review 2012-2014 policy group - selco foundation · 1. cross sector: critical energy interventions...

REVIEW 2012-2014 POLICY GROUP

SELCO FOUNDATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS

MISSION and APPROACH ................................................................................................... 1

FOREWORD .............................................................................................................................. 2

SNAPSHOT 2012-2014 ........................................................................................................ 3

MILESTONES............................................................................................................................ 4

KEY PROJECTS ........................................................................................................................ 5

OUTREACH ............................................................................................................................... 8

LEARNINGS .............................................................................................................................. 9

FUTURE PLANS PREVIEW 2014-2015 ..................................................................... 10

Appendix 1: Outreach efforts 2012-2014 ............................................................... 11

Appendix 2: Project reports ........................................................................................... 12

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MISSION and APPROACH

SELCO Policy Group seeks to enable entrepreneurship in the social sector and facilitate energy access for end users by advocating decentralized energy solutions and developing an appropriate supportive ecosystem. The practitioner's perspective and stakeholder inputs from the field including those of financiers, operational staff and community groups, are critical to facilitating better policies and interventions for sustainable energy access and social entrepreneurship. The Policy group focuses on in-depth analysis and advocacy, based on actionable recommendations and pilots in these areas. To facilitate better policies and interventions for sustainable energy access and sustainability, we seek to: A. Conduct in-depth analysis, leveraging our access to practitioners, field experts, local financiers,

industry, and government agencies. B. Raise awareness and build industry support for policy solutions through workshops and meetings C. Test new ideas and demonstrate successes through targeted pilot projects

Our approach may be summarized as follows:

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FOREWORD

Greetings from the Policy Group at SELCO!

This report is an attempt to capture and summarize the efforts taken by the Group, the milestones and

challenges as well as the goals going forward. The need for this Group came up around 2 years ago

with the realization that policies and plans being created in the energy access and the social enterprise

sectors lack an understanding of the operational challenges faced by stakeholders on the field. The

practitioner’s perspective with concrete recommendations and alternate models was critical for

change in the policy making sphere.

Towards this end, we have worked on issues identified as on-the-ground challenges for social

enterprises and small and medium sized energy entrepreneurs. Through each in-depth analysis, we

determine specific recommendations to be carried forward through channels at the local, state,

national or global levels. We seek to influence policies or established norms (as in the case of the social

enterprise sector) by engaging with relevant stakeholders including Government ministries and

departments, Banking institutions, Impact investors, the corporate sector to represent the practitioner

point of view.

Through this summary report, we provide an insight into the list of projects that we have worked on

across the social enterprise and energy access sectors, details on certain key projects that have shaped

our work as well as a brief overview of our milestones and outreach efforts.

We would like to acknowledge the effort and initiatives of the various entities within the SELCO

umbrella including the Financial Institutions Relations team, Branches, Incubation center, S3IDF, the

SELCO Foundation Labs and Technology team whose insights and projects form the backbone of the

Policy group’s recommendations and milestones. More importantly, we would also like to appreciate

the time that various social entrepreneurs, experts, advisors and volunteers have given us in making

recommendations and facilitating action on them.

In the coming year, as we push forward on projects across various fronts, build our core team, internal

processes as well as our credibility in the sector, we look forward to your continued support.

We await your feedback on this summary report and suggestions on suitable opportunities for

collaboration.

Sincerely,

SELCO Policy Group

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SNAPSHOT 2012-2014 Following one year of assessing various projects and studies undertaken, it was decided to divide the issues into three themes across international, national, and state levels.

1. Cross Sector: critical energy interventions and synergies across national plans, programs, policies of development sectors such as health, education, rural development, women, livelihoods, etc.

2. Decentralized Renewable Energy (DRE) access: shape the DRE sector with a focus on energy access for the underserved communities.

3. Social Enterprises: shape the nascent social enterprise industry across sectors in addition to energy, as well as improving conditions for energy micro-entrepreneurs to nurture sustainable organizations.

