Sani clinic, Zanskar, Ladakh

It was still relatively quiet in Ladakh when the AuroRE team headed up there this year for the installation of a 1,050 Wp solar PV system at a remote clinic in Zanskar valley in the second week of June.

Rishi, Hemant and Jos all met up in Delhi where a jeep was loaded with the solar panels, sealed maintenance-free batteries, the aluminium mounting structure and boxes with accessory cables, charge controller, inverter, etc.

This was the 6th consecutive year that Aurore was doing an installation in Ladakh, one of the most remote regions of India, high up in the Himalayas.



The 5 day journey in the jeep took us from Delhi via Manali, Leh and Kargil to our end-destination, Sani, 10 km from Padum, Zanskar valley's main town.

There Dr Rainer Lezius (Germany) has initiated a project to preserve traditional Ladakhi herbal medicine by building a small clinic-cum-community centre.

Raising funds through Fördervereins Sani Zanskar e.V. made it possible to build the small building, which was completed last year.
What was missing though was a reliable source of electrical power for lighting the rooms, as well as provide power for laptop computers and other small electrical devices.

Rainer contacted Aurore and a suitable solar PV system was designed and prepared in Auroville before being shipped to Sani village.

Nadeem, our 'local' electrician had already done the ground work in the previous days by fitting all the internal house-wiring in the building. This made it possible for us the complete to entire installation in a record 1.5 days and we commissioned the system on June 12th.



One of the monks of the local Sani monastery came to have a look and gave the solar panels his blessing! :-)

Solar power packs - Orissa tribal settlements

Our partners, Gram Vikas, a reputed NGO in Orissa, are dedicated to bringing clean water and power to the grassroots. Gira is a tribal settlement near Gajapati in Orissa, where drinking water needs were, until recently, being met physically with each household having to fetch up to 40 lts. of water (and not very clean) everyday over a long distance, from a stream a few kilometres away.

Today this scenario no longer exists in Gira. It has been replaced with a solar water pumping and lighting system. Gram Vikas echoes the thoughts of the villagers of Gira when declaring that this has brought ease along with dignity into the lives of these poor tribals.

A fortunate spin-off from this is the fact of kerosene being replaced as primary household lighting in these parts. They realise that it is a plus for their health and savings.
Gram Vikas asserts the very real benefits of solar powered systems for lighting and water pumping in remote parts of Orissa (a template for the rest of India!), where clean water is scarce and electricity even more so. An intermediary like solar power can best fill this gap adding immeasurably to the quality of rural life.
Aurore supplied the system to Gram Vikas in June of this year. It’s installed capacity is 1350 W (18 panels of 75W each). The pump is a Grundfos SQF 3A-10 with a flow rate of 3000ltr/Hr.

The panels power the pump directly during the day while a battery bank provides power for home lighting at night. Aurore trained a small group of villagers on basic system care. We are still consulted for major interventions if required and our staff pays periodic visits to our rural projects to provide enhanced system maintenance tips and training to end users.

Zanskar 2007

Rishi and Jos went up to Zanskar, Ladakh in July 2007 to install a 450 Wp hybrid solar-diesel installation at the Lamdon Model High School in Ufti, near Padum, the main settlement in the remote Zanskar valley.

The drive alone, in a taxi from Delhi, took 5 long days: Delhi-Manali, Manali-Pang, Pang-Leh, Leh-Kargil and finally Kargil-Padum. All materials (solar panels, batteries, inverters and accessories were carried in the same taxi to the installation site.

All went well, and the school can now run its computers and printer on solar energy, as well as the lights (and a TV) in the teacher's quarters next to the school. Only in case of cloudy days and excessive usage will the diesel generator have to be switched on.

This is saving the school lots of fuel as well as cuts the noise pollution substantially.

Here are some pictures:

The Drang Drung glacier, at the "gateway" to Zanskar

View from the roof of Lamdon Model High School, Ufti, Zanskar

Rishi in action on the 450 Wp solar array

and Jos working on the inverters in the "control" room

The locals seem unimpressed... :-)

The system was funded by Aide au Zanskar (AaZ), from France.

New projects seem to be already in the pipeline for next year, so hopefully we'll be back in Zanskar in 2008!

Aurore in Ladakh

In the summer of 2005 again one of Aurore's teammembers went up to Ladakh.

The Jamyang Ling school in Reru and Loter Gatsel school in Thangseo were re-visited.
At Jamyang Ling school 4 new solar panels were added to the already existing solar PV plants, situated on the hostel and the teacher's quarters.
Solar is definitely having an positive impact here on the quality of life of the schoolkids!

Previously, in 2002, one of Aurore's teammembers was seconded to the Tata BP solar office in Leh, Ladakh, to manage a LREDA (Ladakh Renewable Energy Development Agency) project.

Read more about this project here.

Aurore in Punjab

Between 2001 and 2003 Aurore installed nearly 600 solar pumping systems in the Punjab, North India. Each pumping system has 1800 Wp of solar PV modules mounted on trackers, driving a 2 HP centrifugal surface pump.

Aurore in Auroville

AURORE is located in the beautiful international township of Auroville, in Tamil Nadu state, South India, not far from Pondicherry.

Inside Auroville we design, install and maintain solar PV as well as solar thermal (i.e. solar hot water) systems. We work with single-light solar lanterns to solar PV installations of several kiloWatts.

As an example, Aurore was responsible for the installation and maintenance of the Auroville Matrimandir 36.6 kWp solar PV power plant, which was commissioned in 1997. At that time it was the largest solar power plant in South India.

Aurore – Better Solar!