1000-year-old remote Himalayan village lit up through solar microgrids
Micro Grid is becoming a new ray of light for Himalayan Villages Electricity is one of the most important blessings science has given to mankind. An indispensable part of the modern life, it is extremely difficult to think of a world today without power. Unfortunately, even today in the 21st century, many villages in the Himalayan Districts of Kargil and Leh of Ladakh Region are still in darkness with no grid based electricity.
REMOTE VILLAGE ELECTRIFIED
One such village was Itchu of Kargil District located at a distance of 100 Km from the Kargil Headquarters and not even accessible through road. With the dedicated efforts of two engineers Paras Loomba and Jaideep of Global Himalayan Expedition, Kacho Ahmad Ali Khan, the Project Director of KREDA (Kargil Rural Electrification Development Agency) and the financial support of one of the top most organizations of India, Infosys, this village has now been electrified in less than two days. Haji Gulzar Hussain, the Deputy Commissioner Kargil inaugurated the solar microgrids that brought electricity to this 800 year old village after trekking for more than 3 hours and covering 10 kms on foot.
Expressing her joy at witnessing electricity for the first time ever, an 84 year old local lady from village Itchu reamrked that, although we are in the months of Muharram, today is no less than an Eid for the villagers. The villagers have thanked the team of GHE, KREDA and Infosys for lighting up their village. Children were seen jumping with joy and running in the streets as the 20 house village gleamed like a shining diamond in the starlit sky of 15th October 2016.
NEW RAY OF HOPE
Haji Gulzar Hussain mused that he never thought that electricity using solar energy can beam so incredibly. He thanked the team for coming all way from Delhi and other parts of India to lighten up this remote village of Kargil and requested for their continued support as there are still many more villages in Kargil district without gird based electricity. He told that the Micro Gird Technology of GHE has become a new ray of hope for lighting those Himalayan Villages which were not electrified yet. Ghulam Mehdi, one of the villagers said that electricity has brought a new hope in our lives and also became the main reason for bringing the Deputy Commissioner to their village for the first time after independence.
Kacho Ahmad Ali Khan of KREDA told that if an officer is dedicated and can reach to MNC in outside states of India, most of the problems of farflung Districts like Kargil will be redressed without any hassle and financial problems like they had done in Lankerchey Brok, Phuktal and Itchu.
LANDMARK ACHIEVEMENT
Paras Loomba, Founder of GHE told that. “It is a landmark achievement for my team who has been able to lighten up the village in less than 2 days. We are confident that DC based micro grids is one of the most efficient and sustainable grid based solution to provide power to a remote village in Himalayas.” He further told that the Village Itchu was electrified by one of the most energy efficient distributed power generation technology called DC Micro Grid.
The village was powered by six DC Solar micro grids comprised of three grids of 250 watts and three grids of 100 watts. A total of 150 LED lights and 6 LED Street lights powered by these grids lights the village just like a well electrified town. The total cost of the project is 12 lakh rupees including transportation and installations, Paras Added. He further added that with support from KREDA and corporate firms from around the world, GHE plans to lighten up all the villages of Kargil and Zanskar by the year 2017 -18.
Source:IT