Level Cross Sector Energy Access Social Enterprises

International

Portable system vs. home lighting

systems Social impact rating

Climate funds: Green Climate Fund,

National Clean Energy Fund Social investment

Urban poor —climate change mitigation

National

National Rural Livelihood Mission

National Solar Mission (Financial and ecosystem development)

Database: Public financing schemes

Energy for Maternal Health

Establishing the Clean Energy Access Network (CLEAN)

Energy efficiency in livelihoods

Mini grids analysis

Solar water pumping

Energy mapping

Decentralized energy financing (end user)

State (Local)

Value added tax

Advising state energy policies

Solar invertors

TOTAL 2 13 3

Table 1: Snapshot of issues worked on at different levels 2012-2014

Status of Project

Active (Advocacy)

Ongoing Research

Dormant

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MILESTONES

During its first year, SELCO Policy made small but relevant strides in strengthening new areas of focus within the SELCO umbrella. The following are five areas of milestones with highlights and corresponding initiatives:

1. Direct engagement with key government officials:

Built rapport and established key contacts.

Senior MNRE officials – Secretary, Joint Secretary and Director - National Solar Mission, Energy mapping

Chief Minister and Department of Energy Secretary in Karnataka state — VAT abolition

Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission, Chairman, Srinivasa Murthy — Solar invertor vs. grid invertor promotion in Tier II and III cities of Karnataka

NABARD Head office and Regional office representatives, RRB representatives, SLBC Head in Karnataka – Energy Financing, National Solar Mission

NRLM key officials- at National and State levels (Karnataka, Bihar and Assam)- Energy in Rural Livelihoods

2. Viewpoint solicitation:

Attended multilevel meetings at national and state levels through key agencies — National Solar Mission

Submitted off-grid policy recommendations to Congress and BJP manifestos—Decentralized Energy initiative

3. Institutional partnerships:

Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) on creation of an alliance for decentralized energy sector

Confederation of Indian Industry-Centre for Sustainable Development (CII-CESD) on a social impact rating tool

4. Key events coordination:

Advancing Energy Access in South Asia, Sept 2013

~ Gathered financial institutions, practitioners and policymakers in one workshop to discuss challenges and partnerships; co-organized by United Nations Foundation

Capacity building workshop for West African Solar Entrepreneurs, Dec 2013

~ Provided a 10-day training program combining field visits and presentations to promote a holistic approach to delivering sustainable energy solution; co-organized with IRENA and ECREE

Stakeholder consultative meeting on social impact rating tool, Feb 2014

~ Brought together practitioners, technology developers, networks to discuss gaps in current impact assessment ratings and types of metrics; co-organized with CII-CESD

Stakeholder consultative meeting on social impact investment, Apr 2014

~ Brought together likeminded investors and practitioners to discuss expectation gaps and ways of chaining current investment practices among the broader investor community

5. Development of new policy-influencing approaches:

Used field experience to feed realistic inputs into policies

Decentralized policy influencing at different levels rather than solely with a national lens

Tapped into the varying expertise under the SELCO umbrella to contribute to overall policy influencing: research/writing driven by core policy team, advocacy by key SELCO operations staff and senior management, technical testing and analysis through the technology team, inputs provided from various projects.

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KEY PROJECTS

1. National Solar Mission (NSM) The off-grid component of NSM has been a key interest of the team. The focus of 2012-13 was on identifying and articulating the issues around subsidies and emphasizing the need for an ecosystem development with two core objectives:

Ensuring that the NSM Phase 2 guidelines are in line with practitioner and bank requirements

Facilitating emphasis on capacity and ecosystem building through technician and micro-entrepreneur training, bankers’ capacity building, and bridge financing for solutions

CHALLENGES

Advance subsidies and money flow between MNRE, NABARD, and banks are still slow and affect practitioners on the ground (particularly in Bihar, Rajasthan, and West Bengal)

Most ecosystem development inputs have neither been formally acted upon nor institutionalized.

Lack of clarity about the Renewable Energy Access Scheme, a programme of MNRE in the off-grid sector

Changes in leadership at the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy at the National level

Deliverables Milestone Details

Recommendations on changing subsidy regime and building ecosystem Changes in guidelines under subsidy regime

Improvements in banker training and skill development sector

Reports Reports on financing and ecosystem

Development for off-grid solar energy

Letter to MNRE with clarification and recommendation of change on Phase 2 guidelines

Engagement in key meetings or events

Representation in meetings convened by MNRE on NSM

Multiple meetings with MNRE Joint Secretary, Director- MNRE

Inclusion of approach in guideline/ programme

Inclusions in Phase 2 guidelines:

Cooperative banks, increased system capacity, increased benchmark cost (LED systems), bank financing for solar water pumps

Submission of SELCO’s skill training course modules to MNRE upon their request

Partnerships NABARD, MNRE, REWG (now CLEAN)

Outreach Feature in 1 external website and 1 external blog

Roundtable discussion with other off-grid practitioners (REWG)

Energy financing workshop for Bankers in Sept 2013

2. Social Impact Rating The objective is to develop a reporting framework that evaluates the performance of for-profit social enterprises based on their organizational practices and results. Core objectives include:

1. Redefining indicators: Develop indicators around three categories i.e. (a) generic across all organizations, (b) sector wise for health, energy, education, (c) organization specific based on a

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particular business model or specialized service. All these indicators are meant to reflect value created vs simply outputs with an emphasis on both the target customer AND practices within the organization.

