Gram Power - Affordable Renewable power to all

Gram Power is a energy technology company founded in 2010.  They provide cutting edge Smart grid technology to provide electricity to remote villages in developing countries.  Yashraj Khaitan ( Indian) and Jacob Dickinson ( American ) are the founders of the company.  They are engineering graduates from the University of California.  

They have set up India's first smart micro grid in Rajasthan in 2012 to provide electricity for lights, buttermilk machines, televisions, and fans.  Gram Power's  core innovation is in their Smart Grid Distribution technology which consists of their smart meters and Grid monitoring systems to provide on-demand theft-proof power to the users.  They are using solar panels for generation of power.  

Khareda Lakshmipura village in Rajasthan never had any electricity till 2012.  But after 2012  the village had enough power that even if the north Indian grid fails,  they would be able to view Televisions.  

Gram power was established in that village in Rajasthan in 2012.  The company provides continuous power to remote villages at a very less cost.  Similar to mobile recharge, we can pay money in advance as per our requirement of electricity..  So you need to recharge for a certain amount of money and they will provide you electricity through micro grid. The smart meter provided by the company will show you details of the usage of electricity, amount of money in your account and how many more hours you can use the power etc....   

Micro Grid

Gram Power's Micro Grid  is powered by a centralized array of solar panels which collect the sun's energy and convert it to  DC power.   Surplus solar energy is stored in an array of batteries  providing users with a continuous supply of energy even during peak usage times and at night, when the solar panels do not provide any electricity.  The DC power  from the solar array and batteries is converted to AC electricity using inverter which is then distributed throughout the service area via small overhead power lines.   The system is monitored wirelessly by Gram Power for energy theft or other usage abnormalities.

Each house is provided by a smart meter which draws energy from the micro grid and keeps track of how much of pre paid energy the user has remaining and provides a display to the user about the power consumption of their appliances.  

A local village entrepreneur purchases bulk energy credit from Gram Power, which is wirelessly transferred to an 'Energy Wallet' that Gram Power provides to each entrepreneur. The entrepreneur then transfers this credit to individual Smart Meters in the village. Once recharged, the meters can be used to operate a variety of household appliances or even higher power water pumps for irrigation.

Gram Power's microgrids can also be integrated with the utility grid. This ensures that the infrastructure is not wasted when the utility grid reaches the village, and in turn makes the utility grid more reliable by adding in decentralized generation.

More details about Gram Power

Oil India commissioned 5 MW Solar Power Plant in Rajasthan

Oil India which is the second largest Government owned exploration firm in India has recently commissioned a 5 MW Solar Power Plant in Rajasthan.  Oil India has so far has built only small solar power plants.  But now it has built and commissioned its first grid connected 5 MW Solar Power Plant at a village Raghwa in Ramgarh district in Rajasthan.

The plant was inaugurated by OIL Chairman and Managing Director Sri S.K.Srivastava. The company is planning to expand this unit by another 9 MW which will be completed by the end of year 2015.  The 5 MW Solar Power Plant with Polycrystalline Technology was set up at a total cost of Rs.41.49 Crores.  There are 20,400 solar modules in the plant each having a capacity of 245 watts.  An over head transmission line of 11.49 Km has been constructed to feed in the generated power to the Grid.

Rajasthan Government laid foundation stone for World';s largest Solar power plant

Government of Rajasthan has laid the foundation stone on 21st August, 2013 for the World's biggest solar power plant at Bhandla of Jodhpur District in the state.  The Solar plant will have a generation capacity of 3000 MW and will be commissioned in a phased manner.

The foundation stone for the Solar Park was laid by The Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Shri Ashok Gehlot.  He said this energy park would create a history in the development of the state.  The Solar park would generate 1000 MW in the first phase.  The solar park would be established in an estimated area of 10000 hectares land and a loan of 3000 crores is being provided by Asian Development Bank for development of transmission lines for this solar park.


M/s Clinton Foundation would be providing the technical assistance for the solar park as per the agreement between the Rajasthan Govt. and Clinton Foundation in 2010.   Three more solar parks would be coming in Jaisalmer, Barmer and Bikaner districts with the help of the same company.  Some of the key features of the solar park are listed below.

