Solar Lighting Home Project is Getting Close to Completion

Grameen Surya Bijlee's (GSB) solar energy lighting project is getting closer to assisting approxamitly half a billion people in India.  In my original Solar Home Lighting post I spoke about some of the ways that this solar energy lighting project will help reduce energy consumption and help rural villages have more efficient sources of light. 

What is this lighting project focused on?

The GSB is focused on the half a billion people (approx. 100 million households) in India who use 5 - 10 liters per month of kerosene for home lighting, which generates 15 - 30 million tonnes of CO2 per year.  

The Govt. of India loses $15 billion per year in kerosene & LPG subsidy.  Almost 1.6 billion people in the world use kerosene. Reported by International Finance Corporation

What type of products will GSB offer?

How are these lighting systems more efficient?

• On-grid system is an equivalent LED bulb for the 220V AC grid system to replace incandescent & Compact Fluorescent Lamps to save on cost & power consumption
• LED bulbs are efficient (7W, compared to 11W CFL's and 60W incandescent bulbs); & long lasting (20 years - 50,000 to 100,000 hours compared to 5,000-8,000 for CFL, & 1,000 hours for incandescent bulbs)
• GSB is working closely with the IITs (Indian Institute of Technology) to reduce the power consumption of LED bulbs, & also working on charge controllers to generate patents

What is GSB's marketing stratigy and how will they meet their goals?

• GSB's marketing strategy is to work closely with the Govt of India (GOI), especially the MNRE (Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, previously MNES)  to obtain certification of our lighting system
• Certification of GSB's product allows different departments, (especially rural, tribal, forest & power - development) of various states (30) in India to procure our systems for rural electrification
• Simultaneously GSB will provide micro-credit for financing the systems in collaboration with SHGs (Self-Help Groups or Women's Co-operatives) & Micro-finance groups affiliated with NABARD, top ten Indian nationalised banks, NGOs, private foundations, NRIs and high net worth individuals 
• GSBs focus is on product development, and use distribution channels by leveraging the core competencies of our end-to-end supply chain partners as mentioned above
• GSBs main concern is availability of cheap solar panels, LEDs and batteries; we are importing panels and LEDs but would prefer to have a domestic manufacturing base
• GSB has identified solar panel partners in thin-film technologies as well as LEDs (Nichia, Japan) but would require government/private sector assistance to make this into a large-scale venture
• Surya Bijlee is run by seasoned professionals with proven track records in their respective careers, and who are alumni of IIT Kharagpur, 1985 batch

GSBs final statement on Saving from using Solar Energy

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