Author: bea_admin
Our partner
OMC Power is part of the Powertrust Energy Network, delivering high impact renewable energy projects to our portfolio for our customers. OMC Power is driving economic development in underserved rural areas of India by providing access to reliable electricity. They have commissioned over 400 power plants, positively impacting millions of lives in India.
The Project
Micro, small and medium enterprises make up a significant portion of India’s economy. However, the lack of reliable electricity is a considerable obstacle to their growth. Economic growth is highly dependent on energy consumption, and access to renewable energy provides a sustainable option for economic growth.
Powertrust is partnering with OMC on a project to electrify Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises (MSME’s) located in rural areas of Uttar Pradesh. Although the electrical grid extends to these villages, the power supply is limited and the residents often depend on diesel generators to operate their businesses. These diesel generators are extremely carbon intensive, and also very expensive for the entrepreneurs. These businesses primarily focus on agricultural, agro-processing and grinding mills.
How is Powertrust revenue making a difference to the project?
The average size of each project ranges between 10-25kW, creating an aggregated volume of 5000MWh coming from around 250 installations. OMC will use revenue from Distributed Renewable Energy Certificates (D-RECs) to manage the operations, monitoring and maintenance across all the installations.
The Powertrust purchase also helps drive additionality. OMC will give around 66% of D-REC revenue to the MSME’s to contribute to their costs. Considering the high borrowing rates offered by micro-lenders to rural businesses, the supplementary income generated from D-RECs will help facilitate the adoption of solar systems. This additional income will enable small businesses to partially repay their debts using the revenue from D-RECs. Since many of these businesses operate seasonally, the extra revenue will act as a safeguard against loan repayment difficulties during slow periods.
