New ways to Rural Life: Thanks to Solar Energy

Solar Energy especially the Photovoltaic (PV) form, is getting acceptance across all the sectors which are directly linked to our life in Rural Areas. This is happening because of its huge potential to meet the need of the end users.

It is a popular belief that Solar Energy can be used in the context of meeting the electricity needs for home and businesses mostly in those areas where main grid line either has not reached or the quality of power is very poor. The solar energy related benefits like more working hours, less indoor air pollution, more safety on rural roads, various livelihood options related to energy inputs, etc are widely discussed and thus, cannot be overlooked.  Now, it is being evident that it has important usages across other sectors like agriculture, water, health, industrial, etc. as well making it a mainstream technology even in non-energy sectors.

Solar Energy has made revolutionary changes into the health sector in rural areas by boosting the standard and reliability of health delivery services in the country.

In the Agriculture sector, it is helping the farmers to undertake more than one crop. For example, with the usage of Solar Pumps, the paddy farmers are moving from single to double and triple crops. Simultaneously, they are learning the optimization possibilities in the water usage with the help of various agencies who are experienced in these practices.  So, there are multiple benefits like more crop yield, proper utilisation of natural resources and preventing climatic change.

One of the most striking benefits is the independence of usages of the Solar Agriculture Pumps. Both Diesel and electric pumps have input energy dependency. Also, the diesel pumps attract a fixed maintenance expense and hassles of making the fuel available in the rural areas. Above all, the cost of power from a solar pump is much less than a diesel pump’s and even an electric pump’s (considering the actual cost of electricity). Solar pumps have also helped to get potable water available to the rural villages by preventing the rural women to walk a long distance daily to collect the drinking water. Besides, Solar PV system is playing a vital role to treat water and make it safe for drinking and saving a huge number of people from getting prone to water borne diseases.

It is not true that Solar Energy is affecting only the life of the people in the rural areas, but it has a huge potential to impact on the lives of the urban or semi urban areas as well. The key area is rooftop solar project. In the areas where load shedding is not a problem, the rooftop projects can help to reduce the electricity bills through grid interactive projects. In the areas with bad quality of grid power, the rooftop solar plants with battery storage can eliminate the usage of the polluting energy sources such as diesel generator.

Most importantly, the continuous decrease in cost of solar energy components has made the solar technologies much more affordable to the actual users and they have been able to make their life better.