issue 4 - United Nations Development Programme

FROM THE FIELD
DESI Power – An Evolutionary Perspective of
Rural Energization Project
Conception of the idea
Dr. Shyam Sharan, who is now the Chairman of DESI
Power (Decentralised Energy Systems India Private Ltd),
is considered among the pioneers for bringing in
renewable energy to forefront in India. Switching career
path as founding director of NTPC which is “fossil fuel”
based nation’s largest power generating entity to non
conventional energy arena led to the creation of DESI
Power. DESI Power’s first experiment in this realm started
with Development Alternatives, a not-for-profit based in
Delhi. First biomass based power plant came up in
Orchha district of Madhya Pradesh in 1999 and was
based on Ipomoea (besharam) as 100% feedstock.
“Besharam ka bhagya bahute badhiya aache,
ab tractor ape chadte”
(Luck of “besharam” plant is at best, see it will now
ride a tractor) came a comment from a old man
walking past the field where workers were cutting the
Besharam (Ipomoea fistulosa) plant as feedstock for
the gasifier. Recalling this fondly, “Bhulluji”,
Dr Sharan’s younger brother shared the story of how
DESI Power got started and its journey till now.
DESI Power’s key strength is on feedstock and load
management. Subsequent sections of the case-study will
bring these aspects into fore.
Business model
DESI Power, essentially aims at supplying electricity and
energy services to two distinct decentralized electricity
markets:
Independent Rural Power Producers (IRPPs) for
villages and semi-urban areas
Captive power plants for small-scale industries which
depend upon diesel generators because of unreliable
grid supply.
IRPP: Desi Power’s business model in villages is based
on providing electricity and energy services jointly with
local partners who establish
local small-scale industries,
businesses and agro-forestry
for value addition and job
creation. For ensuring that the
enterprises become self-reliant
and profitable within a
reasonable time, the “Business
Plans” of the Independent
Rural Power Producer (IRPP)
and the village organization
(which may be the village
DESI Power office in Araria, Bihar
Panchayat, a company, a co-operative, or an NGO) are
evolved jointly and simultaneously. For commercial
success, the power plant has to sell as much electricity
as it can generate and the villagers have to produce and
sell their products profitably. The IRPP provides the
reliable and affordable supply of electricity and energy
services based on locally available renewable energy
resources such as agricultural residues and other biomass.
The local partner organization, on its part, enables the
supply of the biomass and the purchase of adequate
amounts of electricity at mutually agreed prices.
For industries: While the technology and the
management of the engineering, procurement and
construction (EPC) activities are practically the same for
the two business sectors, the business model for each of
them is tailor made to the specific conditions of the load
and financing in each market segment. The current grid
electricity price has also gone up considerably due to
the removal of subsidies from industrial and commercial
power and DESI Power’s supplies are therefore
Magazine on Biomass Energy June 2010 6