2. Develop a framework or methodology tool: that captures the above and combines both customized and standardized indicators

3. Implementation: Test the tool across 2 sectors with 2 organizations each to determine robustness of method, appropriate process that will not result in organizations drowning in data collection and understanding of built in human resources required.

CHALLENGES

Defining SELCO’s capacity and role in this project as it is a global effort involving multi partner coordination.

Careful selection of partners to ensure aligned views and direction for the study

Staying engaged with people on the topic as the duration for project completion is estimated to be 2 years.


Redefine indicators

Develop framework

Implementation

Reports Concept note capturing preliminary research to identify gaps in Aug 2013

Proposal to raise external funds May 2014


Consultative meeting held on Feb 8th, 2014 with different stakeholders

Partnerships, Experts CII-Centre for Sustainable Development (Sachin Joshi), Prof. Sriram IIM Bangalore, Thulsi E.D. Aravind Eyecare

Outreach Panel discussion at Khemka Forum Dec 2013

Stakeholder consultation workshop in SELCO Feb 2014

Article in NASE newsletter

3. Establishment of Clean Energy Access Network (CLEAN)

In order to unify the various alliance efforts where various energy access practitioners and enterprises attempt to scale up and form a supportive ecosystem, the CLEAN project seeks to create a single network, leveraging on the strengths of practitioners and sub-networks to address issues of policy advocacy, access to finance, networking and information, technology and standardization, and skills and training.

CHALLENGES

Coordinating the needs of different organizations and bringing a consensus amongst them

Raising funds to match USAID contribution

Building internal capacity to handle activities once CLEAN is launched in August 2014

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Create network to represent decentralized clean energy practitioners

Deliver key outputs under Policy Advocacy and Access to Finance

Reports and Documentation

Creation of Charter for Network (10 members)

Concept note for Network accepted (first proposal to USAID)

Log frame for financial proposal (year 1 activities)

Note to Green Climate Fund (GCF) on practitioners’ needs in this sector


Discussions with key organization resulting in Charter for Network

Donor meetings with USAID, GIZ, Shakti Foundation to discuss Network funding

Meeting with all partners to finalize Log frame and proposal details

Partnerships, Experts Council for Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), S3IDF, 8 other Charter signatories, Resource partners

4. National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM)

The experience of Renewable Energy enterprises in improving energy access across rural and underserved areas has shown that for socio-economic benefits to flow, decentralized RE interventions need to be integrated into a broader development plan for education, health, livelihoods etc. The objectives include the following:

Reviewing the Livelihood Mission of the Ministry of Rural Development at the national level and identifying, suggesting (and possibly piloting) holistic energy interventions for specific livelihoods

Suggesting ways in which decentralized energy itself becomes a livelihood category Proposing similar interventions at state level- Karnataka and/or Orissa for example

CHALLENGES

Some delays encountered while working with the partners

Identifying ideal business models and project implementers for each chosen location in pilot (Bihar and

Jharkhand) will involve more discussions

Change in leadership at State level (Karnataka) affected relationship building.


Description of Energy interventions for specific livelihood categories

Pilot project at national and state levels for energy as a livelihood

Reports Report on energy interventions in various livelihoods

Concept note on energy-livelihood convergence submitted to NRLM, with possible business models


Meeting completed with JS-MNRE to approve pilot program in Bihar and Jharkhand

Partnerships, fellows NRLM (Shiddharth Chatuvedi); MNRE (Veena Sinha)

Outreach Session at Khemka Forum on energy-livelihood nexus.

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OUTREACH As a small team, the first two years were focused on building a foundation to publicize our work by concentrating on a few deliverables to advance our policy efforts.

Main goals include

Getting the word out on what we do

Propagating our opinions and views to underline SELCO’s philosophy and its significance in the ongoing discourse on sustainable development—poverty-energy

Generating public awareness on renewable energy (RE) and social enterprise

Efforts were fairly limited with the bulk in workshop/conferences but far fewer in print media and talk. Please see Appendix 1 for details on outreach events.

