Mini-grids at Mon district households

Nagaland, 24th February 2022

Newly installed Mini-grid in Mon, Nagaland

The Mithun Rural Development Foundation (MRDF) targets 100% adoption of mini-grids by Mon district households
o The Government of Nagaland represented by the Mon District Administration and Mithun Rural Development Foundation (MRDF) signed a 20-year agreement to set up Mini-Grids in rural Nagaland on Jan 24, 2022
o The program aims to provide reliable access to electricity for the last mile and promoting the adoption of green energy sources, covering 1000 villages in the next seven years

In a pioneering initiative to deliver last-mile access to electricity in rural areas of the north-eastern state of Nagaland, the Mon District Administration and Mithun Rural Development Foundation (MRDF) inaugurated their first of the three mini-grids at Totokchingha village yesterday. It was inaugurated by Shri. N. Thongwang Konyak, MLA, Mon District. The two other solar mini grids at Chenwetnyu and Longkei will be inaugurated in the month of March 2022. The two organizations recently signed a 20-year agreement to set up Mini-Grids in rural Nagaland in January this year.

Today’s event was attended by Thavaseelan K, IAS, Deputy Commissioner, Mon, Nagaland; Tiakala Ao, General Manager NABARD; Samit Mitra, Senior Director at Smart Power India; Vijay Bhaskar, Managing Director, MRDF; Shyamal Bera, Senior Manager, MRDF along with Sudeshna Mukherjee, Director of Operations, MRDF; Namrata Ginoya, Senior Manager, World Resources Institute (WRI) and N. Thongwang Konyak, MLA, Mon District, among others.

Speaking at the event, Thavaseelan K, IAS, Deputy Commissioner, Mon, Nagaland said, “The first 3 grids have been financed by Smart Power India. These are just first of the several mini-grids that are going to be installed in the Mondistrict. This project will make power available 24x7.

He added “NABARD is supporting livelihood interventions. It has setup a revolving fund, which is going to be used to support entrepreneurs. Eventually, this fund would grow bigger to support entrepreneurs across the Mon district.”

Vijay Bhaskar, Managing Director, MRDF said, “In the next 3-4 years, we will install mini-grids for all 130 villages in Mon district. This pilot will be eventually scaled across all villages in Nagaland. We are following a PPP model of partnership – public, private and people, people being the most important part. Smart Power India has given us a roadmap to do this in the next 7 years. We will put all efforts to make this vision a reality.”

Tiakala Ao, General Manager, NABARD said, “We are sponsoring a group of beneficiaries from TotokChingha, Longkei and Chenwetnyu who will be visiting another district in March, where they will be exposed to bio floc, fish farming. This training will bring an economic boom to this region as it is going to attract reverse migration enabling rural youth to set up microenterprises here. The future looks promising.”

N. Thongwang Konyak, MLA, Mon District inaugurates a mini-grid at Totok chingha village site in Mon, Nagaland

Samit Mitra, Senior Director, Smart Power India said, “This is a complete village integrated development programme that is not only about lighting loads, but also about enterprises, livelihoods, productive loads, all things that contribute to the overall well-being of the community. This is the first time we have undertaken a project with MRDF to expand our footprint of mini-grids in North-East India. We have funded 3-4 plants to initiate the programme so that there’s proof of concept on the ground here which other organizations can replicate and scale across Nagaland and beyond. We are hopeful that this programme will meet its objective of providing livelihoods and increasing the earning potential of villages in the Mon District.”

The inaugurated mini-grids aim to enable last-mile clean energy access, improve livelihoods, support women entrepreneurs, and increase the GDP of the state while reducing GHG emissions. Smart Power India will play an important role in supporting the entire program framework and value chain including design, delivery, and facilitating financial and market linkages. The WRI will be facilitating impact measurement of the project.

About Smart Power India (SPI)

SPI, a subsidiary of the Rockefeller Foundation, was established in 2015 to develop and scale sustainable models to accelerate electricity access and spur economic development amongst the rural underserved communities. It is committed to creating knowledge and accountability in the public domain through robust evidence-based research and providing field and analytical support to the Government, private sector, implementers, and other donors in their pursuits for rural electricity access. SPI develops and disseminates relevant knowledge in the rural electricity access and services space to promote research and innovation and partner with policymakers, practitioners, and academic institutions to come up with actionable insights and innovative strategies.

While SPI’s work covers the spectrum of supply and demand-side issues of rural electricity, its focus is the last-mile customer. SPI exchanges knowledge by promoting and facilitating platforms for networking, knowledge sharing and collaborative research, networking, knowledge-sharing, and collaborative research.

About MRDF

Mithun Rural Development Foundation (MRDF) is an SPV floated specifically for rural development of North-East India through the platform of renewable energy-based mini-grids. The first phase of their work is in the 132 villages of Mon District of Nagaland.