Andhra Pradesh Smart Villages CEE224X Final Presentation

Andhra Pradesh Smart Villages Project: Mori Village Final Report

Terry Beaubois, Maria Doerr, Sagari Handa, Dilly Sanborn-Marsh Sustainable Urban Systems Stanford University Fall 2016

Andhra Pradesh Smart Villages Project: Mori Village Final Report Terry Beaubois, Maria Doerr, Sagari Handa, Dilly Sanborn-Marsh 1.0

Introduction The Smart Villages Project is a program by government of the State of Andhra Pradesh, India to reconstruct rural India and empower local communities through innovative ideas, sustainable systems and tested tech solutions. Mori Village in East Godivari, Andhra Pradesh has been chosen as the pilot village for the program.

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​Purpose 1. The SUS Project team, in collaboration with the Smart Village team, aims to assist in researching and developing methodologies for improvement of quality of life for each citizen in Mori Village.

2. The Smart Villages Project outlines 20 non-negotiables for development in the villages. This quarter, the SUS project team focused on a combination of these areas, including the following non-negotiables: -

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1. Homes for all, with access to toilet, safe-drinking water, and regular power 3. End unsanitary defecation practices 9. Functional toilet, potable water, electricity available in Anganwadi Centres, schools, health centres, GP/Ward buildings 12 . Every farm has soil health card, enriched essential micro-nutrients and diversification with livestock and trees

The SUS project team focuses on three sub-projects that align with the Smart Village design targets: Renewable Energy Sanitation Shrimp AgTech Background 1. Mori is a village in Andhra Pradesh on the east of river Godavari with a land area of 1,316 acres and a population of around 8,000. Several academic and industry leaders from Stanford, Berkeley, Google, IBM, Mahindra etc. have been brought together to plan, implement and scale technological improvements for the village.

2. 70% of India’s population resides in villages. Its cities are already fighting overpopulation. It is an urgent need to upgrade the state of villages to reduce the surging migration to cities and make them attractive places to stay for their residents.

Goals This quarter we aimed to do thorough research on the renewable energy, sanitation and shrimp agtech opportunities in Mori Village. We sought to create an easy to grasp presentation in order to share our work with our peers in CEE 224X, future students of the course, and our project partners in India. Along with our research findings, we outlined potential directions that could emerge from this work and identified gaps in the current data.

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Renewable Energy 2.1 ​ ​Background About 300 million people in India do not have access to electricity.1 By 2022, the Central Government of India plans to provide 24 hour energy coverage to all its cities, towns and villages and produce 175 GW from renewable energy.2 To meet this high demand and achieve these ambitious targets, it is essential that renewable energy systems be rolled out in Smart Villages.

In Mori Village itself, most if not all homes have some access to electricity. The service costs anywhere between 500-1000 rupees ($8-$15 USD) per month. Considering that nearly a third of Mori residents still live in huts and thatched homes (some 350 households out of 1,080), the money to energy services represents a significant portion of their income.

The majority of energy used in Mori is not produced locally and is brought in via transmission lines from neighboring Razole. This energy is sent to Razole from larger cities and distribution centers nearby. According to a representative from Mtuity in Hyderabad, the energy being sent to Mori is produced at traditional power and hydroelectric plants some 800km away from the village in Hyderabad State. The distance and underdeveloped electrical transmission infrastructure causes intermittent power outages in Mori.

Figure of the energy transmission lines into Mori.

Courtesy of Solomon Darwin, Center for Corporate Innovation, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley

In considering options to develop renewable energy systems in Mori, both solar and wind were considered using data from the National Institute for Wind Energy in India and NREL. This data, along with the current climate for renewable energy in India, suggested that solar power tech would be the best option for the village. Presently, there are 968 MW of Installed Solar Energy in the State of Andhra Pradesh and some 1,866 MW of Wind Energy.3 4 These numbers suggest that the renewable energy sector is budding in the region and there may be room to expand in the coming years.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/indias-huge-need-for-electricity-is-a-problem-for-the-pla net/2015/11/06/a9e004e6-622d-11e5-8475-781cc9851652_story.html 2 ​http://www.mnre.gov.in/ 3 ​http://mnre.gov.in/file-manager/UserFiles/grid-connected-solar-power-project-installed-capacity.pdf 4 http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/national/ap-topped-in-windpower-installations-in-aprilsept/article 9240978.ece

