Patna, March 18 (IANS) The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) will help power-starved Bihar light up thousands of village homes with solar energy.

TERI director R.K. Pachauri offered help to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to illuminate homes, which had no access to electricity, with solar lamps.

The chief minister showed keen interest in working with TERI, Pachauri told IANS after a seminar here Wednesday night.

Pachauri, who is also the head of the UN's Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said solar energy could change the face of Bihar and make the state a model for India and the world to follow.

'Bihar can make a lead in use of solar energy to light up its villages. It will be a big leap for the state and its people, who were forced to live in darkness,' Pachauri said.

He said about 1.43 crore families in Bihar were still using kerosene to light up their houses in villages. 'TERI will help Bihar to light up its villages by using solar lamps or solar lanterns,' he said.

TERI has launched the 'Light a Billion Lives' project, a campaign to take solar lighting devices around the world to rural communities.

Bihar state energy department officials admitted that majority of the 83 million-strong Bihar population uses kerosene for lighting.

'A major part of Bihar was forced to live in darkness due to the acute power problem. Most rural households still lack access to electricity,' an official said.

Bihar has been facing a serious power problem for many years.

The state receives only 800-1,000 MW of power from the central pool despite the scheduled allocation of 1,553 MW per day. Its daily demand is 2,000-2,500 MW.

The Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) provides 400-450 MW of power to Patna alone, apart from supplying 75-100 MW to neighbouring Nepal and 125 MW to the Indian Railways. Interestingly, Bihar generates only about 85-125 MW on its own.

Besides this, the BSEB supplies 200 MW for maintaining emergency services such as hospitals and defence establishments.

Till two-three years ago, Bihar did not generate any electricity as its two thermal power plants in Begusarai and Muzaffarpur districts were not operational.