On February 1, 2022, India’s Finance Minister, Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman, tabled the 2022-23 Union Budget in Parliament. Climate action and Productivity were among the four pillars shaping this year’s budget. This article highlights some of the provisions in the budget that present opportunities to strengthen climate action alongside rural development and productivity. https://www.powerforall.org/insights/finance/indias-union-budget-2022-what-does-it-hold-climate-action-energy-access-and-rural-development
Is it now or never for decentralized renewable energy in India? https://www.powerforall.org/resources/infographics/india-all-homes-electrified-2019
A new report by Clean Energy Access Network (CLEAN) shows that the decentralized renewable energy (DRE) sector in India continues to see growth in enhancing energy access, especially in rural communities where it is experiencing maximum impact thereby aiding economic and social growth. https://www.powerforall.org/news-media/articles/shift-energy-access-development-transforming-decentralized-renewable-energy-market-clean-report
Our CEO has been appointed to the UN High-Level Dialogue on Energy and named as Food Systems Summit champion. Also, learn about the upcoming Utilities 2.0 webinar on lessons from Africa in the latest report from Duke University's Energy Access Project, how we’re participating in India's Unconvention 2021 and promoting multi-stakeholder action in Jharkhand state, and a training session for Energy Catalyst companies on media communications. https://www.powerforall.org/news-media/campaign-updates/campaign-update-february-2021
Clean Network has recently published the State of the Sector report, and it shows that the Decentralized Renewable Energy (DRE) sector in India, with policy and financing support, is poised to bounce back from the sluggish growth of the past year. https://www.powerforall.org/insights/finance/indias-decentralized-renewable-energy-enterprises-show-resilience-amid-covid-19-pandemic
Power for All partner IISD produces exceptional analysis focused on energy subsidies worldwide through its Global Subsidies Initiative. New data reveals that India’s government is giving short shrift to decentralized renewables when handing out energy subsidies. In fact, less than 1% of all subsidies go to distributed renewables, IISD discovered in a new report, India's Energy Transition: Mapping energy subsidies to fossil fuels and clean energy in India. https://www.powerforall.org/resources/fact-sheets-research-summaries/research-summary-sad-state-support-distributed-energy-india-power-all
The Smart Power India (SPI) initiative has electrified 8 villages in Jharkhand state with green mini-grids. Women who earn a living from processing rice are now using electric hullers and fans to hull and winnow rice, and the impact has been huge: the amount of rice hulled daily has increased 100x from 20kg to 2,000kg. https://www.powerforall.org/news-media/videos/video-mini-grids-increase-rice-processing-output-rural-indian-women-100x
Despite being a US$ 50 billion market and an opportunity to increase incomes for rural communities in India, solar-powered productive-use appliances -- for tailoring, food processing, carpentry and others -- are still unable to access end-user finance and therefore unable to scale, according to a new report. https://www.powerforall.org/insights/asia/access-affordable-financing-big-barrier-micro-enterprises-new-report-financing-solar-powered-livelihoods
Productive use of energy solutions leveraging decentralized renewable energy show promising potential for smallholder farmers to increase yield, however, DREs require different deployment strategies. India’s solar water pump experience provides valuable insights for other emerging technologies. https://www.powerforall.org/resources/fact-sheets-research-summaries/fact-sheet-rural-agribusiness-opportunities
Power for All was well represented at the Sustainable Energy for All Forum in Kigali, Rwanda. The team, led by our CEO Kristina Skierka, also co-chaired two-panel discussions at the event, ‘Transitioning to the Grid of the Future’ and ‘Powering Jobs: Building a Workforce to Meet the SGD 7 Challenge’. The Powering Jobs campaign kicked off its first steering committee meeting in Ethiopia and held its second in Uganda. We also have the initial findings from our health survey from Jharkhand State in India. Read on for these and other updates from our campaigns. https://www.powerforall.org/news-media/campaign-updates/campaign-update-may-2022