IT isn’t too difficult to locate the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission chief’s farmhouse in Akshi village.
‘‘Look high up, can you see that wind turbine? Just follow it,’’ says a villager in Alibaug, 125 km from Mumbai.
A 10-km drive through a long, winding road lined with swaying coconut trees ends at a bungalow where Akshi’s most famous resident, Pramod Deo, lives.
For a month, Deo’s unique project has ensured that the lanes of this village—it’s home to 3,000-odd residents—stay lit even at night, when the rest of Akshi is grappling with daily eight-hour power cuts.
‘‘It’s a wind solar hybrid system where a wind turbine and solar panels resource energy that is harnessed to charge batteries,’’ says Sunil Mayabhate, general manager of Maharashtra Energy and Development Agency (MEDA), a Pune-based government agency involved in the research and development of energy resources.
‘‘The batteries store the energy and supply electricity to the street lights on a dusk-to-dawn technology—that is, as soon as it gets dark, the streets light up and vice-versa,’’ he adds. ‘‘And it only works when the MSEB grid stops supplying power.’’
After Deo realised this system was perfect for his village, he decided to rope in MEDA—he’s the founder of this agency—and sought assistance from the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy.
The system was installed by Square Engineering, a company in Pune that designs these projects.
Two months later, at a cost of Rs 28 lakh—Rs 19 lakh from the Centre, about Rs 9 lakh from Deo himself—Akshi’s streets were lit up at 27 different areas. For free.
‘‘This project is best suited for people in rural areas, which face severe load-shedding and are poorly networked through the Maharashtra State Electricity Board,’’ said Deo, who lives in South Mumbai and visits Akshi every weekend.
One month into the project and Akshi is already rejoicing.
‘‘Our villagers are a mix of fishermen and farmers who work on the fields or coast till 11 pm,’’ says Sarpanch Nandkumar Valunz, who is now gearing up to gather funds so other areas in the village can be lit up similarly.
‘‘So, returning home in the pitch dark was difficult.’’
Not anymore. ‘‘Now, we can move around freely at late hours,’’ says fisherwoman Vijaya Gharat. ‘‘All because of Deo sahib.’’
Where the system is used
To power 30 computers at the MEDA office in Pune
For the lights in the garden at Katraj Snake Park, Pune
In the operation theatre at Dr Rainkar’s Hospital, Pune, during load-shedding
Will soon be set up at the Jyotiba temple in Kolhapur and the Vithal Rakhumai temple at Pandharpur