Figure 1: Outreach efforts 2012-2014

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LEARNINGS In 2013-14, the Policy Group focused on strengthening existing verticals through engagement and varied ecosystem stakeholders. The group also worked on building the team to include consultants from technology and finance backgrounds.

To have long-term, concrete impact on certain issues that were taken up last year, two significant projects were initiated:

A formal partnership was established with CII– Centre for Excellence in Sustainability, to create an appropriate rating tool for social enterprises, with the support of leading social enterprises.

A single network for decentralized clean energy access practitioners, research think-tanks and donors is being established. In partnership with the Council for Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) and other founding members, a concept note and proposal for network establishment were written. The Alliance is being named Clean Energy Access Network or CLEAN.

Going forward, the Policy Group plans to add additional members, and to take relevant research-level and cross-sector issues to the next level of active policy engagement. This will be in addition to taking up greater responsibilities in efforts such as Social Enterprise Impact Rating Tool initiative and the Practitioner network (CLEAN).

Key learning and insights Leveraging partnerships: Although finding suitable partners may be an arduous task, once identified,

partnerships play a vital role in taking a project to the next level. Like-minded partnerships with credible organizations can be extremely important in creating a common voice and gathering critical mass to move the project forwards. Partnerships help leverage expertise and reduce duplication of efforts.

Creating champions within the target entity: Whether on Impact Investments & Entrepreneur Financing, or Energy in the Rural Livelihood Mission, creating one or more champions within the target group is critical. Key individuals who buy into the concept and can influence the thinking of others (albeit slowly), combined with actionable next steps, makes for a more effective approach than mere activism.

Unified practitioner voices: A critical reason for establishing the Clean Energy Access Network (CLEAN) was to consolidate fragmented voices facing similar ecosystem issues and to consolidate these viewpoints to relevant bodies or individuals. Over the past year, the policy team has taken critical steps to ensure that the voices of energy access practitioners are heard especially at the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

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FUTURE PLANS PREVIEW 2014-2015

Key Performance Indicator 2014-2015

INDIA’S DECENTRALIZED ENERGY PLAN

In-depth analysis reports 8

State level plans on energy aspects: Number of states

Number of policy guidelines/ Detailed plans/ Active interventions

1

4

National level: Number of national level energy and relevant policies, including guidelines, detailed plans, and active intervention 7

SOCIAL ENTERPRISE AND MICRO ENTREPRENEURSHIP ADVOCACY

Number of reports 6

Number of conducive conditions addressed 4

Number of interventions staged 10

INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY ROLE

Learnings and processes documented 1

International efforts

Influence energy policies in a number of other underserved regions, including issues taken up as advisor assignments

(study partners, consultancy)

1

PARTNERSHIPS AND OUTREACH

Number of partnerships 6

Number of articles in external media 4

Number of events participated 4

Number of workshops organized 3

Number of knowledge sharing documents created 4

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Appendix 1: Outreach efforts 2012-2014

# Title Organized by Level Theme Type Date

1 Bangalore Climate Change Initiative-Karnataka (BCCI-K) CSTEP S SEFA Workshop 23 Feb 3013

2 Karnataka Clean Energy Plan CSTEP S SEFA Workshop 1 Mar 2013

3 Effective financing of solar products and services BVT and SLBC S SEFA Workshop 25 Apr 2013

4 Scaling up energy access solutions through effective networks

CEEW N SEFA Workshop 14 May 2013

5 Asia Clean Energy Forum ADB I SEFA Conference 1 Jun 2013

6 Advancing Energy Access in South Asia UNF, SELCO N SEFA Workshop 1 Sep 2013

7 State level awareness workshop NABARD N SEFA Workshop 1 Oct 2013

8 CleanStart Connect, invite panel discussion UNCDF I SEFA Conference 25 Nov 2013

9 Workshop on capital subsidy scheme for installations of solar off-grid and decentralized applications under JNNSM scheme

