you must be wondering what I’m doing in
this hall with a kerosene lamp for a
moment close your eyes and imagine that
the year is 1887 you are a wealthy
citizen of Manhattan New York and this
actually is your most used appliance
one fine day comes a young Thomas Edison
and he lights up your place with the
newly invented lightbulb amazing new
light bright brilliant beautiful and
brings you unlimited bragging rights but
there is a problem with the light bulb
he has also installed a coal-fired power
plant in your neighborhood which is
noisy and pollutes the place you see
Thomas Edison’s direct current requires
that the power source the generator be
close to the light bulbs because direct
current cannot be transmitted over long
distances so wouldn’t you wish that you
had the light and the electricity and
not the smoke and pollution this is
exactly what happens along comes Nikola
Tesla with his invention the transformer
and he is able to in one stroke take all
the power plants out in the suburbs back
then electricity was the new frontier
and the big power plants were set up
outside of cities at the same time
electricity as alternating current was
transmitted to cities towns and Industry
through a serpentine network of
substations transmission lines and
distribution transformers the demand for
electricity
growing and so bigger and bigger power
plants were set up and clean earth
actually lost out what we have left is
actually pollution which is today
leading to a climate change crisis fast
forward to present times in 2014 I
visited a village Makara about three and
a half hours from Mumbai this old man
was sitting outside and he was weaving
bamboo baskets for the local vegetable
market this village had no electricity
so come sundown he would move indoors so
no more leaving no more baskets and no
more income for him
I’m told that recently the rural
electrification drive in the country
reached Mukarram and so now the old man
has solar panel battery and a light bulb
this is very different for him and so he
is actually able to weave inside for as
long as he wants he may not have the
bragging rights at the time of Edison
but definitely his 40 percent increased
income and his ability to adapt to new
technologies is making him the object of
envy of the entire village the
technology he’s using is actually the
same as what Edison had except that the
coal-fired plant has been replaced with
the solar panels with generate clean
electricity however you and I who live
in urban areas and have a connection
from the utility through the pole coming
into our homes even today use
electricity the way Nikola Tesla had
visualized it more than 120 years back
and in the mean time the way we consume
electricity has almost entirely changed
almost all devices today consider this
being offices or our homes have
electronics
and all electronics run on direct
current in our homes and offices we end
up using adapters like these to convert
alternating current to direct current
and every time we do this conversion we
lose up to 20% of electricity as heat
heat which we feel whenever we happen to
touch those adapters further we are
increasingly harnessing solar energy to
produce electricity we are also putting
batteries in our electrical networks for
emergencies backups and even powering up
our mobile devices all solar panels
inherently generate direct current all
batteries can be charged with direct
current and so obviously they discharge
also the same direct current so the big
question is why not move entirely to
direct current this begins to make sense
you can have solar panels on the roof
producing electricity which can be
connected directly efficiently and
safely to appliances thereby eliminating
the loss of electricity to heat further
you become your own electricity producer
like the old man in the village who was
controlling his own production and
consumption of electricity in his own
hands we can also do that let me ask you
another question how many people you
believe on earth today have no
would you believe me if I told you that
one out of every seven does not have any
electricity shockingly 1.1 billion
people on earth have no electricity at
all but differently this is equal to the
entire population of North America and
Europe put together these people live in
Dar
homes but not in Dark Ages they are
aware of what electricity can mean for
their lives livelihood and lifestyle in
today’s agent times not providing
electricity is like denying the right to
be part of the 21st century community
recognizing this in 2015
196 global leaders got together in Paris
and committed themselves to 17
sustainable development goals these
goals were meant to ensure development
for all equality for all and also taking
care of the environment of these 17
goals 12 were directly impacted by
electricity or the absence of it and so
already goal number 7 which is
affordable and clean energy is becoming
the key enablers goal for all the
development in the world
so the twin objectives now in front of
governments are to provide adequate
affordable electricity and care for the
environment
it’s no longer than either or issue that
you can do one at the cost of other they
have to deliver on both and the twin
objectives can be effectively delivered
by localized production of electricity
using solar energy or other renewable
sources this is further driving the
demand for direct current solutions it
is well proven through case studies in
Africa and India that people can be
taken from poverty to a better life
simply by providing electricity this
means that especially in rural areas
which are not connected to the grid
having local production of electricity
through direct current and having direct
current networks locally this is a quick
and efficient way of providing
