Demand side management and Renewable
Energy In India: Capacity Building of CSOs
(DREC project in West Bengal)
1st REFERENCE GROUP MEETING
06th February, 2012
Arnab Ganguly
Project Officer
CUTS Calcutta Resource Centre
1
Baseline Survey for West Bengal
Methodology •
Total Sample Size – 513
– Household – 210
– Agriculture – 56
– Industrial (SME) – 37
– Government Institutions - 53
– Commercial and Private Institutions – 70
– NGO/CSO - 87
Stakeholders on which the survey was
adminsitered
HOUSEHOLD
AGRICULTURAL
17%
41%
14%
INDUSTRIAL
GOVERNMENT
INSTITUTION
PRIVATE
INSTITUTION
10%
7% 11%
NGO / CSO
PERCENTAGE OF RESPONDENTS
SELECTED FROM FOUR DISTRICTS
•
Number of Districts – 4
– South 24 Parganas (The Sunderbans area) - 204
– Cooch Behar - 106
– Nadia - 103
– East Midnapore - 100
40%
21%
COOCH BEHAR
EAST MIDNAPORE
19%
NADIA
SOUTH 24 PGS
20%
Baseline Survey for West Bengal
Methodology –
•
Criteria for Choosing Districts –
– Sunderbans (South 24 Parganas) ---- where RE initiatives have been undertaken
– Cooch Behar --- isolated islands -----virgin territory for RE initiative
– Nadia & East Midnapore ---- Grid Connected----higher relevance of DSM
•
Details
– 4 districts – 10 territories (Blocks)--- 2 in each district; but in Sunderbans 4 blocks
– 1 CSOs from each territory – 10 CSOs
– 50 respondents in each territory --- 50x100= 500 responsdents
•
From each of the territories both Urban and Rural areas were surveyed
Perception on Climate Change / Global Warming
•
91% of the respondents are aware about Climate Change / Global Warming
HOUSEHOLD
(HH)
90%
•
AWARENESS ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE AMONG VARIOUS STAKEHOLDERS
GOVERNMENT
AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIAL
COMMERCIAL
INSTITUTION
NGO / CSO
(COMM)
(AG)
(IND)
(GI)
93%
81%
98%
87%
94%
PERCENTAGE
OF THE TOTAL
(% OF TOTAL)
91%
Majority (64%) of the stakeholders believe that Climate Change is the most
important issue compared to other contemporary issues. 82% of the CSOs are of the
same opinion followed by Government Institutions (75%)
HOUSEHOLD
(HH)
60%
CLIMATE CHANGE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE
GOVERNMENT
AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIAL
COMMERCIAL
INSTITUTION
NGO / CSO
(COMM)
(AG)
(IND)
(GI)
55%
46%
75%
64%
82%
PERCENTAGE
OF THE TOTAL
(% OF TOTAL)
64%
RAINFALL PATTERN
13%
•
Rainfall Pattern, Agriculture and Health will be
severely affected by Climate Change. 32% feel
that all areas will be affected
6%
32%
LAND USE PATTERN
AGRICULTURE
TREES AND FOREST
15%
WATER AVAILABILITY
ENERGY
16%
2%
HEALTH
6%
10%
ALL OF THE ABOVE
4
Perception on Renewable Energy
•
92% of the respondents are aware about the various renewable energy sources.
•
On an average while urban respondents are more aware about Solar, Hydro and Wind sources,
rural respondents were also aware about biomass and biogas sources
AWARENESS ABOUT VARIOUS RE SOURCES
SOLAR
WIND
BIOMASS
BIOGAS
HYDRO
TIDAL
92%
64%
38%
59%
81%
21%
84%
14%
87%
24%
URBAN RESPONDENTS
100%
63%
24%
56%
RURAL RESPONDENTS
98%
66%
44%
65%
Perception on Cost of RE
•
39% of the respondents felt that the cost of RE was low, which contradicts the general
perception - Out of the total off-grid consumers, majority (63%) felt the cost to be low
•
25% of total respondents feel the cost to be very high. 43% are unelectrified consumers are of
the same opinion - Which means the untapped market’s wrong perception needs to be changed
•
Out of this 130 respondents who feel the cost of RE to be High – 65 respondents had suggested
that government should provide more subsidy and another 71 respondents advocated for
increased investment on R&D
Perception on Renewable Energy
Willingness to Pay
•
79% of the respondents are will pay extra for getting reliable electricity supply but not beyond 5-10%.
