Green and Clean Light to Rural Livelihoods Training Centre

Rural Livelihood Training Centre of CYSD – a Green Skill School, based at Kapundi of Patna block in Keonjhar district of Odisha, continuously provides capacity building training to community members and stakeholders like rural/tribal farmers, CBOs, women SHGs, youth groups, and PRIs for around 2 decades. RLTC is a perfect demonstration and learning field lab for farmers and others on agro-forestry, farm forestry, mixed orchard, vegetable cultivation, SRI paddy, organic farm practices, pisciculture, mushroom cultivation, dairy and poultry, enterprise development and vocational /skill building training, especially for women and youth.

Facilities of RLTC includes 4 well equipped halls (30-40 capacity), dormitory accommodation for participants, 4 resource persons’ rooms, bathrooms & toilets, dining hall, kitchen, library and office-room. RLTC expends huge cost on electric energy consumption for running the lights, fans, computers and lifting water.

However, electricity supply has become a continuous issue due to low voltage year round and unexpected load shedding during winter and summer. A new 10KW DG (zero-emission diesel generator) set is installed to provide backup energy without emitting carbon dioxide to the environment. However, RLTC being a cost centre, recurring expenses for fuel to run DG for 5-6 hours a day regularly exceeds the income of RLTC.  

CYSD is committed towards addressing the climate change concerns. Taking into account the changing climatic impact and high operational cost involvement, CYSD intends to go for complete transition from use of electricity to use of renewable energy by installing a solar energy project. As the first measure, it has replaced all traditional bulbs, tube lights with LED bulbs, tube-lights and obsolete fans with new ones in all training halls, rooms and campus in 2018, even, replaced an age-old 10KW DG set last year which was consuming huge fuel energy and creating sound pollution.  

Now, CYSD is exploring the possibility of setting up of at least a 5KW Solar Power Plant in RLTC in first phase, which can provide constant energy to light up the halls/rooms and lift water. This arrangement will help the resource persons to carry forward the sessions smoothly, trainee participants to revisit the topics covered and get prepared for next day sessions. 

Once required resource for a 5KW Solar Power Plant is mobilized and plant is installed in RLTC campus, this will provide constant green and clean energy to light up all training halls, rooms, campus and lift water for consumption as well as farm demonstration purposes. Ultimately, sufficient light can help the resource persons to carry forward their sessions smoothly during day’s sessions, help trainee participants to revisit the topics covered; get prepared for next day sessions and feel at home in a luminous campus. The lifted water can be carefully used by the trainees for the purpose of drink, bathe and toilets. Apart, the demonstration farm plants will grow well so that a green campus can also be ensured. 

The proposed Solar Power Plan can serve as a Model in a tribal block of Patna. The trainee participants along with resource persons will have the opportunity in carry the best practices to respective locations as a result they can contribute a lot in addressing climate change concerns. More importantly, electricity supply  cost can be reduced drastically – by around 70%.