Renewable Energy as a Means to Community Development: A Case Study of Solar Power With Avani in Kumaon, Uttarakhand

Abstract

For the woman who must spend four hours walking to the forest, cutting wood, carrying it back on her head and lighting a fire in her home, energy poverty is a harsh reality of everyday life. As of 2000, more than 500 million Indians did not have access to electricity, which accounts for 35% of the world’s population living without this facilityi. Energy poverty is defined as the inability to afford access to a sustainable energy supplyii. The concept of energy poverty as a focus of sustainable development is given more importance by the correlation between electricity consumption and GDP and HDIiii. Rural energy policies and programs have focused on improving electrification rates and substituting traditional biomass with renewable energyiv. Connecting these remote villages to adequate and sustainable infrastructure is a huge logistical challenge for rural development. Decentralized production of energy based on locally available resources has gained steam as a sustainable way to electrify remote villages that are off the grid