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					</table>In the river-locked villages of Assam, accessible only by boats, people faced a lack of primary health services for generations. To access basic healthcare, villagers would travel for hours by ferry to reach the nearest hospital, often resulting in delayed care.
While reaching the remote villages by boats was possible, storing medicines and vaccines and electricity for the crew quarters, kitchen, and toilets was a problem. That’s when the Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research (<a href="https://c-nes.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">C-NES</a>) hit upon the idea of using solar panels.
The solar panels power the OPD, laboratory, and refrigerator, as well as the living quarters, toilets, and kitchen.
“The remote villages are located on islands on the magnificent Brahmaputra River. To take medicine to those areas, we had to innovate. They don’t have any primary health centers; we are their only healthcare providers,” says Ashok Rao, program manager, C-NES.
C-NES is a not-for-profit organization started by Sanjoy Hazarika, a journalist and filmmaker who noticed a need for a regular healthcare system in these islands. In collaboration with the <a href="https://nhm.gov.in/index1.php?lang=1&amp;level=1&amp;lid=49&amp;sublinkid=969" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Rural Health Mission</a>, he started boat clinics, providing healthcare to the villagers.
“These boats are run on a diesel engine, but all the medical equipment and living quarters are powered by solar energy,”  according to  Riturekha Baruah Phukan, District Programme Officer of Boat Clinic, Majuli.
The capacity of solar power systems on the boat clinics ranges between 3 kW and 5 kW, depending on the boat clinic’s size. The cost of these solar systems is in the ₹200,000 (~$2,308)- ₹250,000 (~$2,885) range.
“Most islands do not have proper electricity for us to power our equipment, such as refrigerators to store vaccines and medicines,” Phukan said.
The clinics were earlier powered using diesel-based generators before switching to solar. The organization collaborated with the <a href="https://selcofoundation.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SELCO Foundation</a> to solarize the clinics.
Currently, the program has 16 boats, of which six clinics on the boats have been solarized.
The clinics and residential quarters are powered by solar energy due to the lack of grid access in these remote areas. However, the boats need to travel long distances, which solar-electric propulsion cannot currently support. As a result, the boats continue to rely on diesel power.
The clinics provide primary healthcare to approximately 250,000 people in 14 island districts.
“We visit the island 18 days a month in batches of three to four days. We track pregnancies and provide support to mothers and their childcare. We also have basic vaccinations and cater to infections, joint pains, and skin-related diseases,” says Rao.
Starting in 2008, the program successfully provided healthcare to the people on the island.
For many years, the river hindered the patients from traveling to clinics, but C-NES innovated using the sun and water to take medical care to the islanders’ doorstep.
“Roads do not reach the islands, and helicopters would be expensive and unviable. Through these solar-powered clinics on boats, we were able to use the water and the sun to our advantage and reach the remotest areas of the state,” says Rao.
There have been many instances of the use of solar power boats to ferry passengers and tourists across water bodies. In 2022, floating solution provider Acquafront Infrastructure <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/iit-kanpur-backed-company-floating-solar-power-boats" target="_blank" rel="noopener">developed</a> ‘i-Ghat,’ a futuristic project to power boats with solar energy instead of diesel at Kada Ghat, Kaushambi, in Uttar Pradesh.
The Kerala government has also been <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/kerala-floats-tender-procurement-solar-boats" target="_blank" rel="noopener">using</a> solar boats to ferry people. The Telangana Tourism Development Corporation <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/telangana-to-deploy-solar-boats" target="_blank" rel="noopener">floated</a> tenders to procure two units each of 25, 80, and 150-seater solar boats for carrying passengers across lakes, rivers, and reservoirs in the state.

Solar-Powered Clinics on Boats a Boon for People in Remote Assam Villages

The State Water Transport Department (<a href="https://www.swtd.kerala.gov.in/pages-en-IN/index.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SWTD</a>), Government of Kerala, has floated a tender for the construction and supply of three solar boats.
The last date for the submission of bids is November 30, 2019.
The vessels will be designed and built as a GRP catamaran solar-powered passenger ferry with a passenger capacity of 75, intended for operation in Kerala under the inland rules.
The vessel must be registered with Directorate of Ports, Government of Kerala, and should adhere to the rules and regulations laid down by the Indian Register of Shipping (<a href="https://www.irclass.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">IRS</a>) or any member of the International Association of Classification Societies (<a href="http://www.iacs.org.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">IACS</a>).
Interested bidders will have to submit a sum of ₹900,000 (~$12,750) as the earnest money deposit (EMD).
As far as the eligibility criteria are concerned, the bidder should have prior experience in building a similar capacity of GRP catamaran solar ferry boats under IACS, and experience credentials should be submitted along with the bid. The vessel should be built in a yard in Kerala and should be approved by the Kerala Port Department IRS &amp; Technical Committee. The warranty period for the entire vessel provided by the builder should not be less than one year.
The turnover of the interested entities should be not less than ₹30 million (~$400,000) for the last two years, and the supply of the vessels should be made within 12 months from the date of the purchase order.
According to the tender document, lightweight materials should be used for the construction of the boats, and weight control measures should be strictly followed during the construction of the vessel.
High-efficiency polycrystalline solar PV modules should be fixed on the coach for generating electric power from the sun. The total capacity of the solar PV modules should not be less than 20 kW, and a battery bank of approximately 80 kWh consisting of lithium-iron-phosphate type batteries should be provided as an energy storage medium to meet the energy deficiency in cloudy conditions. The batteries should be capable of being charged by the solar panels through the solar charge controller. Solar power generation and storage should be designed using IEC standards of equipment to ensure reliability and safety.
Earlier this year, the Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation (<a href="http://www.keltron.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">KELTRON</a>) had <a href="https://mercomindia.com/kerala-tender-3-mw-solar-naval-station-kannur/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">issued</a> tender to set up a 3 MW grid-connected solar project at Naval Station Ezhimala, located in Kannur district.
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/mes-tenders-3-mw-solar-project-ezhimala-kerala/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">In the past</a>, the Military Engineering Services had also announced a similar tender for a 3 MW solar project to be developed at Ezhimala in Kerala. The estimated cost of the project was ₹225 million (~$3.487 million).
Image credit: CSIRO [CC BY <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/CSIRO_ScienceImage_11261_Solar_panels_on_boat.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">3.0</a>]

Kerala Floats Tender for the Procurement of Solar Boats

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