1.

About the Project

1.1.

Project goals

For Decentralized Renewable Energy (DRE) plants to be successful in rural areas it is important to ensure participation of local stakeholders (such as PRI members, communities, institutions, CSOs) in the production and distribution of energy. Involvement of communities in developing decentralised renewable energy plants right from the planning phase till implementation, operation and maintenance will ensure long term sustainability of the DRE plant. This will in turn result in greater economic development through increased employment opportunities at local level and higher standards of living in the long run. With this objective in mind Development Alternatives (DA) with support from Heinrich Boll Foundation has developed a Toolkit for Participatory Village Energy Planning. Presently DA seeks support to integrate aforementioned toolkit in the village energy plans, programmes and/ or policies in Bundelkhand Region. Under the overall framework of the project, toolkit validation and endorsement by State Renewable Energy Development Authority(s) (SREDA) and/or Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) has also been envisaged. Thus, the project aims at influencing policy to ensure community participation in setting up DRE plants to make them more sustainable in the long run. Thereby helping India achieve its renewable energy targets and fulfilling the overall goal to achieve equitable growth by ensuring enhanced access to energy by rural India. The overall goal of the project is: To influence policy to ensure community participation in setting up DRE plants to make them more sustainable in the long run. Thus helping India achieve its renewable energy targets and fulfilling the overall goal to achieve equitable growth by ensuring enhanced access to energy by rural India.

The specific objective of the proposed project is to: To integrate the developed toolkit in the village level energy plans, programmes and/ or policies in selected Gram Panchayat(s) in Bundelkhand region.

The beneficiary of the project will be the Panchayati Raj Institutions, farmers, local entrepreneurs and local government officials. The output of the project will also lead to higher awareness among the potential entrepreneurs about the various aspects of community involvement for successful project implementation. The overall benefit will be to bring about adaptation to climate change in vulnerable societies.

1.2.Process
In this section we are talking about the process that we have followed so far in the project, for preparation of the village energy plan in two villages, by using the toolkit. And also the processes that are under way for its validation and endorsement.

i. Preparatory Phase

Desk Research: Review of micro planning processes in India at Village Level was performed. The literature review was done to understand the processes involved in decentralized planning at different levels in India. This process helped in designing the detailed project action plan. Secondary data collection was done for income and demographic details. Criteria were set for selection of villages.
o

Orientation and/ or capacity building: Awareness creation and orientation of the PRI members and community on the toolkit was done through stakeholder meetings.

ii. Extensive engagement with key stakeholders

Primary and secondary stakeholder consultations: The major or primary stakeholders are the community people, who will participate in the plan preparation. The secondary stakeholder groups include the officials related to energy planning process at village, block and district levels. The primary stakeholder consultations were held through focused group discussions and involved discussion of energy planning concepts & preparation of village resource map for primary identification of available Image 1. Primary Stakeholder Consultation in Process resources.

The secondary stakeholder consultation involves discussions & taking inputs from Govt. officials. These included officials at the block level and officials from different line departments such as agriculture, electricity etc. The stakeholders contributed by sharing their views on the acceptability of energy plan, implementation & funding mechanisms.
iii. Development of Village Energy Plan (VEP):

The village energy plan is being prepared as per the steps enlisted in the toolkit which was developed in Phase 1, ie a toolkit for Participatory Village Energy Planning. According to the same the following are the steps and progress against each has been reported:

Social & Environmental Assessment (Data Collection): The assessment process helped in identifying villages for implementing future decentralized renewable energy intervention. Under this process the following steps were followed as mentioned in the toolkit: o After selection criterias were decided for site selection, a total of 8 villages was short listed. o A reconnaissance visit was made to each village to scan the general environment, social structure and social cohesiveness among different stakeholders in the village.

Community Information was collected in the selected villages on the various aspects such as: a. Electrification status b. On/ off grid c. No of enterprises d. Resource availability e. Types of energy used already for f. Type of land holdings (agricultural, forest) and sizes g. Livelihood options h. Water source- drinking and irrigation i. Institutional strength (VEC formulated, Panchayat role and attitude) j. Road connectivity k. Type of water bodies l. Community attitude

Image2. Awareness Generation of

o Information required for selection was collected through focused group discussions with the community. o Analysis of collected data was done to prioritize and identify the village Step 2: Community Mobilization Awareness generation among the communities on importance of renewable energy and how it can ensure access to quality and reliable energy was performed. The importance of participatory energy planning and role of local communities in it was also emphasized through interactive lectures on the same in shortlisted villages. Step 3: Identification of renewable energy opportunities

The village resource map has been prepared by the participation of villagers, representing different sections of society from women to socially backward caste, from demographically dependent population to working population. Resource mapping was done with the villagers using the technique of PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal). For village energy committee formation, the prominent members of the community along with PRI members were identified. Thus VEC formation was initiated but will be completed in the future months.
Village energy plan will be developed in the remaining period of the project.

2. Village Profile

Panchayat Name of village Families Area Bpl families Total population Literacy Levels Electricity status Tila Village 250 1 km2 60-70

Niwari Niwari Bhata 45

16 500 (250 voters)

1500 (1300 voters, 1433 APL, 67 BPL)

School till 8th standard

School building being made till 5th standard There is erratic and irregular supply of electricity with fluctuations in voltage. There is a demand for more electricity in the village for educating their school children and to avail better infrastructure facilities. For the irrigation season, farmers use diesel pumps.

Electricity is in bad shape. Limited connection to very few households. This supply is erratic, irregular and with fluctuations. There are long periods of time which pass without any electricity. Electricity provision depends on the bills payment status by the villagers. For the irrigation season, farmers use diesel pumps. 2 flour mills running with electricity of 7.5 hp Run using generators Wood, cow dung cakes, Neem Dhola Use kerosene@ Rs 16 per L for BPL families APL pay Rs 20 per L. 10- 15

Enterprises

1 flour mill and dairy near by 1 ice factory near by

Cooking

Wood/Cow dung in chullah

Shops

Community Buildings Water situation

Panchayat Bhavan Pratiksha Bhavan School Building 2-4 hand pumps are present however in summer they are dry. Wells. Use tankers for drinking water which are provided by the Panchayat 2-4 Irregular Supply 1-2 Small farmers, majority have land holding size of 2-5 acres. 3 km away from the village.

Pratiksha Bhavan Anganwadi Center Lack of drinking water facility. No lake Wells Water level- 300 ft 0 Irregular Supply 1

Hand pumps Wells Check dams Farmers Forest cover SHGs

Small farmers are more, big farmers are only 5 Far away and ;less availability of wood 2 Tejaswini groups.

1 Tejaswini Group very recently formed

* This information has been collected through primary sources from the field.

Dear sir, Thank you for the co operation, that you have provided us with. Iam sending you a document with two sections:

The first section provides a brief of the project under context of which the current work is being done. The second provides a brief village profile of the villages which are under consideration.

Along with the same, we would like to request you, if it would be possible for you to spend the day on the field as you suggested, on the 1st and 2nd of October. In this case, you could arrive in Jhansi on the 1st morning and spend the day in having discussions with us and visiting the field. On the second, we could have a discussion with the villagers, regarding your suggestions and in sights to take the work further. And if possible we can put forward the same in the Gram Sabha meeting that would be scheduled on the 2nd. Later in the afternoon you could leave to go back to Jabalpur. We can work on this schedule, as per your convenience. Please do let us know if this would be acceptable to you and your colleagues. if you require any further inputs from our end please do let us know. Regards, Shivani