GigaWhat: Creating rural jobs with renewables

GigaWhat: Creating rural jobs with renewables

Author: Mongabay.com August 22, 2022 Duration: 20:07

Lack of energy access limits the rural economy. But reliable electricity creates an infrastructure for rural entrepreneurs and gives people a chance to work on their aspirations.

In rural India, decentralised renewable energy options – primarily solar power – are creating livelihood and business opportunities. Decentralised renewable energy systems are primarily independent of the central power grid and the energy is generated close to its area of use. To address daily issues that arise out of lack of power, startups and organisations are creating and modifying decentralised renewable energy (DRE) solutions in India's villages, burgeoning towns and metros.

In this episode of GigaWhat, Mongabay-India Contributing Editor and the podcast host, Mayank Aggarwal, speaks with startup founders and managers to learn the innovations happening in the DRE sector that are helping to boost the livelihoods of people in India's hinterlands.

 

Produced and scripted by Kartik Chandramouli

Edited and mixed by Tejas Dayananda Sagar

Copy edits by Priyanka Shankar

Production assistance from Ayushi Kothari

GigaWhat artwork by Pooja Gupta

Guests:

Ananth Aravamudan,  Sector Lead - Climate Action, Villgro (Powering Livelihoods

Kunal Vaid, Director, Resham Sutra

Abhishek Pathak, Founder, Greenwear

Manish Kumar, Staff Reporter, Mongabay-India

Links:

Mongabay series: Clean Energy

Solar mini-grids fuel women-led enterprises in Jharkhand's Gumla district

Decentralised solar setups give power access to small farmers, facilitate innovations

Framework to promote decentralised RE livelihood applications

Powering Livelihoods Globally through Clean Energy, a GCF-CEEW report.

The Future of Distributed Renewable Energy in India


From the team at Mongabay.com comes Everything Environment by Mongabay India, a podcast that digs into the complex and often overlooked stories shaping India's natural world. This isn't just about headlines; it's about connecting the dots between biodiversity, climate change, and the natural resources that underpin daily life across the subcontinent. Each episode is a deep dive, whether it's examining the real-world impacts of the country's clean energy transition, uncovering lessons from ancient paleoscience, or giving a voice to lesser-known species fighting for survival. The conversations move beyond abstract problems to focus on tangible solutions and the people on the front lines. By weaving science and news into compelling narrative, this podcast places environmental discussions exactly where they belong: central to our understanding of India's present and future. You'll hear clear analysis and on-the-ground reporting that makes intricate topics accessible, fostering a deeper appreciation for the interconnectedness of ecology, policy, and community. For anyone curious about the forces shaping our environment, this series offers essential listening.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 28

Everything Environment by Mongabay India
Podcast Episodes
GigaWhat: Clean the messy trail [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 18:47
The clean energy sector maintains that it is crusading the fight against climate change. But first, governments and companies have to fix the road to making clean energy technologies. The supply chain to create clean ene…
GigaWhat: Clean-washing by dams? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 25:09
Hydropower has been an old and reliable source of energy in India. Until a few years ago, India considered a hydropower project renewable only when the installed capacity was less than 25 megawatt (MW). But then, in 2019…
GigaWhat: Farms harvest solar energy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 18:19
What are the high hurdles for India to uplift its people and realise its potential on the world stage? Two of the most significant ones are securing food for its large population and providing enough energy to power home…
GigaWhat: Renewables go reckless [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:13
The loss of biodiversity, the sixth mass extinction, high chances that you would have heard these terms. It's clear what pushed us into this situation - overexploitation of natural resources, pollution, the way we farm,…
GigaWhat: Renewable energy, limited land [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:34
Let's visualise the sheer expanse of one of India's largest solar parks, the Pavagada Solar Park in Karnataka. An aerial view of the site shows a never-ending sea of glass panels and wires spread across 13,000 acres. Tha…
GigaWhat: Clean Waste [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:07
The world is looking towards the sun, wind, and other alternatives for energy, and so is India, as a way to tackle climate change and other environmental issues. The sight of solar and wind farms, rooftops lined with sol…
GigaWhat Trailer [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 3:28
GigaWhat will explore some of the biggest questions, challenges, and opportunities in India's transition from fossil fuels to clean energy sources. As countries commit to cutting their carbon emissions to tackle climate…