Figure: NREL India Solar Resources Map5 Throughout India, solar has taken the center stage as the most affordable and reproducible form of renewable energy. The energy climate is ripe for solar, as is demonstrated by the plans to double solar energy output by March 2017 to 10,000 MW.6 The​ ​National Solar Energy Federation of India is at the front of the charge. Along with the growing popularity of solar installation is the growing popularity of solar financing.​ For example, the Asian Development Bank, one of many organizations investing in the solar sector, recently promised to fund $500 million dollars towards rooftop solar PV system across the country. 7

2.2 Connecting in with Current Work Tech Mahindra is an information technology company based in Mumbai that is leading the charge on building small-grid solar energy systems in Mori Village. Presently, they are in communication with the government to work out the financing options and solidifying the coordination that Tech Mahindra will lead. The tech company plans to prioritize rooftop solar PV systems on households and then expand to solar street lamps and later small businesses and stores. Keneka Solar and Cygni Energy are two other companies involved with individual solar energy projects in the village.

Small-grid systems such as those designed by Tech Mahindra, Keneka Solar and Cygni Energy will allow the village to locally generate their power and become independent from the current intermittent system.

As there are already plans to design and install solar energy systems in Mori, the direction of Stanford CEE 224A involvement in the project in the coming quarters is yet to be determined. The following resources, questions and project options may help inform where the project is taken.

Resources Organizations ​http://www.nrel.gov/international/ra_india.html http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Indias-solar-power-generation-to-double-by-March-2017/ articleshow/51075476.cms 7 ​https://www.adb.org/news/500-million-adb-loan-help-india-build-its-longest-river-bridge 5 6

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TERI: The Energy and Resources Institute The Asian Development Bank India Solar Resource Maps​, NREL The Solutions Project​, Stanford University AppScore​: Energy Management. Sensing, monitoring and developing energy systems in Mori Individuals Krishna Parimi, AppScape Perumal Raju, Mtuity Sri K.Srinivas, NREDCAP Energy Companies Tech Mahindra Kaneka Solar Cygni Energy AP Power Sector NREDCAP

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Strategy & Questions Moving Forward Moving forward, potential options for engagement in renewable energy development include the following areas: Reevaluating partnerships and 224A project goals with Tech Mahindra, Kaneka Solar and Cygni Energy Equitable Solar Developing training program to kick start local capacity and economic sustainability of solar projects Professional development for Mori residents and kick start local careers in solar In-school practicums to engage local youth Trainings to build local capacity A project in these areas could focus on the following questions: Who will install and maintain the solar energy systems?

How could local students or technicians be involved in the installation?

Do the tech companies plan to get support and input for the solar systems from the local community? In what ways will the community be involved with buy-in?

Feasible and Reproducible Systems Considering how the renewable energy systems developed in Mori could inform similar developments in villages across India Supporting on the ground project to solicit donations and funding for solar panels Creating recommendations and a publication to make the renewable energy system in Mori a model for other villages across India Develop literature or publicity materials to share the design and process with others (educational & informational resources for officials and villagers) Questions that a project in this area could address include:

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What are the financing options for solar energy in Mori(potential subsidies, installment payments, third party purchasing)?

Is the small-grid system scalable for other villages in India?

Are there solar PV or other renewable energy manufacturers nearby?

Are there long term financing options for renewable energy across Indian villages?