affordable and clean electricity this
fact is now finding universal acceptance
and you will see a paradigm shift in the
way we think of electricity in our
future already in India there are about
600 thousand homes wired with direct
current there are in Bangladesh about 5
million solar home systems where
government policies are conducive direct
current networks are coming up through
startups and entrepreneurs soul share
for example is a company in Bangladesh
which is setting up direct current
networks for entire communities
so is Claro in India and m-kopa in Kenya
with all this happening in direct
current
let me bring a very heartening story of
Naruto Lee to you Naruto Lee is a tribal
village in Jharkhand which has remained
off-grid socially metaphorically and
electrically for the longest time
recently a local organization and Linda
set up a micro grid in the village for
providing lighting for for the people
also electricity for poultry farming and
water pumping suddenly the villagers now
are becoming entrepreneurial and looking
at more ways to harness this new asset
called electricity they pay less than 5
rupees for a day’s worth of lighting
which is less than what they would pay
for kerosene for the same period the
village GDP has grown by ten point six
percent since a grid was established
this is better than the national average
so does this mean end of alternating
current definitely not at least not for
the next few decades
today’s electrical infrastructure beat
forward generation transmission or
distribution is all wired for
alternating current it’s only at the
last stage that we end up using
adaptors to convert alternating current
to direct current it is not possible to
junk the entire alternating current
infrastructure and replace with direct
current infrastructure overnight as a
result people will continue to use
alternating current and we will have a
transition over a period of time from
alternating to direct current you may
also be wondering what role I see for
myself in this sweeping transition from
alternating to direct current over the
next decade appropriate standards need
to be developed standards which enable
retrofitting replacing or setting up new
direct current networks these standards
must essentially deliver on three wins
win for our planet by making it
sustainable win for our global growth
and development by enabling adequate
affordable electricity and definitely a
win for the rural masses who today don’t
have any electricity I am quite
passionate about helping develop these
standards governments and all
stakeholders can work together to
actually harness the transformative
power of direct current which is really
the electricity for 21st century for you
for me and for our fellow citizens and
their huts and shanties who even today
use this kerosene lamp and actually are
waiting for electricity to touch their lives thank you
this hall with a kerosene lamp for a
moment close your eyes and imagine that
the year is 1887 you are a wealthy
citizen of Manhattan New York and this
actually is your most used appliance
one fine day comes a young Thomas Edison
and he lights up your place with the
newly invented lightbulb amazing new
light bright brilliant beautiful and
brings you unlimited bragging rights but
there is a problem with the light bulb
he has also installed a coal-fired power
plant in your neighborhood which is
noisy and pollutes the place you see
Thomas Edison’s direct current requires
that the power source the generator be
close to the light bulbs because direct
current cannot be transmitted over long
distances so wouldn’t you wish that you
had the light and the electricity and
not the smoke and pollution this is
exactly what happens along comes Nikola
Tesla with his invention the transformer
and he is able to in one stroke take all
the power plants out in the suburbs back
then electricity was the new frontier
and the big power plants were set up
outside of cities at the same time
electricity as alternating current was
transmitted to cities towns and Industry
through a serpentine network of
substations transmission lines and
distribution transformers the demand for
electricity
growing and so bigger and bigger power
plants were set up and clean earth
actually lost out what we have left is
actually pollution which is today
leading to a climate change crisis fast
forward to present times in 2014 I
visited a village Makara about three and
a half hours from Mumbai this old man
was sitting outside and he was weaving
bamboo baskets for the local vegetable
market this village had no electricity
so come sundown he would move indoors so
no more leaving no more baskets and no
more income for him
I’m told that recently the rural
electrification drive in the country
reached Mukarram and so now the old man
has solar panel battery and a light bulb
this is very different for him and so he
is actually able to weave inside for as
long as he wants he may not have the
bragging rights at the time of Edison
but definitely his 40 percent increased
income and his ability to adapt to new
technologies is making him the object of
envy of the entire village the
technology he’s using is actually the
same as what Edison had except that the
coal-fired plant has been replaced with
the solar panels with generate clean
electricity however you and I who live
in urban areas and have a connection
from the utility through the pole coming
into our homes even today use
electricity the way Nikola Tesla had
visualized it more than 120 years back
and in the mean time the way we consume
electricity has almost entirely changed
almost all devices today consider this
being offices or our homes have
electronics
and all electronics run on direct
current in our homes and offices we end
up using adapters like these to convert
