The Orissa government plans to illuminate 1786 villages in the state using renewable energy sources where the normal grid power supply is not possible. These villages will be covered under the centrally sponsored Remote Village Electrification Programme (RVEP) over next two year. While 1000 villages are targeted to be electrified during the current fiscal, the remaining villages will be covered under the programme next fiscal. The villages are spread over 21 districts and include 252 villages in Koraput, 103 in Raygada, 616 in Sundergarh, 315 in Kalahandi, 142 in Mayuirbhanj and 132 villages in Keonjhar district. Since nine coastal districts are more suitable for grid extension, they have been excluded from the scheme, sources added.
Under the scheme, street and home lighting will be provided to the identified villages. Each house will be provided with 2 lights and there will be one street light for every 10 houses. Besides, community halls, temples, churches, schools and other religious places will also be illuminated. Sources said, the survey is complete in 533 villages and it is in progress in 968 villages. While detailed project report (DPR) for 178 villages have already been completed, the DPR for 355 more villages is under preparation. The electrification of one thousand villages, targeted to be done in 2009-10, involve an expenditure of Rs 100 crore. Out of it, the Central share is about Rs 75 crore and the state share Rs 25crore.
Up to June this year, 288 DPRs were sanctioned and 162 villages electrified under the scheme. While the work is under progress in 34 villages, work order has been given in case of 56 other villages. Besides, work orders for 34 villages are under process.
Since the success of REVP is mostly dependent on the performance of the system installed, timely information about malfunctioning of the system is crucial for improving its performance. As logistic problem in remote areas impede the flow of such information, Orissa Renewable Energy Development Agency (OREDA) has developed a proto type Remote Monitoring System (RMS) in house. This system can provide information about the functioning of the equipments in the remote villages on a daily basis. The information can be received from the server at OREDA and can be monitored on a regular basis. SMS alerts about the status of the system can also be received through mobile phones on holidays.
Those villages where some telephone network is available, the information can be received directly through phone. In places where such facility is not available, the information will be transmitted to a repeater station within 10 km radius having network and the information will be received at OREDA office from that location. Sources said, OREDA is in the process of sending the DPRs for the villages to be covered under RVEP to the science and technology department, which in turn will forward it to the energy department.
The cost of providing light to one household has been estimated at Rs 14,000 and each street light will cost about Rs 32,000.On the other hand, the Village Energy Committees (VECs) are being formed in each identified village for inclusion in the scheme.
The committee will collect Rs 100 as upfront payment from the beneficiaries. Besides, the beneficiaries will contribute Rs 30 per household every month which will be deposited in the VEC account.