3.0 Sanitation 3.1 Background Sanitation in India has been a major challenge since the last few decades. Over 600 million people 8 in India still practice open defecation, majority of who reside in rural areas ​. Mori village has a population of over 7000 residents and only 800 toilets9 . The Central Government of India has been invested in providing safe sanitation to the poorest of citizens since 1999, when the Total Sanitation Campaign was initiated. According to Government reports, 90 million toilets have been built under the campaign. Even though progress has been made, the work is far from complete and this is where projects like ‘Smart Villages’ are so crucial. The objective is not just to meet the 20 non negotiable criteria, but to set a positive example for 55,000 other villages in Andhra Pradesh and over 600,000 villages in India to follow. I would be focusing on how sanitation in Mori can fit in with the mission of ‘Smart Villages’ and to look at ways in which sanitation doesn’t address managing waste in a community, but creating a ​resource.

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Resources

Village Profile Land Mass

1,316 acres

Dwellings

1,080

Population

8000 (approx.)

No. of Families

1,565

Avg. Household Size

5.5

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Huts/ Thatched homes

350

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Brick Homes

250

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Concrete Homes

480

Poor dweller square foot residence

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Experts: Prof. Jenna Davis, ​The poop group​, Research on water and sanitation in developing countries 8

​T. Calsen et. al. ​Impact of Indian Total Sanitation Campaign on Latrine Coverage and Use: A cross sectional study in Orissa following three years of implementation, PlosOne 2013, Vol 8, Issue 8, e71438 9 ​http://www.smart.ap.gov.in/myvillage/

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Krishna Parimi, CEO, ​AppScape​, projects on irrigation, shrimp farming and energy monitoring in Mori Sebastian Tilmans, Director, Codiga Center, Stanford University Sandy Robertson, Lecturer, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University

Questions What are the different sanitation techniques that can be employed for both household and community sanitation, keeping in mind the cultural preferences of the village residents.

Their technical, social and economic aspects and advantages of one option over others.

10 A review by ​T. Calsen ​ on the Total Sanitation Campaign in Orissa villages showed that even though over 30% of the homes that had new toilets were not using it. Keeping that in perspective, how can toilets be designed in a more sustainable and aesthetically pleasing manner?

Toilet designed by Eram Scizzz solutions for a school in Thiruvananthpuram, India How should the sanitation system of a smart village function, taking environmental and health concerns into consideration. Focus on resource recovery from waste in terms of biogas and compost. How can such systems affect other aspects of life in the village, with regards to energy and the economy.

Analysis and Recommendations

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Household Sanitation:​ The Swachh Bharat Mission and Total Sanitation Campaign have resulted in widespread awareness of the benefits of household toilets and allocated resources for fast track construction of toilets across the country. The focus, however has been on using the simplest technology possible, single unit household latrines. However, besides being health hazards, latrines are also extremely detrimental to groundwater quality. In higher income households, flush toilets with septic tanks are common but they are expensive, water intensive and require further treatment of effluent water and sludge, making them land intensive as well. For areas without water supply and sewage system, urine diverting dry toilets or composting toilets are a useful alternative. If used properly, they are hygienic, use minimal water and provide useful by products - urine as a liquid fertilizer, and feces as manure. These toilets require about 65 sq ft of land per unit. Urine from 10 families can irrigate 4.5 acres of land a year and generate over 50 Kg of compost in a year. Another way to manage household sanitation is to have a container based model where the waste containers are collected weekly and the taken to a central composting facility. The enterprise, managed by SOIL in Haiti can offer as a basis to build on.

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Community Sanitation​: Mori has a variety of dwellings with around 250 homes made of mud and thatched roofs. With such variability, it is often not impractical to build toilets in each home. One option for the short term is to build and maintain community toilets serving between 5-10 households depending on the density and need of the area. This would require a detailed survey of number of households that have access to toilet, existing community toilet facilities, household density of different regions within the village and a survey of available land for construction of new facilities.

