Selco Solar in pact with Applied Materials to electrify 1,000 households, 10 schools

Bangalore: Selco Solar Pvt Ltd, a provider of energy services to underserved households, has tied up with Applied Materials Foundation (AMF) to electrify 1,000 households and 10 schools in Karnataka using solar lighting systems. AMF, an arm of Applied Materials - a provider of semiconductor, flat panel display and solar photovoltaic equipment, has contributed $1.7 lakh for the project. Selco will provide lighting systems to schools and houses in villages across Karnataka and the project, which started in May this year, is expected to be completed in March 2012. The project has already been implemented in 204 households and four schools across the State. The project will impact 10,000 individuals and 279 kWh of energy. Selco plans to implement the project across 5,000 households. Innovative buying Selco, promoted by Ramon Magsasay award winner, Mr Harish Hande, will execute the project in its model of “not donating the products as charity” but by selling it to the households through an innovative model where the users will have to pay a part of the cost of setting up the solar system and the rest of the cost will be borne by AMF. The users will have to pay for the products in EMIs through banks that Selco has partnered with. “Many people in rural areas are able to pay for solar- equalling what they were paying for kerosene for lamps and mobile phone charging, but what happens is they don't have enough assets to prove to banks that they can repay loans,” Mr Harish Hande, Managing Director, Selco Solar, said. So we are leveraging money given by AMF to help people get bank loans, he explained. The household solar lighting project is one where individuals will have to buy solar lights from Selco, and bear about 90 per cent of the costs and the remaining- the ‘down payment' would be taken care of by AMF's funding. The school lighting project is one where a solar system is installed at the schools, 20 per cent of the costs of which are borne by the school; and students of the school are given battery-powered LED lamps which can be charged at the system installed at school. Typically, people in villages will have to pay an average of Rs 140 a month for their kerosene/candle needs and Rs 40 a month to charge their mobile phones at nearby shops. But with Selco's project, the person would have to pay an EMI of Rs 150 a month for the solar-powered system till the entire loan is paid off and then turns the owner of the solar-powered system which can be used for free- but for a maintenance fee of Rs 150 a year. The idea of the project “is to show that people do repay loans and that you don't necessarily need coal or nuclear to electrify villages, and also make an impact on government policies” Mr Hande said.