NABARD N SEFA Workshop 13 Dec 2013

10 Ecosystem creation for decentralized renewable energy Khemka Forum on

Social Entrepreneurship N

Cross Sector

Conference 9 Dec 2013

11 Reinventing toolkit: social impact rating Khemka Forum on

Social Entrepreneurship N SE Conference 10 Dec 2013

12 West African solar PV workshop IRENA, SELCO I SE,

SEFA Workshop 9 Dec 2013

13 World Future Energy Summit Abu Dhabi I SEFA Conference 22 Jan 2014

14 Review of NABARD scheme MNRE N SEFA Workshop 31 Jan 2014

15 Delhi sustainable development summit—session on

innovation and sustainability

TERI, New Delhi, AFD (French Development

Agency) N,I

SE, SEFA

Conference 7 Jan 2014

16 Consultative meeting social impact rating CII-CESD, SELCO I SE Workshop 8 Feb 2014

17 Solar energy access: Integrated energy approach Access to Energy—IT

Power India N SEFA Newsletter

18 Social impact rating NASE newsletter N SE Newsletter Mar 2014

19 Ecosystems, social enterprises HEDON I SE Newsletter Mar 2014

20 VAT Vijay Karnataka,

Prajavani D SEFA Newsletter 2013

21 Energy security: sustainable energy solutions for poor Astha Bharathi N SEFA Newsletter Jan-Mar 2013

22 Effective leapfrogging to DRE access MNRE Quarterly Mag N SEFA Newsletter Mar 2014

23 Guest lecture by Mr. Jayprakash Hedge MP, Udupi S SEFA Talk Sep 2013

24 Guest lecture by Mr. Thulsi Ed, Aravind Eye Care I SE Talk Feb 2014

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Appendix 2: Project reports

Social enterprise investments

Due to the limited insight on the use of available capital, investor expectation, and its impact on the organizational sustainability from a practitioner’s perspective, this initiative seeks to inform the readers with an insider’s perspective of expectation gaps between investors and practitioners and to make recommendations that guide the growing social investment arena for the appropriate support for the development of sustainable social enterprises.

CHALLENGES

Building team knowledge on financial material was a drawn-out process

Difficulty in finding long-term quality part-time resources to assist in research

Staying engaged with various stakeholders as interest grows to see more actionable items


Produce report with recommendations for social investment community on appropriate instruments


Planned consultative meeting on April 7th with investors and practitioners

Reports SELCO investment story Database on enterprise financing schemes available through government and private means

Partnerships, Experts Like-minded investors- DOEN, the Lemelson Foundation, OPES, Prof. Sriram (IIM), Russell DeLucia (S3IDF)

Energy Financing

As the need to move beyond subsidies into identifying various financing schemes has been identified, two objectives have been set to improve credit for end users and entrepreneurs:

to increase bankers’ and financiers’ interest in lending for decentralized energy applications for household and business utilizations

to identify various schemes and ways to capitalize on them

CHALLENGES

Despite some interest from NABARD, banks still rely on RBI for guidelines and orders, making RBI’s involvement critical in encouraging energy financing

Need to publicize case studies to bankers outside of Karnataka, potentially via incubation centre

Bridge financing for productive applications continues to be a challenge


Document end user schemes Influencing key financial entities on energy financing

Reports Process documents (case studies) on two banking schemes: Sampoorna Loan and Different Rate of Interest (DRI)


Representation in NABARD— RO meetings

Meeting with current and former bank chairmen on schemes used

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Partnerships NABARD, specific bankers

Outreach RRB Bankers’ workshop (Patna)

Panel Discussion on end user financing at UN Capital Development Fund workshop (Bangkok)

Removal of Value Added Tax (VAT)

The contradictory effort of a 5.5% VAT in Karnataka on renewable energy devices and a central government subsidy on solar systems resulted in a reduction of less than 25% of the original intended benefit for the end user. Consequently, the objectives here are to:

abolition VAT on RE devices in Karnataka while retaining VAT input on all others

use the Karnataka experience to influence other states where incubatees and partners operate

CHALLENGES

No announcement concerning this in the State Budget 2014

Yet to develop contacts in the State Energy Department after the transfer of the Energy Secretary Ms. Amita Prasad; no update on other inputs to the Karnataka Solar Policy either


Memorandum on VAT abolition Influencing policy-makers to abolish VAT (State budget)

Reports Memorandum on VAT abolition


Meetings with former energy minister and former chief ministers

Discussion with former energy secretary

Inclusion of approach VAT abolition in draft Karnataka Solar Policy— amendments (yet to be passed)

Outreach Inputs to CSTEP report for Karnataka state renewable energy work

Viability of Solar-based Invertors vs. grid based invertors in Tier II and III cities

Preparation of a concise report for the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) which illustrates the benefits of adopting stand-alone solar invertors and solar retrofit systems in comparison to traditional fully grid-based UPS systems as a supplementary source of power at the household level.

