Aditya Aluminium powers Odisha villages with solar lights

Although the government has been making conscious efforts to reach electricity to more people in rural areas, it has failed to make as much impact as it would have liked. Rural areas usually suffer on account of poor and underdeveloped transmission infrastructure and adequate distribution capacity to supply electricity. A key reason being that in rural areas, lack of infrastructure and low purchasing power of consumers create hurdles in providing an uninterrupted supply of electricity. Keeping this in mind, Aditya Aluminium has come forward to provide electricity in two villages of Sambalpur district recently. This is a first of its kind project in the district by any company.

As part of its peripheral development programmes, the company’s CSR wing has installed solar-powered streetlights in Bhursipali and Bhalupatra villages under Jangla Gram Panchayat of Rengali Block in the district, and helped shine a light in the lives of at least 150 people from 35 families. The company has installed 7 streetlights, each having a 75W panel, 75 AH battery, and 11W CFL, on a strong pole. The installed panes have enough power to run the 11W CFL light for 11 hours. The project was dedicated to the public by Mr Bibhu Prasad Mishra, COO of Aditya Aluminium in recently, in the presence of Abhijit Basu, AVP (Human Resources), Lopamudra Mishra, Deputy Manager (RR & CSR) and other senior officials from the company.

“Five hours is the average ‘peak sunshine period’ in this area. A 10W panel will give about 50Wh of energy per day throughout the year. Due to high irradiation levels in these areas and more than 300 sunny days per year, solar is the best choice for clean energy. One benefit here is that the seasonal isolation variation is very less. Hence, the availability of adequate sunshine makes solar a viable source of energy,” said Abhijit Basu on being asked why his company chose Bhursipali and Bhalupatra villages over others for this project. According to Mr Basu, Aditya Aluminium would continue with many such developmental activities in future.

This noble initiative is in line with Aditya Aluminium’s focus on promoting alternative, environment-friendly sources of energy, especially in areas that do not have access to electricity. Though some families living below poverty line in these two villages have been provided electricity connections under various government schemes, there were no streetlights in Bhursipali and Bhalupatra, making it difficult for the villagers to venture outside their homes after dark. Now, because of well-lit streets, people can move out at night without fear of being attacked by wild animals, students can read under the solar lamppost and people can recharge their cellphones.

This eco-friendly, economical, and low-maintenance solar lighting system has been widely accepted by villagers. In fact, the local village committee has to spend just Rs.15 a month to run a streetlight. What a boon!