Rs50-lakh project gives Morabunder village power

When Radha Patil came to Morabunder village on Gharapuri or Elephanta island 13 years ago after marriage to a fisherman on the island, she had to adjust to a new life that meant going about her household work without electricity - a facility that she had taken for granted in her parent’s village near Uran on the mainland.

Around two years ago, a diesel power generator started supplying three hours of fitful electricity in Morabunder, a village with 25 families and one of the three on the island more famous for its cave temples.

The other villages had started receiving their three-hour daily supply a few years earlier.

On Monday, a new solar lighting project that was inaugurated in Patil’s village made it a possibility that she may enjoy the luxury of a 24-hour long electric supply.

The project is being implemented by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), the planning agency for the region with the support of Pune University’s Science and Technology Park and Solar Gem, an Australian company that has developed the new solar energy home lighting system for homes that are connected to the grid.

Patil may still have to wait before a solar panel to tap the sun’s energy is installed in the compound of her house. Only one house – that of former forest department employee Sitaram Maine – has been lighted with the new source of power.

But Patil is still full of hope. “When the power goes off daily at 10am, this place looks like a forest and not at all like a village. We can operate the fans, television and charge the electric torches with the diesel generated power. I hope the solar power runs these gadgets,” said Patil.

The Rs50 lakh project that has been largely subsidised by an Australian company will not just supply electric power to the homes but also lights the new street lamps that are planned in the village lanes.

Ratnakar Gaikwad, metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA said since it was a pilot project where a new technology is being tested, the villagers will not have to pay for the solar power.

Every family in the village now pay Rs150 per month for the diesel-generated power. “The batteries will store power for five days, so even during cloudy spells, the villages can enjoy uninterrupted power,” said Gaikwad who added that the technology can be used in other villages in the MMR region that are too remote or inaccessible to be connected to the power grid.

Iftikar Pathan, a representative of Solar-Gem said that the prototype of the off-grid solar power was born in a
Sydney coffee shop around two years ago. Since then, the technology has won several innovation awards.