MNRE releases draft policy for large-scale adoption of decentralised RE applications

• According to the document released by the ministry, the government is keen on inviting the private sector for the development and deployment of DRE livelihood applications

• To facilitate this, the government has proposed easy access to end user finance for DRE livelihood applications

New Delhi: With a view to enable large-scale adoption of decentralised renewable energy (DRE) livelihood applications and explore opportunities for putting it to use for more forms of livelihood, the government has released a draft policy framework on Monday. "There are successful pilots and business models of DRE livelihood applications in agriculture, agro-processing, dairy, poultry, fisheries, tailoring, etc., which have been tested at the field level by various agencies and have the potential to be replicated in large quantities. However, this is still only a small fraction of the overall spectrum of livelihood activities across the 600,000 villages in India," the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) said in a notification.

Decentralised renewable energy livelihood applications can be defined as applications powered by renewable energy, which are used for earning livelihoods directly such as solar dryer, solar-powered cold storage/chiller, solar charkha, etc, or which help in earning livelihoods such as solar lighting systems.

Decentralised renewable energy: What does the draft policy propose?

According to the document released by the ministry, the government is keen on inviting the private sector for the development and deployment of DRE livelihood applications in order to enable a market-oriented framework. To facilitate this, the government has proposed easy access to end-user finance for DRE livelihood applications. It has also proposed introduction of standards, stringent monitoring and evaluation frameworks, skill development for strengthening the service infrastructure at the local level and encouragement of innovation and R&D to develop efficient and cost-effective DRE livelihood applications.

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While noting that piloting and field demonstration of new DRE livelihood applications is vital to ascertain the success of any technology innovation on ground, the ministry has said that pilots can be taken up across textile, animal husbandry, agriculture, carpentry, pottery, cottage industry, black-smithy, food industry and other sectors. "In line with the guidelines issued by MNRE for innovative solar pumps, other programmes may also announce opportunities to run pilot projects under the existing schemes. A list of such programmes and guidelines will be available on MNRE website," the document reviewed by PSU Watch said.

The MNRE has sought comments on the draft document by November 2.

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