Book excerpt | How SELCO helped to dispel 3 myths around solar energy use by rural communities

SELCO sought to answer these questions and dispelled three myths in the process. The first two were linked to energy provision itself: that the poor cannot afford decentralized solar energy systems and that it would not be possible to maintain and service these systems in rural communities. The third myth was that a social enterprise could not do this while making profits and being sustainable. Dispelling these three myths has been the guiding principle behind the design of SELCO’s core efforts: to enable doorstep implementation and servicing of decentralized solar systems; to facilitate doorstep financing for end-user households, entrepreneurs and farmers; and to do so in a manner that is sustainable. The design and creation of a sustainable social enterprise has been as significant to the SELCO story as was its goal of providing energy to the last mile.

Since then, the organization has grown to identify and understand the
varied energy needs of last-mile communities—from government agencies,
schools and healthcare facilities to livelihood value chains across agriculture, animal husbandry, textiles, crafts and small business. SELCO’s primary stakeholders range from the schoolchild studying at home to the home-based worker running a tailoring unit or small shop; from the individual street vendor to the women’s self-help group (SHG) running a flour-processing mill and the local farmer producer organization (FPO) operating a cold storage facility to reduce wastage of their produce and increase their bargaining power.

Individuals and communities have seen the benefit of holistically designed sustainable energy solutions. Here sustainable energy includes three interlinked infrastructure components:

1. Energy-efficient appliances, such as efficient grinding and milling
technologies for spices and flour, motors for sewing machines, efficient
baby warmers, and vaccine refrigerators for healthcare;

2. Decentralized solar energy systems on rooftops powered by batteries;

3. Efficient, green built environments with natural lighting, ventilation, and thermal comfort, built with local, eco-friendly building material that increase the wellbeing of end-users and reduce their energy needs and costs.

These are deployed in combination with affordable credit, appropriate
delivery models, and relevant skills or capacity building to help end-users
and communities access, utilize, own and maintain these solutions in the
long run. They have improved the quality of life of their users, reducing their drudgery, and raising their productivity and their ability to earn a living. At the very basic level, it has enabled access to a reliable, modern energy source, something that all of us often take for granted.

Application to the Current Context and Today’s Crises

Across the world, poor people have been repeatedly thrown into crisis management mode—dealing with one disaster after another. Be it the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic or climate-related emergencies such as droughts or floods, the poor are the worst affected. Their needs differ across
geographies, and social and cultural contexts. For example, a Manipuri weaver needs modernization of loom technology to reduce her drudgery, while a marginal farmer in drought-prone north Karnataka needs access to on-farm appliances to help cultivate crops and better cold storage facilities to preserve the produce. Their needs and their inability to meet these, stem from the income poverty, climate risks and social deprivation they face.