SunEdison, a leading global solar technology manufacturer and provider of solar energy services, today announced a new project to install 159 kW of solar PV micro-grids, with battery storage, in six remote Indian villages, bringing electricity to 4,875 off-grid people.
Working with the government of India's Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) and the Madhya Pradesh Urja Vikas Nigam state agency, SunEdison will build, operate and transfer the facilities to a public entity after five years, giving the freedom of renewable, reliable energy to those who need it most.
"Solar is often the most practical solution in India's remote areas and building micro-grids allows for scalability as the need grows," said Pashupathy Gopalan, president of SunEdison Asia Pacific, Middle East and South Africa.
"The project isn't just about economics, as part of our SunEdison Eradication of Darkness (SEED) initiative, we take into account the long term social and environmental impact as well. We believe a collaborative approach, where private enterprise works closely with the government sector, is a winning model for future solar development in the region."
SunEdison will begin construction of the micro-grids in September after the seasonal monsoon rains subside and will commission them by December.
The project will be completed under the REC's decentralized distributed generation scheme, which enables remote communities to generate the clean, reliable energy essential for their development through small, off-grid systems in the community, rather than depending on expensive and time-intensive public infrastructure expansion.
