Access for Development

Access to reliable sources of energy is a central component of development. Raising the standard of living requires access to energy sources that can support and enhance the functions of daily life. The Saubhagya scheme of the Indian government has succeeded in connecting almost 100% of households across the country to the power grid. However, large portions of the population continue to lack access to clean and reliable energy sources of energy. Grid connectivity does not ensure a steady supply of electricity owing to various infrastructure challenges.

Access to clean, secure and reliable energy is necessary to power some of our central human needs — farming, education, and physical well-being. Cooking using traditional biomass combustion fuels can lead to household air pollution, which in turn poses a public health challenge. Access to clean cooking energy can combat this issue as well as reduce the amount of time spent in the kitchen by women, thereby allowing for time to be invested in education, leisure, and other productive activities. The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana has helped many households gain access to cleaner cooking fuels like LPG. The KUSUM scheme has connected a large population of farmers to off-grid solar pumps in rural areas and reduced the dependency on the electricity grid in grid-connected areas, thereby increasing stability and improving farmer incomes. Health and education infrastructure in rural areas can also benefit immensely from the introduction of decentralised renewable technologies by ensuring access to a reliable energy supply that can allow rural institutions to expand their capacities and introduce more energy-intensive but useful technologies into their operations.

Decentralized renewable energy is the most viable solution to the problem of electricity supply. DRE solutions can provide 24×7 clean, reliable and quality energy supply even in hard to reach regions, and reap benefits in terms of better health, education and economic growth.

Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation seeks to promote policy, regulatory and institutional interventions to promote decentralized renewable energy (DRE) based solutions. Shakti works to strengthen the reliability of the distribution grid as well as to enhance the capacity of key stakeholders such as state and district-level energy development bodies, financial institutions and rural energy service entrepreneurs working in the DRE space. Shakti also engages in knowledge sharing and partnership building through multi-stakeholder initiatives such as Clean Energy Access Network (CLEAN).