Sustainable Energies, Entrepreneurship and Development in rural Kashmir (SEED Himalaya)

State of implementation/results

• In the first project phase, all 114 households of Jabri have been connected to reliable basic power supply. For this purpose, 9 clusters with each 10-15 neighbouring households have been defined. In each of these clusters, a micro-grid consisting of 3 solar PV panels (total 975 W), two batteries (total 4.8 kWh), and an inverter (1.5 kW) has been installed. Each household has been connected to its cluster’s micro-grid via a power limiter and has received 2 light bulbs (each 9 W) and a mobile phone charger to fulfil basic electrical needs. The power limiter restricts the maximum power consumption to 50W per household to avoid excessive consumption of individual households and ensures fair distribution of power. This infrastructure deployment was embedded in a participatory process. Several meetings, workshops, and surveys have been conducted with the general community members of Jabri and their leaders as well as with regional stakeholders such as the Divisional Commissioner of Jammu and Kashmir. Their feedback on the basic power supply, its reliability, and its impact was very positive, e.g. the positive effects for women due to lighting in the kitchen as well as for children being able to do school work when the sun has set, especially in the winter months.
• Yet, the second project phase couldn’t be executed as originally planned in Jabri due to its limited accessibility for non-residents caused by its location next to the Line-of-control. Nevertheless, the local implementing partner Aseem Foundation has continued its presence in Jabri and replicated the first project phase in other remote communities in Kashmir.
• In 2024, the suitability of 21 fully accessibly communities in the Champawat district (Uttarakhand) as new project location for the second phase has been investigated by the new implementing partner BAIF. After additional community engagement workshops, the community Simalta has been selected and a community development plan created jointly with the community members based on their needs for reliable electricity supply, improved water supply in agriculture, value addition in agriculture, and clean drinking water supply.
• In the final project year, a democratically elected Village Development Committee will manage and operate a newly installed infrastructure for electricity and water supply consisting of a micro-grid combining solar PV and battery storage, two solar water pumps supplying 30+ farmers, a water purification facility, a cooling facility for agricultural goods, and e-rickshaw to transport the drinking water as well as agricultural goods within the community. Additionally, a women Self-Help Group will be launched and manage and operate a micro-enterprise processing agricultural goods aimed for high-priced markets. Finally, the impact and sustainability of the Community Development Plan will be analyzed.

Latest Update:
03/2025