Solar Energy Entrepreneurship to Promote Universal Electricity Access in Rural India: Challenges and Opportunities

The aim of this article is to motivate young Indian engineers to shun the craze and glamour for salaried employment in the metropolitan cities and instead, opt for the establishment and operation of micro and small, solar based, standalone micro-grid enterprises in villages to enhance rural electricity access in the country. The young engineers should volunteer active contribution to enhance rural electricity access and become job providers in their own enterprises instead of aspiring for jobs in metropolitan cities. The task of enhancing electricity access in rural India should become the top priority and a mass movement in India. The country should strive for universal access to electricity which should be realized through greater involvement of young engineering fraternity rather than letting it remain the cosmetic responsibility of Government machinery in the typical Indian style as is the scenario today. This paper, after introducing readers with the burning problem of energy poverty in rural India emphasizes development of standalone solar based micro-grid infrastructure for mitigation of the immediate electricity problem in rural India with future provision for its augmentation into a smart grid, ICT-enabled system introducing automation and additional user friendly features. An overview of energy entrepreneurship and facilitator agencies providing finance and solar skill training to the prospective engineer entrepreneurs is given along with brief information on subsidies, tax concessions and tax holidays under the National Solar Mission and MSME Scheme. The prospective young engineer entrepreneurs are urged to verify and supplement information provided in the text of this paper from the authentic information published by the facilitator agencies in order that the engineer entrepreneurs can optimize their profits. Given their resolve to eradicate energy poverty and sincere involvement in infrastructure development the universal access to energy in India shall not be a distant dream to realize. These endeavors are bound to bestow the youth engineer entrepreneur with career growth and financial prosperity besides simultaneously bringing economic development and prosperity to the country.