Mera Gao Power connects 15 000 households to electricity in off-grid rural hamlets in India

Each microgrid is fully automated. It generates and stores power each day, and turns itself on in the evening to provide seven hours service to customers.

MGP owns solar-powered microgrids in more than 1 500 rural hamlets of Uttar Pradesh (UP), providing power to around 15 000 'Bottom of the Pyramid'* (BoP) customers. UP is a state where roughly 100 million people live off-grid, most in remote, rural hamlets unserved by the national grid.

To support its expansion in UP, Mera Gao Power raised capital of USD 2.5 million in mid-2017 from three impact investment funds, ElectriFI, Engie Rassembleurs d’Energies and Insitor. ElectriFI invested USD 1 million and was critical in attracting the other two investment funds. The capital increase will enable the construction of some 2 500 additional microgrids and install a total of 600 kW solar PV with battery storage systems. This will give an additional 55 000 households access to clean energy and will enable the project to reach financial sustainability. 

Since ElectriFI's entry, MGP has added 85 microgrids and connected an additional 800 BoP households, providing them with seven hours a day of electricity services, many of them for the first time in their life.

* Bottom of the Pyramid refers to the world's largest and poorest socio-economic group, comprising citizens whose low income puts them at the bottom of the wealth pyramid.