Off-grid Solar Power for Remote Habitations: Lessons for Sustainability

The State of Kerala in southern India is a highlydevelopedregion with most demographic indicators performingwell above that of the rest of India. Despite this, Kerala hasseveral social outliers, notably the isolated groups such as thetribal or fisher populations. While nearly 100% of Kerala´svillages are electrified, there still exist a number of small,isolated homesteads which are difficult to connect to the grid.The IEEE Kerala Section, as a part of its Student Activities,took up a pilot project in December 2010, which sought toprovide solar photovoltaic power to a cluster of houses in aremote hilly region. Several months after commissioning of theproject, an examination reveals both strengths and weaknesses.While accessibility to electric power has been an enabler for theconcerned households, there are several factors -- technological,institutional and social -- which need to be managed if the projectis to be sustainable for non-trivial lengths of time.