Socio-economic and environmental implications of solar electrification: Experience of rural Odisha

Access to environmentally clean and renewable energy is critically linked with sustainable and inclusive development leading to improvement in overall standard of living of people in rural areas. Availability of such energy in remote areas can foster economic activities and create various avenues for livelihood, whereas lack of sufficient and secure energy may constrain economic growth and development. Given that solar electrification has been gaining increasing importance as a source of environmentally clean and economically efficient energy for people living in rural areas, the present paper is an attempt to understand its socio-economic and environmental implications. Analyzing experiences from two villages of the Indian state of Odisha, the paper finds that households' adaptation to solar energy depends on a set of socio-economic, demographic and institutional factors including governments' approach towards rural electrification. It is also found that solar home system has facilitated socio-economic activities and improved standard of living of households, especially of women living in the area. The beneficiary households also perceive that solar electrification has improved environmental standard by reducing household pollution resulting from use of traditional sources of energy such as kerosene, though confirmation in this regard requires further investigation. However, households' adaptation to solar energy and realization of its potential benefits seems to be constrained by non-availability of maintenance and repairing facilities and access to conventional grid electricity under various programmes of the government. In addition to scaling up solar technology, an institutional framework with quality leadership and active participation of NGOs and other community level organization is necessary to link markets and policies effectively and enhance households' inclination towards greater use of this energy.