•
The pattern shows that from the income category of 75,000 – 1,00,000 the willingness to pay increases
proportionately with income group
Awareness and Usage of RE Equipments by HOUSEHOLDS
•
62% of the respondents were aware of equipments run on RE. Interestingly the level of awareness
was found to be higher for rural areas (66%) rather than for urban areas (53%).
AWARENESS OF HOUSEHOLDS
AWARE
NOT AWARE
75%
25%
OUT OF THE TOTAL URBAN POPULATION
53%
47%
OUT OF TOTAL RURAL POPULATION
83%
17%
USAGE OF RE EQUIPMENTS
USING
NOT USING
37%
63%
URBAN
None of the households found to be using
RURAL
54% of the households
48 % of the households
Reasons for Not Using RE Equipments by HOUSEHOLDS
REASON FOR NOT PURCHASING
EQUIPMENTS THAT USE RE
SOURCES
•
•
•
66% of the non user Households told that
initial investment is high
Out of the households who are aware of the
solar equipments, 89% of the respondents are
willing to install it if provided appropriate
financial assistance from local banks
17% of the non-users told that the post sales
service of the RE equipments is not reliable
INITIAL COST TO
PURCHASE THE
EQUIPMENT IS
EXPENSIVE
6%
17%
PRODUCT QUALITY IS
NOT VERY GOOD
POST SALE SERVICE IS
NOT RELIABLE
11%
66%
FINANCIAL SUPPORT IS
NOT AVAILABLE
Problems Facing RE users in West Bengal
•
Majority of the RE users have complained that there are no Service centres nearby and
Repairing takes about time (2-3 months).
•
The perception of 78% of the offgrid consumers was that Heavy Electrical Appliances like
Fridge cannot be run on RE and they would shift to conventional grid connectivity. This
made some offgrid solar consumers shift to grid connected conventional electricity in
Nadia.
In one of the unelectrified islands in Cooch Behar respondents were eager to
install rooftop solar panels but could not do so. This is because some other
residents in a nearby island had installed the same but those became defunct
after 3 months and could not be repaired.
Demand Side Management
Quality of Service
•
While 77% of the Grid Connected consumers have reported to have been suffering
from Voltage Fluctuation and Power Cuts, 52% of the off-grid consumers told that they
do not face voltage fluctuation
•
Cooch Behar (88%) and Nadia (81%) are the greatest sufferers of both Voltage
Fluctuation and Power cut
Judicious Use of Electricity
•
81% of the respondents believe that judicious use of electricity can help in reducing
voltage fluctuation and power cut.
•
Media has been the main source of information for all the stakeholders especially
through small advertisements broadcasted over Television.
•
82% of the respondents believe that use of energy efficient products can help reduce
electricity bill
On Demand Side Management…….(contd.)
Awareness about Energy Efficient Products – HOUSEHOLDS
•
80% of the Households are using energy efficient products. However understanding about energy
efficient electrical products is limited to use of CFL and Tubelights
•
Only 36% of the households are aware of Star Label and/or BEE label. The rest 64% are not aware
on how to identify energy efficient products. The level of awareness is lower for rural areas.
•
Non availability of Energy Efficient Products and Lack of awareness about the benefits - two main
reasons for not using energy efficient products.
Commercial Consumers
•
67% of the commercial consumers are not aware about BEE label.
•
Awareness about BEE label is higher for urban (20%) rather than rural areas (6%)
•
Out of the 33% of the commercial consumers who are aware about BEE label, 60% came to know
through media, 38% from Electricity Distribution Company and 2% through BEE
•
62% of the commercial consumers are not aware about Energy Audit and the rest 38% never
conducted Energy Audit
Agricultural Community in West Bengal
•
72% of the farmers use irrigation pumpsets between 8 a.m. and afternoon
•
Only 25% of the farmers are aware about lower tariff at night
•
Inspite of knowing that tariff at night is lower than day, they are not using the
pumpsets in the day time since – “that is the time when water should be given and
not at night” as quoted by one of the respondents
•
Only 2 farmers is using energy efficient pumpset (having a BEE label), though 36% are
aware about energy efficient pumpsets.
