Women-Led Renewable Energy (DRE)

Women-Led Renewable Energy (DRE)

Context

In February 2026, the India Distributed Renewable Energy Summit (IDRES) highlighted women-led DRE as a strategic pillar for India’s net-zero transition. Concurrently, the Chhattisgarh government unveiled “Anjor Vision 2047,” a landmark roadmap aiming to establish 5,000 women-led DRE solutions and create 50,000 green jobs by 2030.

About Women-Led DRE

Definition: Women-led DRE is a transformative model that shifts rural women from passive "last-mile consumers" to active designers, owners, and operators of small-scale energy systems (e.g., solar pumps, mini-grids, and solar dryers).

Core Philosophy:It integrates energy access with gender equity, ensuring that clean energy infrastructure is managed by local women collectives, such as Self-Help Groups (SHGs), to power both domestic needs and rural livelihoods.

Key Data and Facts

• Economic Potential: Empowering women in the energy sector could add $2.9 trillion to India’s economy by 2025-26.
• Health Impact: Transitioning from traditional biomass can prevent approximately 200,000 premature deaths annually in India, primarily among women.
• Livelihood Scale: Technologies like solar silk-reeling have increased monthly incomes from ₹1,500 to ₹6,000 for tribal weavers.

The Need for Women-Led DRE

• Bridging the Reliability Deficit: While grid connectivity is high, rural consistency is often low; DRE ensures steady power for essential services like vaccine refrigeration in forest-fringe health centers.
• Mitigating "Time Poverty": Rural women spend 3–4 hours daily collecting fuelwood. DRE automates drudgerous tasks, freeing time for education and rest.
• Productive Use of Energy (PURE): Affordable energy allows for mechanizing small enterprises such as solar-powered bulk milk chillers in Rajasthan—to make them market-competitive.
• Climate Resilience: During extreme weather events, decentralized systems managed by local women often remain the only functioning source of power for emergency communication.

Initiatives & Frameworks

• PM Surya Ghar (Solar Villages): Targeting 10,000 solar villages by 2030 with a focus on community and women-led management.
• Lakhpati Didi Scheme: Integrating DRE technologies into SHG-led businesses in food processing and textiles.
• Anjor Vision 2047 (Chhattisgarh): A dedicated state roadmap to increase the RE share to 66% through women-led "Solar Didis."
• Surya Sakhi (UP): Training 57,000 women as solar entrepreneurs for installation and after-sales service in every Gram Panchayat.

Key Challenges

• High Upfront Costs: Solar bulk milk chillers can cost up to ₹25 lakh, a prohibitive amount for typical village SHGs without low-interest green credit.
• Technical Skill Gap: A shortage of local female technicians (Oorja Sakhis) often leaves systems defunct for months when male technicians are unavailable.
• Deep-Seated Patriarchy: Women own only 13.9% of land in India, making it difficult to secure bank loans for energy assets like solar pumps.

Way Forward

• Asset Ownership: Mandate women as primary or joint owners of energy assets, mirroring the success of the Ujjwala Yojana model.
• Green Credit Access: Launch dedicated credit lines and First Loss Default Guarantees (FLDG) specifically for women-led clean-tech enterprises.
• Solar Didis & Oorja Sakhis: Scale up vocational training in STEM and technical roles to create a local cadre of maintenance professionals.
• Panchayat Integration: Empower Gram Panchayats to partner with women’s collectives to provide "Energy-as-a-Service."

Conclusion

India’s energy transition will only be truly just when women at the "last mile" transition from beneficiaries to leaders. By turning the last mile into the front line of progress, India can simultaneously address energy poverty, climate targets, and gender inequality, accelerating the path toward a Viksit Bharat.