamps will be
designed cost-efficiently by selecting appropriate vendors for the basic components
of the device minimizing the cost without compromising the quality. The fabrication
of the model will be made on a smaller scale in order to see the practicality of the
modified design. With this way, we can develop an economic model of the energy
system in a village that incorporates the regular feedback of the villagers and a small
investment from their side as well as we observed from the few villagers who were
surveyed by us.

In this way, this rural energy system becomes flexible in terms of the requirement of
the villagers and becomes cost-efficient since the required components are been
purchased after extensive searching of appropriate vendors. As per view of green
energy, solar lamps are aimed to replace the use of kerosene oil and offering better
quality light for a longer duration of time and promoting a pollution free
environment. It also saves money as a solar lamp can be easily used for over a year
without any technical problems and proper maintenance, saving the monthly ration
of kerosene oils and candles. So, as a result, it has a technological, economic and on
the villages.