•
However the perception is very skewed. Farmers using diesel and Kerosene use
Chinese pumpsets which consume less fuel. This is their concept of energy efficient
pump and not with the BEE labeled pumps. The local shops, company
advertisements and feedback from fellow farmers are promoting these pumpsets
In West Bengal, agriculture sector is one of prime consumers of fossil fuel (Kerosene,
Diesel) especially in areas where government is not giving permission to set up electrical
pumpsets
FIGURE 14. DIFFERENT SOURCES
OF ENERGY USED FOR
IRRIGATION IN AGRICULTURE IN
WEST BENGAL
FIGURE 15. FUEL SOURCES USED ACROSS
DIFFERENT DISTRICTS
ELECTRIC
DIESEL
KEROSENE
82%
27%
36%
ELECTRIC
DIESEL
KEROSENE
43%
36%
32%
27%
22%
17%
12%
17%
6%
0%
37%
COOCH BEHAR
EAST MIDNAPORE
NADIA
5%
SOUTH 24 PGS
Approximate calculation of the amount of diesel used in one season (3 months)
In the Radhanagar Gram Panchayat (Gosaba) there is 7,000 bigha (apprx) that is cultivated 3
times a year. Other than the monsoon season irrigation water is pumped and used in Boro
(summer) season. A well to do farmer uses 100 liters of diesel/kerosene each bigha in one
season. This means in the boro season 7,00,000 (apprx) liters of diesel/kerosene is burnt in
one Gram Panchayat.
12
Solar Pumpset for Irrigation
•
Though 27% of the respondents were aware about existence of Solar pump sets ,yet none
was found to be using it.
•
Majority of the Farmers expressed interest in solar pumpsets, yet they had the following
questions –
•
o
Will the solar pumps be able to give average performance of a 5 - 7.5 horse power
pumpset?
o
What will be the quality of its after sales service?
According to the respondents 53% do not know where the solar pump sets are available
Experience and Awareness among CSOs
•
91% of the CSOs did not have any prior experience of working on issues pertaining to RE and
DSM. 71% of the CSOs have cited Lack of funding, 28% have cited lack of capacity and 8% as lack
of consumer interest as the reason for not working on these issues
•
87% of the CSOs are not aware about the existence of a regulatory body in the electricity sector.
•
76% of the CSOs are not aware about the Electricity Act, 2003 and the role and responsibility
assigned to the CSOs
Two Case Studies in West Bengal
•
Absence of a regulatory structure jeopardises the long term feasibility of RE initiatives –
Gosaba and Moushani
•
Innovative RE inititaives adopted by one of the local partners in Cooch Behar – distribution of
hearing aid where the battery is charged through solar chargers
THANK YOU
Some Basic Information on Sample Composition
Percentage of Respondents who are either
Unelectrified or Grid Connected or Off Grid
Percentage of respondents selected from
Urban and Rural areas
4%
23%
30%
UNELECTRIFIED
URBAN
GRID CONNECTED
OFF GRID
73%
Percentage of Respondents belonging to
various income categories
2%
RURAL
70%
Literacy Status of the Respondents
2%
1% 4%
BELOW POVERTY LINE
8%
UPTO Rs 10,000
23%
20,000 - 40,000
24%
14%
UNEDUCATED
28%
21%
40,000 - 75,000
HIGH SCHOOL OR
ABOVE BUT BELOW
GRADUATION
75,000 - 1,00,000
1,00,000 - 5,00,000
5,00,000 - 10,00,000
24%
EDUCATED BUT
BELOW HIGH
SCHOOL
49%
WELL QUALIFIED
ABOVE 10,00,000
16
Interpretation
•
70% of the respondents were from rural areas and 30% from Urban areas.
•
Out of the total respondents 23% (120 respondents) were using RE in off-grid areas.
•
73% of the respondents were Grid Connected Consumers
•
4% of the respondents were unelectrified consumers
•
62% of the total sample were having an income between 20,000 – 1,00,000 and
were educated upto High School or beyond
•
23% of the sample had an income of Rs1,00,000-5,00,000 and were highly qualified
•
The remaining 15% of the respondents have income below 20,000 or Uneducated
THE SURVEY TRIED TO CAPTURE THE PERCEPTIONS OF DIFFERENT INCOME GROUPS AND
DIFFERENT TYPES OF CONSUMERS - GRID CONNECTED, OFF GRID AND UNELECTRIFIED
17