Ghoramara is an island located approximately 92 km south of Kolkata, in the Sundarban of the Bay of Bengal, with non-existing utility grid and no access to electricity. The habitants live in very poor and difficult conditions, while the island suffers from severe cyclonic storms. The Ghoramara microgrid will provide electric power to 1100 houses in the area.
The Ghoramara microgrid is developed within the RE-EMPOWERED project, funded in the framework of European-Indian collaboration and coordinated by the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) and the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT KGP). The installations include a 160 kW microgrid system (150 kW PV + 10 kW wind + 720 kWh BESS) with commercial technologies, a 10 kW advanced microgrid (7.5 kW PV + 2.5 kW wind + 50 kWh BESS) with RE-EMPOWERED developed technologies and a charging station with three 3.3 kW ports (two for electric three wheelers and one for e-boat). Resilient, robust structures able to withstand very strong winds have been designed for the renewable sources plants. The installations are coordinated by IIT KGP. Advanced technologies have been developed by IIT KGP (power electronic converters), by CSIR-(CMERI) Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (renewables resilient structures) and by VNIT- Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur (charging station) .
On the 2nd February 2024, the European partners from NTUA, DAFNI and Imperial College visited Ghoramara and had the opportunity to see the first phase of the installation. The first 650 families are expected to be electrified this month.
