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Mendare Village Karnatanka Microgrid

Current status, energy mix, organizations, suppliers, equipment, controls, reported specifications, and project updates—with source-level citations.

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations6
System facts26
Sources reviewed5
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

This project is the Mendare village DC pico-grid in the Male Mahadeshwara Hills near Mysore, Karnataka, India; the slug's `Karnatanka` is a misspelling of Karnataka. SELCO project material documents 600 Wp of solar (two 300 W modules), four 12 V 200 Ah batteries in series as a 48 V/200 Ah bank, a Phocos 48 V charge controller, overhead 48 V DC distribution, and basic LED/mobile-phone service for 22 Soliga-community houses. The underlying equipment schedule therefore contradicts legacy catalog headlines of 1 kW solar and 800 Ah storage: series-connected batteries increase voltage, not ampere-hour capacity. Field research in 2016-17 described Mendare as an operating 0.6 kW lighting pico-grid serving about 20 customers, with evening-only service and limited productive use.

Research status
Historically installed and independently observed operating during 2016-17 fieldwork. A project catalog continues to label it operational, but no recent operator log, battery-replacement record, remote-monitoring data, customer count, or 2026 field verification was found. Current operating status is therefore unverified; retain the project as a small lighting-focused DC pico-grid rather than a 1 kW AC microgrid.
Historical classification
Community
Reported capacity
See component specifications
Coordinates
12.01120, 77.64033
Evidence note: “Every company” cannot be proven from public material alone. This page lists every organization found in the recovered record and reviewed sources, preserves unknown roles, and explicitly marks undisclosed controller or equipment details.
Report missing evidenceResearch methodology

Project delivery

Who was involved in Mendare Village Karnatanka Microgrid?

6 publicly identified organizations. Where a recovered source named a participant without explaining its work, the role remains explicitly unspecified.

Organization

Armstrong Energy Foundation

Grant funder identified in the legacy project record, which reports approximately Rs 380,000 in capital support. [5]

Organization

Mendare Soliga community

Village users and participants in local payment and oversight arrangements. [3][4]

Organization

MYRADA

Local NGO partner supporting community engagement, fee collection, and field implementation. [3][4][5]

Organization

SELCO

Publicly named participant; role not specified in the recovered record [1]

Organization

SELCO Foundation

Project developer/designer and owner or coordinating ESCO for the solar DC pico-grid. [3][4]

Organization

SELCO India, Mysore branch

Local technical/service support organization named in project documentation. [3]

System evidence

Energy mix, capacity, and specifications

Values can describe different project phases, generation sources, storage systems, or other components. Source citations are attached to each figure so discrepancies remain visible.

KW Solar
1 [1]
Storage
800 Ah [1]
Photovoltaic capacity
600 Wp from 2 x 300 W modules connected for a 48 V DC system. The 1 kW catalog headline conflicts with the component schedule and field study. [3][4][5]
Battery bank
4 x 12 V, 200 Ah batteries connected in series: 48 V and 200 Ah, or 9.6 kWh nominal by arithmetic. Usable energy, chemistry, depth of discharge, and current condition were not published. The catalog's 800 Ah headline incorrectly sums series-connected Ah ratings. [3][5]
Distribution
48 V DC overhead distribution with fused household branches; no AC inverter is identified in the documented design. [3]
Household service package
Two 3 W LED lights plus one 48 V mobile-phone charging point per house. [3]
Customers/houses
SELCO slides describe 22 houses; the later field study reports 20 customers. The small discrepancy is retained as a dated difference rather than forced to one count. [3][4]
Operating hours
Field research reported service from about 5 p.m. to midnight, consistent with a lighting/phone-charging pico-grid rather than continuous productive-power service. [4]
Capital support and payment model
Project descriptions identify CSR/grant subsidy and annual or monthly community payments; one legacy record reports a Rs 380,000 grant and approximately Rs 1,000 per household per year. Current tariff collection was not verified. [3][5]

Controls and hardware

Equipment and controller details

Manufacturer and model are shown only when a source names them. Generic descriptions are not converted into guessed product assignments.

01

Photovoltaic modules

Emmvee

Two 300 W modules mounted in a raised configuration and wired for the 48 V DC system. [3]

02

Battery storage

Primetech

Four 12 V, 200 Ah batteries in series; model and chemistry were not specified in the project slides. [3]

03

Charge controller

Phocos — CR 48 V

48 V charge controller for the PV and centralized battery bank. [3]

04

End-use equipment

Model not publicly disclosed

Low-power 3 W LED lamps and 48 V mobile chargers supplied at household level. [3]

05

Monitoring and control

Model not publicly disclosed

Centralized data logger with remote monitoring/control capability; vendor, communications method, and surviving telemetry access were not disclosed. [3]

Technical record

Architecture, performance, and project updates

Concise technical facts, milestones, operating results, and later developments. Dated notes distinguish historical design claims from current evidence.

  • General

    The Mendare Village Microgrid is a solar microgrid in India by SELCO foundation in Karnataka. [1]

  • General

    The communities do not have grid power, but a number of households have installed solar-home-systems. [1]

  • General

    The Model – Platform Microgrid [1]

  • General

    The model being piloted is therefore: [1]

  • General

    Establish which services could be introduced later, building on-top of the existing infrastructure and operational model established. [1]

  • General

    Following this model at Mendare: [1]

  • Storage

    4x 200Ah 12V, series connection, Primetech Charge controller: 48V Phocos CR [1]

  • Identity

    Mendare is a Soliga tribal settlement in the Male Mahadeshwara Hills of Karnataka. It should not be conflated with other SELCO `Community Mini-Grid: Karnataka` projects that use different 1.2 kW/96 V configurations. [3][4]

  • Capacity correction

    The 600 Wp PV value is supported both by the component schedule and field study. Four 200 Ah batteries in series remain a 200 Ah string; 800 Ah is not the bank capacity unless strings are parallel, which the project diagram does not show. [3][4][5]

  • Architecture

    A centralized PV/battery enclosure feeds a low-voltage DC overhead network. Household fuses and highly constrained end-use packages limit demand and avoid inverter conversion losses. [3]

  • Observed outcome

    The 2016-17 field study found the pico-grid operating and useful for lighting, but its small capacity and evening schedule provided little productive-use energy or broader livelihood transformation. [4]

  • Evidence gap

    Commissioning date, current operating status, battery replacement interval, measured solar yield, outage history, collected tariffs, and remote-logger data were not established by recent authoritative sources. [4][5]

Provenance

5 sources

Primary owner, government, university, supplier, and engineering sources are preferred. Archived references preserve claims whose original pages moved or disappeared.

  1. [1]
    Recovered Microgrid Projects record

    Internet Archive · Archived source · captured 2021-02-25

  2. [2]
    microgrid in India

    microgridprojects.com · Archived source · captured 2021-02-25

  3. [3]
    Microgrid Site Summaries

    SELCO Foundation (presentation mirrored by SlideShare) · Primary source

  4. [4]
    Lighting the Last Mile: A Study of Solar PV Micro-Grids

    Independent field research · Primary source

  5. [5]
    Mendare Village Karnatanka Microgrid

    Microgrid Projects · Secondary research

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