Access to Energy for the Base of the - Ashoka

74
� Financials:
Hari Sharan, Founder
What makes your project so unique?
H. Sharan: We have a strong impact on the economy of our
villages. Out of 5 Rs spent in energy, 3.5 go directly to the
villagers: 2 for biomass collection and processing and 1.5 for the
staff operating the plant. And the energy we supply allows job
creation in farming and in the local market. It is also CO2 neutral.
Ours is thus a real Triple Bottom Line model which makes
economic, social and ecological impacts locally and globally.
Project ability to solve the problem
� Problem and magnitude: 300k villages (300-500m
people) without electricity in India
�� Ability to serve the poorest:
� Employees are selected amongst the poorest of
the villages
� Micro entrepreneurs and customers are also from
BOP500 in Bihar, one of the poorest region of
India
� Poor farmers are main beneficiaries, getting
irrigation water more than 25% cheaper than before
� Needs addressed: Mainly income generation and
energy services; a mini grid has been set up in one of
the villages in 2009
� Sustainability:
�� First plants using the same technology are still
operating after 40,000 hours
� Biomass is renewable and CO2 neutral
�� Impact:
� 19 direct jobs creation and over 50 indirect jobs in
Baharbari (250 HH village)
� An R&D institute in Madras is setting up
indicators for impact measurement
Project economic viability Project scalability
�� €150k plants viability seems possible (after 3 years
and with a 50% load) though not achieved yet
� Each plant requires additional investment: ~€7k
for training and cooperative building, ~€65k for
microenterprises loans and/or equity
� Reducing dependence on grants:
� Current plants have been largely financed with
owners funds, CDM advance, grants/awards and
one external equity investor
� CDM could bring up to €160k of revenue per plant
over 12 years
� Ability to attract funding:
� CDM opportunity has attracted equity, local bank
has agreed to give loans for future plants and
social investors are interested in new projects
Sources: Desipower; field visit; management interviews; Hystra energy workshop; Hystra analysis
★★★
★★✩ ★★✩
� Management plan is to scale up to 100 villages in
the district of Bihar
� Building clusters is key to leverage local staff,
provide extension services and create economic links
between the villages
� Regulation may be a bottleneck
� Sale of electricity by private entities is not
allowed except to society members
� This is solved if users own a share of the plant,
creating a captive unit
� Main constraints are due to the operational model
that requires:
� Local partner to build the cooperative
� Microfinance for SMEs
� Skilled staff, hard to find in the villages and who
may leave to cities once trained