Key Features of the Solar Park

• 3000 MW capacity of solar power plant will be set up
• 10000 hectares of land identified for the solar park
• 58 cusec of water reserved from Indira Gandhi canal
• Construction of 400 KV GSS under progress
• Work for setting up of 7 solar power projects of 75 MW has started
• Construction of road from Nure ki Bhurj to Bhandla has started
• MoU signed between Rajasthan Government and M/s Clinton Foundation in 2010 

MOU signed with Clinton Foundation in 2010

Delhi Government planning to offer incentives for Solar Energy

Are you generating power from your roof top solar panels?  Delhi Government is planning to provide incentives for generation of solar power.   Delhi has a new solar policy called "production based sibsidy" which means that the Government will pay you for the units of energy you are saving using solar power.  At present there is a "capital subsidy" scheme in Delhi state which provides a fixed amount on installation of solar waters.

This policy  will definitely inspire consumers to invest in solar energy, but some guidelines are to be framed by the Government on net metering system.  If the consumer is generating more than his requirements, then excess power can be returned to the Grid.


As per the scheme, the consumer is paid for the units he generates in excess. The Delhi Govt. also is planning to give small subsidy to producers of solar power.  Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) is yet to fix the tariff and net metering system before getting approval from the cabinet.

The problem with solar water heaters is that even though the capital subsidy was provided to the people, they were not using it.  People are not maintaining the solar water heater systems and stop using them after some time.   So the Government though that if the subsidy is generation based and customers are reimbursed every month, they will maintain it.


The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission already prepared the guidelines on net metering which may be released next week.  The guidelines include every detail on net metering, energy accounting and how the transactions can be done. Any State Govt. can use these guidelines straight away.  These guidelines are based on net metering in Germany and USA.

World's thinnest solar cell developed by MIT

A team of researchers at MIT have developed a technique to create very thin solar cells which are two molecules thick.  Even though this kind of solar cell offer conversion efficiency of only 1 or 2 percent, it is possible to increase the overall capacity by placing multiple cells on top of other as compared to conventional cells.

For more details please read article on "MIT produces world's thinnest solar cell".

Oman to use Solar Power to extract oil from oil wells

Oman's oil fields have lot of oil beneath the sands. But it is very difficult and expensive to extract the oil from the wells.  In order to reduce the costs, the Oman's national oil company is now looking towards a new technology - The Solar Power for extracting oil from the wells.

For many years, oil producers depended on steam, created natural gas to heat the rock below the surface and make the oil flow better.  But now natural gas is not easily available. 

 The current process for extracting oil in the oil fields involves burning natural gas to produce steam.  The steam is then injected under ground which heats up the rock and oil and allows the crude oil to flow more smoothly which can be extracted.  22% of the Oman's natural gas is being used for the oil fields and the country is importing natural gas at higher costs.  So the Oman National Oil company is trying to use the Sun's energy to heat the rocks.

The actual process of extracting oil by heating rocks with solar energy uses a system of mirrors which focus the sun light on a pipe colored with absorbent in black color which heats up water which is co produced along with the oil. The system uses very light mirrors made out of aluminum thinner than that of a soft drink can.
  

Oman has contacted a California company called GlassPoint Solar for building a 4-acre, 7 mega watt solar plant to generate steam for the oil fields. So the solar technology replaces most of the natural gas.   The System has been running for the last one year.  It is only a pilot project.  At full size, which is 100 times of the pilot would replace 80 percent of the natural gas which would otherwise needed.  

How solar power is used for extracting oil from oil wells

The system uses mirrors to focus sun light onto a black colored pipe containing water.  The pipe heats up due to sun light and the water inside gets converted into steam.  The total system is enclosed in a green house to protect the super thin mirrors from dust and wind.  This steam is injected underground and used to push the oil from bottom.

Odissa Government giving Subsidy for Solar Systems in homes

Are you upset with frequent power cuts and increasing power bills and do not know what to do?  There is a solution for every thing.  The best solution is to go for solar energy.  But installing solar power systems is a little bit costly.  But if you opt for solar electrification through solar energy, it will ensure better electricity supply and a relief from power cuts.  So the Odissa Renewable Energy Development Agency (OREDA)  is encouraging people of their state to opt for solar energy by providing subsidy for installation of home solar power systems.  So all the people in Odissa can make use of this opportunity and try to install solar Power Systems in their homes to avoid frequent power cuts and reduce their power bills.   The other state governments are also encouraging installation of home solar power systems by giving subsidy for the work. 

The capital cost for 1 KW power plant is rs. 2.5 lakhs and the consumer cost is Rs. 1.7 Lakhs after subsidy of Rs.80,000.  There are people who installed Solar Power systems of even 7 KW and obtained huge subsidy from Government.

The solar power supply system is very much successful in interior areas of the state where electricity has not yet reached.  The OREDA has installed solar power systems in more than 400 remote villages.