This initiative is particularly relevant in Tier II and III cities where frequent and lengthier power outages make solar back-up a more economical option.

CHALLENGES

Lack of full-time expert for tech-economic analysis within SELCO; currently relying on expert volunteers to undertake analysis remotely within the necessary timeframes


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Submit report, providing cost-benefit analysis between grid and solar invertors to KERC Incorporate recommendations into KERC policy by 2015


3 meetings in KERC office led by Srinivas Murthy, N. Sriraman Secy

Key contacts KERC Chairman, Srinivas Murthy

Partnerships, fellows Assisting with analysis— Santosh, Harish, (PhD candidate Carnegie Mellon University)

Energy Efficiency

An attempt to understand the benefits energy efficiency can provide for entrepreneurs who use energy-intense equipment at the grassroots-level. This is accomplished through case studies, surveys, interventions with energy efficient alternatives and impact studies. The challenges on the policy, financing, technical and equipment availability will be documented. Recommendations will be made to stakeholders to bring about appropriate changes.

CHALLENGES

Difficulty in contacting BEE, SIDBI, Ministry of MSME as face-to-face meeting in Delhi and Mumbai is the only means to retrieve information

Convincing customers or manufacturers to allow us to conduct tests at their sites or factories may prove to be a challenge— need appropriate strategies prepared


Detailed energy audit documents Case study document on interventions; Document on recommended energy equipment, with complete technical and manufacturer/ dealer details Policy paper on recommendations suggested as an outcome of this exercise

Initial Data survey IDS conducted for all 5 livelihoods

Detailed energy audit Detailed energy audit conducted for 3 livelihoods

Manufacturer and dealer interactions

Interacted and documented details of equipment provided by manufacturers/ dealers of 3 livelihoods

Energy efficiency testing Commenced work on 2 livelihoods

Energy mapping exercise This pilot project aim to support organizations like MNRE with more reliable information, since poor quality of electricity supply in the rural areas across India is often neglected, with gaps in electricity provision owing to load shedding, unscheduled power cuts, and voltage fluctuations not clearly identified. The core objectives for this exercise are:

Characterize the real electrification levels in five districts of north Karnataka using the parameters of “access,” “adequacy,” and “availability.”

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identify areas there under-served to make them the focal points for decentralized energy interventions

report to MNRE with recommendations on replicating the analysis outside Karnataka

CHALLENGES

With changes in the post of MNRE Secretary, the interest of MNRE (and new leadership) in this exercise is yet to be determined

Creation of replication plan would be difficult for other states since SCADA data is not available in other states


Pilot energy map for 5 districts in Karnataka Recommended note to MNRE including replication and appropriate interventions for underserved regions

Reports Concept note shared with then MNRE Secretary

Excel sheet capturing data on parameters

Final note with summary of parameters for 5 districts


Meeting with former MNRE Secretary (Satish Agnihotri) who suggested the project

Partnerships, experts Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Independent researcher— Santosh Harish

Micro grid: a livelihood and ecosystem overview

An attempt to better understand the nuances of different energy service models, especially on the potential benefits associated with micro-grids in relation to stand-alone solar home systems (SHS) and its benefits for end-users’ livelihoods— enhanced productivity, employment opportunities, and sustainability— as well as the respective ecosystem needs for each sustainable energy model.

CHALLENGES

Change of project lead; the unexpected change in a project lead stalled the project and interviews needed to be redone

Lack of accurate information: mini grid organizations share general insights, but detailed analysis is hard to make without the specifics— eg. the kind of product or service they offer, the cost of the same, size and locations, specific communities they work with, etc.


Report on mini grids ‘state of the market’: livelihoods feasibility and ecosystem Cost comparison summary

Reviews and Interviews

Boond, Gram Oorja, Onergy, SIMPA, Nature Tech, Claro. Literature reviews of work from MLinda, UN Foundation report, Prayas Energy Group

Draft of report (including cost comparisons)

Capturing insight from across organizations interviewed, Capturing information on livelihood feasibility, utilizing some data to create end-user cost comparisons between Home lighting and Mini-grid systems

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SELCO Policy – SELCO Foundation #12, 15th Cross, JP Nagar 6th Phase – 560072

Ph.no. 080-26630739

review 2012-2014 policy group - selco foundation · 1. cross sector: critical energy interventions...

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