alternating current to direct current
and every time we do this conversion we
lose up to 20% of electricity as heat
heat which we feel whenever we happen to
touch those adapters further we are
increasingly harnessing solar energy to
produce electricity we are also putting
batteries in our electrical networks for
emergencies backups and even powering up
our mobile devices all solar panels
inherently generate direct current all
batteries can be charged with direct
current and so obviously they discharge
also the same direct current so the big
question is why not move entirely to
direct current this begins to make sense
you can have solar panels on the roof
producing electricity which can be
connected directly efficiently and
safely to appliances thereby eliminating
the loss of electricity to heat further
you become your own electricity producer
like the old man in the village who was
controlling his own production and
consumption of electricity in his own
hands we can also do that let me ask you
another question how many people you
believe on earth today have no
would you believe me if I told you that
one out of every seven does not have any
electricity shockingly 1.1 billion
people on earth have no electricity at
all but differently this is equal to the
entire population of North America and
Europe put together these people live in
Dar
homes but not in Dark Ages they are
aware of what electricity can mean for
their lives livelihood and lifestyle in
today’s agent times not providing
electricity is like denying the right to
be part of the 21st century community
recognizing this in 2015
196 global leaders got together in Paris
and committed themselves to 17
sustainable development goals these
goals were meant to ensure development
for all equality for all and also taking
care of the environment of these 17
goals 12 were directly impacted by
electricity or the absence of it and so
already goal number 7 which is
affordable and clean energy is becoming
the key enablers goal for all the
development in the world
so the twin objectives now in front of
governments are to provide adequate
affordable electricity and care for the
environment
it’s no longer than either or issue that
you can do one at the cost of other they
have to deliver on both and the twin
objectives can be effectively delivered
by localized production of electricity
using solar energy or other renewable
sources this is further driving the
demand for direct current solutions it
is well proven through case studies in
Africa and India that people can be
taken from poverty to a better life
simply by providing electricity this
means that especially in rural areas
which are not connected to the grid
having local production of electricity
through direct current and having direct
current networks locally this is a quick
and efficient way of providing
affordable and clean electricity this
fact is now finding universal acceptance
and you will see a paradigm shift in the
way we think of electricity in our
future already in India there are about
600 thousand homes wired with direct
current there are in Bangladesh about 5
million solar home systems where
government policies are conducive direct
current networks are coming up through
startups and entrepreneurs soul share
for example is a company in Bangladesh
which is setting up direct current
networks for entire communities
so is Claro in India and m-kopa in Kenya
with all this happening in direct
current
let me bring a very heartening story of
Naruto Lee to you Naruto Lee is a tribal
village in Jharkhand which has remained
off-grid socially metaphorically and
electrically for the longest time
recently a local organization and Linda
set up a micro grid in the village for
providing lighting for for the people
also electricity for poultry farming and
water pumping suddenly the villagers now
are becoming entrepreneurial and looking
at more ways to harness this new asset
called electricity they pay less than 5
rupees for a day’s worth of lighting
which is less than what they would pay
for kerosene for the same period the
village GDP has grown by ten point six
percent since a grid was established
this is better than the national average
so does this mean end of alternating
current definitely not at least not for
the next few decades
today’s electrical infrastructure beat
forward generation transmission or
distribution is all wired for
alternating current it’s only at the
last stage that we end up using
adaptors to convert alternating current
to direct current it is not possible to
junk the entire alternating current
infrastructure and replace with direct
current infrastructure overnight as a
result people will continue to use
alternating current and we will have a
transition over a period of time from
alternating to direct current you may
also be wondering what role I see for
myself in this sweeping transition from
alternating to direct current over the
next decade appropriate standards need
to be developed standards which enable
retrofitting replacing or setting up new
direct current networks these standards
must essentially deliver on three wins
win for our planet by making it
sustainable win for our global growth
and development by enabling adequate
affordable electricity and definitely a
win for the rural masses who today don’t
have any electricity I am quite
passionate about helping develop these
standards governments and all
stakeholders can work together to
actually harness the transformative
power of direct current which is really
the electricity for 21st century for you
for me and for our fellow citizens and
their huts and shanties who even today
use this kerosene lamp and actually are
waiting for electricity to touch their lives thank you
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