Decentralise power generation to light up villages: World Bank

Mumbai, Feb 15 (PTI) The World Bank today called for alocalised power generation and distribution model, usingprimarily the renewable energy sources, to bring power to the56 per cent of the rural populace who do not have electricityconnection in their homes as yet.

Releasing the findings of its study done in ruralMaharashtra and Haryana here, the bank said such a model canprovide substantial economic gains to rural consumers besidesmaking the Government''s rural electrification project moreeconomically viable and sustainable.

"Decentralising power generation and distribution tothe local level through the distribution grid of the stateutility by using renewable energy sources will help reduceprolonged outages and increase electricity supply in ruralareas," said the report, ''Empowering Rural India: ExpandingElectricity Access by Mobilising Local Resources''.

"If such sources replace kerosene and diesel forlocalised generation and supply, economic gains can besubstantial."

"Despite over a century of investment in electricpower systems, there are roughly 1.6 billion people across theglobe that lack access to electricity, mainly in rural areas.

There are as many people in South Asia without access toelectricity, most of them in India," bank Vice-President forSustainable Development Network Inger Andersen said releasingthe report.

The experience of China and the Philippines show thatdistributed generation projects that also combine supply andare grid-connected are successful, she said. .