Renjith Mohan

When academia meets rural India: Lessons learnt from a MicroGrid implementation

Access to energy has been a lynchpin for the progress of modern civilization in the last century. However, a large fraction of the worlds population still remains without electricity. Recent improvements in affordable, renewable energy generation technology, offer us the unique opportunity to realize the dream of global electrification. In this paper, we discuss how academia can translate into successfully meeting the needs of rural development via the Live-in-Labs™ program — an experiential learning initiative in rural India. Through the program, 35 post graduate university students and 15 staff and faculty designed, developed, and deployed a solar microgrid for the electrification of a tribal village in South India. In order to encourage academia to become involved more easily in such rural development programs, we describe our approach from pre-study to post deployment analysis and monitoring. We present practical tips and advice for project organisation, technical design, as well the implementation phase, accompanied with feedback from students. This project introduced tribal villagers to a new world of technology, promoting education and kindling long lasting enthusiasm in the village and students were offered a unique hands-on experience, changing their outlook on life.

Community development and energy equality: Experiences from micro hydro implementation in a tribal settlement in India

Rural development is one of the major focus in developing countries like India, since more than 70% of citizens live in rural village. Studies show that inequality in Energy access, often hindering the collective development initiatives in those villages. This paper describes the electrification project carried out in the village of Komalikudi, Idukki District, Kerala, India where 60 % of households were not connected to state power grid. As part of this study a detailed analysis of economic levels of the community and the requirements on education, healthcare, skill development, social business etc., has been developed. Based on these requirements, a feasibility study has been performed for different renewable energy options available in the locality. The study results based on resource availability, access to the area of deployment, availability of skilled workers, Energy awareness, and commitment are used to design a 5KW hydro based generation and distribution system which energy equality and subsequently community development. A pilot deployment has been operational and reciprocating this novel innovative model to other 101 villages is ongoing with Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.

Micro water distribution networks: A participatory method of sustainable water distribution in rural communities

Water scarcity has been a major thrusting issue in rural India, warrantinga high demand to design and implement different water distribution networks for easy and efficient use of existing water sources. Both macro and micro level systems exist of which, macro level water distribution networks have higher capital and maintenance costs. This is due to its size and the remote beneficiaries to which it caters. This paper describes the design of one such water distribution system in two rural villages in India whose design considerations includes the local community needs, availability of labor, local resources, climate, cost, and time for implementation. This paper also compares the micro and macro water distribution networks impact on sustainability. Sustainability is defined in terms of water wastage, usage rate, source capacity, total network length, cost of deployment, source recharge, and the network leakage rate. The paper discusses the water distribution projects completed in a village in Orissa and in a village in Rajasthan (two states in India) where all households were given 24/7 access to clean and safe drinking water for more than a year. The paper also draws insights on the socio-economic impact of the project carried out in these two states.

Solar based lemon grass essential oil distillation for sustainability and livelihood in tribal community

Lemon grass essential oil is used in manufacture of soaps, beauty products, and mosquito repellents. Nearly, 40% of world lemon grass oil is produced in India and Kerala state plays a major role. Valaramkunnu is a village in Wayanad district of Kerala, situated on the top of a hill with 300 inhabitants. The villagers walk for 8 km down the hill for daily wages as there is no other source of income. 25 acres of land is available, where lemongrass is grown naturally. The village had a history of extracting lemon grass oil, has two problems a) Batch operation — oil extraction is limited by equilibrium and b) Fire wood is used as energy source — this results in deforestation and therefore not a sustainable energy source. To address these challenges, a semi-continuous lab scale distillation was set up to overcome the limitation of equilibrium and was tested. The proposed system was initially tested at lab scale. A prototype lemon grass essential oil is setup in Valaramkunnu. For the prototype, a solar steam generation system is chosen. Effects of process parameters such as drying time, steam temperature, distillation time and packing density on oil yield were studied. It was found that 8 times more essential oil can be extracted, when compared to existing commercial methodologies. It is also estimated that, nearly 55 litres of oil per acre per annum may be produced in Valaramkunnu. Based on the current price of lemon grass oil, the villagers are estimated to earn INR 800,000 per annum. The report will describe the socioeconomic disadvantages faced by the study population, limitations of their attempts to address these disadvantages, and the analysis to rationalize projected benefits from the proposed technological and social interventions.

Live-in-Labs: Rapid translational research and implementation-based program for rural development in India

Government agencies, public institutions, and private companies in India have worked over six decades to empower Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) or rural communities through various policies and interventions. Eighty-five percent of these technological interventions failed to create an impact as they lacked a holistic approach, scalability, sustainability, and effective interagency coordination. This paper discusses the successful implementation of interventions through Amrita Universitys Live-in-Labs™ program and proposes a model that ensures a co-design environment to develop technology-based interventions for rural development. The model aims to create a virtual ecosystem that will enable field practitioners, researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders to plan, design, implement, and review scalable and sustainable interventions. The paper describes the key components of the model and investigates the sustainability, scalability, and impact of the technology interventions in the programs five main thematic areas — Infrastructure & Basic Facilities, Health & Livelihood, Education & Technology, Energy, and Environment & Farming — through a case study.