Eco-friendly solar lamps to illuminate Chenchu households at Peddacheruvu, (EWB Hyderabad, Solar)

On 2nd may 2013 at 7 PM all the villagers of the hamlet Pecheruvu started cooking under the Eco Friendly Bright Solar LED Lights and enjoyed the dinner as it was a full moon day.. Everyone hanged the light on the roof and enjoyed the light in the night time inside the hut. Most of them start cooking by 5 PM and eat by 7 PM as there is no current and light Pecheruvu the said capital of Chenchus a Premitive Tribal Group from the golden days of Sri Krishnadevaraya, was a core area for Tigers in the Nallamala region. It was initially called Pedda Cheruvu and later shortened as Pecheruvu, one has to travel 16 KM inside the core forest, a Tiger Reserve Zone from main road on the hilly terrain.

Usually Solar lanterns supplied, use Lead acid batteries which are not biodegradable heavy and dangerous to the nature and give less lumens. They can be charged only for a maximum of 250 times and need a separate solar panel which was never cleaned and maintained.

These lights which are provided at Pecheruvu use Bright 3 chip LED to give the maximum Lumen/watt run by Lithium Ion Batteries which are Eco friendly, weighing only 100 grams. These batteries can be charged for 800-1000 times and last for at least 3 years. These light come with a neck band which can be used easily even while moving. The best part of it is that 6-12 lights can be charged at once by a solar charging station supplied to them, and hence charging is a community aspect. This move makes the project sustainable and maintenance becomes an community issue to make them responsible and take ownership of the ongoing sustainability.

The Villagers were trained how to maintain the lights and charging stations and the assembly of the charging stations was done by the villagers themselves under guidance to ensure sustenance for the future.

The village had 92 families with Ration cards and 7 without them. Each family was given 2 lights and a group of 4 to 8 families were given charging stations to charge 4-6-12 lights at one time. The charger unit also has a facility to charge one mobile phone.

This programme was initiated when the PO ITDA Srisailam requested CEPCE to give solar lighting, and CEPCE in association with EWB-India (Engineers without Borders – India) got financial assistance from Dupont, and Logic designers to complete the work.
The distribution of lights was done by Sri.Dr.G Satyanarayana Reddy, Principle Scientist Medicinal Plants, Dr.YSR Horticultural University who also helped to get better vegetation in the Hamlet.