"The suggestion of brown-out was given to me by my friend and IIT Chennai Director Ashok Jhunjhunwala. In this, houses are provided with a lower power DC line along with the AC line that can prove an alternate source of electricity in case the grid fails and there is a blackout," he told reporters here.
The minister added that he discussed the technique with the officials in the Power Ministry and have started two pilot projects to test it.
In a bid to make electricity available to all, Goyal said government is planning to launch a scheme where consumers can pay for the new connection in monthly installments over a period of five years and will be able to avail the service on demand.
On village electrification, Goyal expressed confidence that the target of electrifying 18,452 villages will be achieved a year ahead of the set deadline of May 1, 2018.
However, he said that "there may be a few aberrations (consumers) that may be from very dense forest, left wind extremism affected area or possibly a consumer who does not want power or one does not apply for power.