​T. Calsen et. al. ​Impact of Indian Total Sanitation Campaign on Latrine Coverage and Use: A cross sectional study in Orissa following three years of implementation, PlosOne 2013, Vol 8, Issue 8, e71438 10

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Sanitation in Schools: ​Various studies and reports have shown that improperly constructed toilet facilities affect school performance and attendance, especially among girls. For this reason, aesthetics in toilet facilities in school must be brought to the centre stage and clearly considered. Some strategies are: Bright color paints on the outside and inside of the toilet Proper lighting, use of skylights to reduce electricity consumption during the day Provision of dustbins, wash basin, soap and towels Bright, non slip tiles on the floor Air vents provided near the WC/ pan

Schematic Design of household composting toilet

Composting facility and container managed by SOIL in Haiti

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Strategy -

Winter Quarter Design an on ground study to assess people’s sanitation habits and preferences and based on the data, decide on focus points for toilet design

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Define questions for the survey required for the study Identify research methodology: village wide census or using a sample set Identify on ground resources to conduct the study Analyse the data collected and decide on the focus points to be incorporated in the design

Spring Quarter - Using resources at Stanford and outside, design a prototype toilet facility for households in the village - Identify the team to work on the project and decide on the end goal and distribution of responsibilities - Based on focus criteria identified through the ground study, decide on an existing alternative that best serves the village needs.

- Think of ways in which the existing system can be modified to adapt to our end vision.

- Send the design over to village authorities and the State Government and incorporate their feedback before publishing the final design.

4.0 Shrimp AgTech 4.1 Background Shrimp farming, which not only stimulates the local economy by increasing farmers’ earnings, but also generates a nutritious food source, has skyrocketed globally over the past two decades.11 The Smart Villages Project has identified this industry as a potential means of addressing at least two of the 20 non-negotiables: 2. Every household has diversified livelihood opportunities and/or micro-enterprise 10. Malnutrition free (children below 9 years of age)12 In India, there are two native species of farmed shrimp, giant tiger prawn (​Penaeus monodon) and Indian whiteleg shrimp (​Penaeus indicus). The latter species has all but disappeared from Indian shrimp farming, whereas the former has maintained production levels. Farming of the non-native whiteleg shrimp (​Litopenaeus vannamei) has skyrocketed, as shown below. This species’ shorter production cycles, which require less feed and less waste, have made it an especially profitable crop.

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​Shrimp culture project (World Bank) ​Smart Villages Project

Farming trends of whiteleg shrimp and giant tiger prawn13

The Smart Villages project chose Mori Village in Andhra Pradesh to test out shrimp farming agricultural technology that could be scaled to the greater nation. Currently shrimp farming ranks the fifth greatest contribution to Mori’s economic base. An agricultural technology breakthrough would leverage this lucrative industry’s potential to stimulate the local economy and grow its portion of the village’s economic base.

Mori Village Economic Base14 1. Rice 2. Coconut 3. Cashew Processing 4. Weavers 5. Shrimp 6. Mango

According to AppScape CEO, Krishna Parimi, shrimp farming is a high-risk, high reward investment: it costs $10,000 to “seed” one acre of pond with shrimp. If the crop thrives, farmers can earn up to $40,000. However, environmental conditions, such as low oxygen levels, low pH, and viruses, can wipe out the entire stock of shrimp in under 24 hours. For this reason, AppScape, a company devoted to leveraging smarter software solutions to increase client efficiency and effectivity has tackled the shrimp farming challenge by piloting a new product in Mori Village. 15 Mori Village has a greatest potential for shrimp farming, as two-thirds of the agricultural land is already being used for rice paddies, as shown below. Given the lucrative nature of shrimp farming,

​Seafood Watch Report, (2015) ​Profile of Mori Village 15 ​Seafood Watch farmed shrimp report 13 14

should the Smart Villages Initiative engineer a sustainable system of farming shrimp in rice paddies, shrimp agriculture could take a up a greater portion of the economic base.

Agricultural Land Use in Mori Village 16

AppScape’s solution uses dissolved oxygen and pH sensors in the shrimp farming ponds to alert day/night watchmen when the environmental conditions reach a specific threshold. By turning on aerators, which mix oxygen into the water, increasing the concentration of dissolved oxygen and increasing the pH, farmers can protect their livestock. Many surrounding villages and nations are watching the progress of this project and hoping to adopt this new solution. The Stanford group is working with AppScape to identify a useful project and deliverable that fits into their initiative.

