Once struggling to get basic electricity like most villages in India, Barapitha has now changed its fate and has become the first 100 % solar-powered village in India to completely run on solar power. Barapitha, a tribal hamlet about 25 km southwest of Bhubaneswar has unshackled itself from the darkness and became the first solar village of Odisha on October 2. There was no limit to the happiness of 350 dwellers in Baripatha village as it was a life-changing moment for them.
The entire project was funded by ECCO Electronics (a solar products manufacturer) and Jakson Group (a diversified power solutions provider) which cost Rs 7 Lakhs. Its model is low-cost, low-maintenance and community-owned – elements that are missing in other solar-powered projects. “This model can be replicated all over Odisha to provide power to its nearly 3,900 villages,” says senior IPS officer Joydeep Nayak, the prime mover behind this initiative. He said, “Till now, in all rural solar projects, central units would supply power to households. Often, the exposed cables would be tapped by some, while others would draw more than their shares. This would cause the central unit to overload and trip. These problems have been solved by providing individual units to every household.
This project has put individual solar units in each of the 61 households, along with a central 1 kilowatt (kW) unit that can power 8 street lamps. Now, the village roads and schools will have perennial solar lighting. The Village Community Centre has been provided with an LED TV, with a set-top box which runs on solar power.
The central solar unit has eight big panels that can be folded in just two minutes to protect them from cyclones and high-speed winds that hit Odisha frequently. This central unit can also operate a one-horsepower irrigation pump.
Hence, this project did not just provide electricity for the village, but also the mandate to a better life and ambition. It made history by becoming the first village in the state to be powered entirely by solar energy.