Realizing the need for cleaner and greener energy to accelerate social development, the IDBI Bank extended financial support, under its social development initiative, to “Lighting a Billion Lives” (LaBL) Project. The project brought clean and affordable lighting to 100 villages, covering 5,000 households of selected districts in India, through the establishment of solar charging stations, integrated domestic energy system (IDES), and solar micro grids (SMGs).

IDBI and project partner, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), selected districts for project implementation keeping in mind the percentage of un-electrified households and kerosene consuming rural households.

As part of this project, capacity-building programs were also conducted for all the stakeholders involved wherein they were briefed on solar PV technology and train them on basic operations and preventive maintenance on the systems installed.

The LaBL used a fee-for-service/rental mode in which TERI selected local solar entrepreneurs from selected villages to maintain the SCS/SMG facility. The SCS/SMGs were set up in the premises of these entrepreneurs who were also trained by TERI on basic operation and maintenance.

This project created a positive impact on the lives of millions of people and provided green jobs to many rural entrepreneurs.

The IDBI Bank’s “Lighting a Billion Lives” Project won the 2017 ADFIAP Outstanding Development Project Award, under the Environmental Development Category.