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Samit Mitra at Smart Power India on the role mini-grids and renewable power could play in boosting small businesses
Our guest today is Samit Mitra, senior director of programme implementation at Smart Power India, a unit of the Rockefeller Foundation. In this episode, Samit, who’s an expert on mini electricity grids, talks about how such grids connected to renewable sources such as solar power could help local businesses in large parts of the country where the main grid power isn’t reliable.
(00:40) Intro to The Daily Tech Conversation
(00:52) Our guest today — Samit Mitra, senior director of programme management, Smart Power India
(02:02) A brief backgrounder on Smart Power India — transitioning out of Rockefeller Foundation to be part of the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet
(04:05) A snapshot of what SPI has done in the last seven years, in the area of mini-grids
(07:32) Big gap in the rural and small-town enterprises’ needs for electricity and supply — and why big players aren’t entering the small grids market
(09:32) An important factor — a lack of linkages to institutional finance
(10:42) What’s a mini-grid, and why it’s significant
(14:43) The Indian government set up 3,000 mini-grids several years ago
(15:35) And what happened to those grids — most were allowed to stop functioning; they didn’t generate any revenue that could be used for their upkeep
(17:20) SPI works with large developers, as a facilitator, and they own and operate the mini-grids
(22:10) The need for commercial sustainability of these projects — and thoughts on ways to increase the chances of that from the beginning
More on Samit and Smart Power India
https://smartpowerindia.org/
Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds:
https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds
View all episodes
By Forbes India - Tech ConversationsOur guest today is Samit Mitra, senior director of programme implementation at Smart Power India, a unit of the Rockefeller Foundation. In this episode, Samit, who’s an expert on mini electricity grids, talks about how such grids connected to renewable sources such as solar power could help local businesses in large parts of the country where the main grid power isn’t reliable.
(00:40) Intro to The Daily Tech Conversation
(00:52) Our guest today — Samit Mitra, senior director of programme management, Smart Power India
(02:02) A brief backgrounder on Smart Power India — transitioning out of Rockefeller Foundation to be part of the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet
(04:05) A snapshot of what SPI has done in the last seven years, in the area of mini-grids
(07:32) Big gap in the rural and small-town enterprises’ needs for electricity and supply — and why big players aren’t entering the small grids market
(09:32) An important factor — a lack of linkages to institutional finance
(10:42) What’s a mini-grid, and why it’s significant
(14:43) The Indian government set up 3,000 mini-grids several years ago
(15:35) And what happened to those grids — most were allowed to stop functioning; they didn’t generate any revenue that could be used for their upkeep
(17:20) SPI works with large developers, as a facilitator, and they own and operate the mini-grids
(22:10) The need for commercial sustainability of these projects — and thoughts on ways to increase the chances of that from the beginning
More on Samit and Smart Power India
https://smartpowerindia.org/
Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds:
https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds