Village Names:

Guladiya Bhoopsingh, Puranpur, Pilibhit Dist., Uttar Pradesh (Model village, adopted by Mrs. Maneka Gandhi,
Member of Parliament, Govt. of India)

Project highlights:

1 KW AC solar microgrid providing electricity to 25 nos. of 12 watt LED street lights which are spread over 1.5 km (total conductors laid) in the entire village with population base of more than 10,000. This village though had electricity from state govt., but there was no street lighting in this large village. After sunset, there used to be pitch darkness and in the evening hours also there used to be no grid electricity supply. After Canara Bank's CSR project, now the village is getting full night bright street lighting at all important locations in the village including temple, mosque, market places etc. All villagers are quite happy with the amazing brightness effects of the street lights and have requested for more such street lights in the village as the village is quite large. Initially they were demanding the conventional solar street lights, but now they have collectively realized the benefits of a grid powered street lights and appreciate their long life.

Sustainability Features:

Unlike other solar street lights, here the panels and battery banks, which are well protected and installed in a single location. So the panels can be cleaned up easily and battery bank can be conveniently maintained. No body uses the street lights as personal property which used to be a case in conventional solar street lights with solar panel and battery installed on each pole. A person from the village who was also providing his labour along with other villagers during project installation, has been trained to maintain the project (cleaning panels) and trouble shoot in case of any issues. He would be paid a nominal monthly charge by the Village Pradhan out of his village maintenance fund. There is also mains grid supply input to our inverter, which ensures that even in bad weather condition, the battery bank is getting charged with mains electricity which is available in the village (even if for few hours).