The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has issued a revised draft policy framework for Decentralised Renewable Energy (DRE) livelihood application to Scale-up the currently available DRE livelihood applications and to Support development of new DRE livelihood applications
DRE-powered livelihood solutions have the potential to reduce and eventually eliminate the reliance of livelihoods on diesel and can supplement the grid supply.
The ministry has invited comments/suggestions from stakeholders on the draft framework with a deadline of March 23, 2021.
Livelihood applications powered by mini/micro-grids would also form part of the scope of this policy, provided such livelihood appliances are energy efficient.
SNAs may form a State Implementation Cell for DRE based livelihood applications bringing the State Departments engaged in the implementation of such applications on the common platform.
DRE livelihood applications can be defined as applications powered by renewable energy – solar, wind, micro-hydro, biomass & their combinations, which are used for earning livelihoods directly such as solar dryer, solar mills, solar or biomass powered cold storage/chiller, solar charkha and looms, small-scale biomass briquette/pellet-making machines, etc.
The modular design of such DRE livelihood applications ensures scalability without large investments. Besides, the Energy efficiency of such solutions is also important, as it in turn, determines their economic viability by reducing the size of the generation and storage (if required) asset. Thus, the draft policy framework is being proposed to provide a conducive environment for the development and large-scale adoption of these applications.