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Resources

AppScape​: Increasing efficiency and effectiveness of clients through new software platforms Krishna Parimi (CEO) Sensor data and shrimp crop success rate data Ericsson​: IT/Communication company U Cal Berkeley​: Previous work with Andhra Pradesh NOAA Ocean Color​: Remote sensing data (time series data)

4.3

Environmental Variability and Future Climate Change

India is an environmentally diverse country. In the Mori area, there are two phases: hot/dry and cold/wet. In May, before the monsoon begins, it is the hottest and dryest. Under these conditions, when the shrimp farming water is warm, pathogens are more likely to flourish. Additionally, algae growth in abundance, and at night, the algae consumes oxygen, decreasing the dissolved oxygen for the shrimp and decreasing the pH. The shrimp, which are sensitive to these environmental parameters, become increasingly vulnerable to health conditions and even death. As our world enters an increasingly warmer climate with more erratic and frequent disaster weather patterns, shrimp farmers will have to prepare for dryer and hotter periods of time. Technologies, such as AppScape, are essential to further developing this livelihood for Smart Villages.

4.4 Questions Given that there is a system/solution already in place that many farmers are excited about, what can the Stanford team do to help?

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​Profile of Mori Village

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Determine most important environmental variables for predicting and managing shrimp agriculture Does atmosphere carbon dioxide concentration help us predict when oxygen levels are low in the pond or when pH levels will drop?

Should AppScape consider deploying atmospheric carbon dioxide sensors to help predict atmospheric forcing of carbon dioxide?

What other platforms of data can we use? Remote sensing?

Create data collection structure for time environmental conditions and shrimp farming success rate moving forward Sensor prediction system Examine climate and environmental variability to predict daily, seasonal, and eventually annual trends in pond dissolved oxygen and pH Create pond environmental ‘forecast’ for better shrimp farming management Environmental awareness Farmers burn residual biomass after crop harvested (~3 times/year), leading to serious pollution Farmers don’t see as a risk because it visually clears from the sky within a couple of days Outreach about the link between mass burning and decrease in watch pH (threatening the shrimp) potential way to reduce residual biomass combustion (human and environmental health) What conditions (environmental, economic, cultural) help AppScape succeed/fail in Mori? What other similar/different places can we scale this solution to?

How do we communicate this to farmers?

Strategy Fall Quarter Compile potential dataset of previous shrimp farming failures (before use of AppScape) Krishna connects us with his team to see what proposed project is most helpful Environmental condition prediction Scalability (identifying key environmental/climate conditions for shrimp farming and the AppScape sensor system) For December meeting with the Andhra Pradesh CM: compile preliminary report of AppScape sensor supplementary project Winter Quarter Look at AppScape preliminary data from shrimp farmers What environmental conditions correlate the most strongly with the shrimp crop yields?

Spring Quarter Write case study for applicability of AppScape environmental sensor platform to shrimp farming in Smart Villages Identify next villages in which to initiate AppScape, scaling the technology

5.0 Conclusion The areas of focus for our project - renewable energy, sanitation and shrimp agtech - though distinct in their objectives, are interconnected and have implications across these boundaries. Access to inexpensive and

reliable renewable energy can drive economic and social change in the village making small enterprises more powerful, crops more reliable and education more far reaching. Access to toilets for each village member has tremendous health benefits and, through a waste to energy system, sanitation could supply energy or other monetary resources. Furthermore, good sanitation could have far reaching social consequences like reducing likelihood of school dropouts among teenage girls. Mori’s shrimp farmers run a high risk investment and may be indebted for years if the shrimp yields are low. Technological innovations in ag can empower the farmers and their families to lead more prosperous lives and also contribute to the village’s economy.

Over the course of this year, we will collaborate and communicate with other parties involved with the Smart Villages Project. Through our three sub-projects we aim to help Mori meet some of its 20 non-negotiable targets and create a more just, sustainable and healthy community.

Throughout this project, it will be important for us to think about how the systems we research, design and/or recommend can be reproduced and scaled up for villages across Andhra Pradesh and the rest of India. An even bigger challenge is to envision what a ‘Smart Village’ should look like, how India’s villages can contribute to the nation’s overall development in relation to its cities and how Smart Village interactions can be synergistic.