India’s government has a bold goal for deploying renewable energy: 175 gigawatts of electricity-generating capacity by 2022, including 100 gigawatts of solar power. The country has a history of promoting renewable energy and a rapidly growing portfolio of solar and wind projects, but meeting the solar target alone will require a growth rate equivalent to doubling India’s installed solar capacity every 18 months. It will also require a clear understanding of the three factors that drive energy demand in India (access, security, and efficiency); new federal and state policies and incentives; innovative financing for capital investments estimated at $100 billion or more; and additional funding for manufacturing, training, and job creation. Project developers will have to grapple with the cost and availability of land, grid connections, and backup power. To meet the electricity needs of the poor and encourage rural entrepreneurship, India’s energy policies should aim for a mix of grid-connected and decentralized renewable energy sources.
Vivek Kuthanazhi, Anil Kottantharayil, N. C. Narayanan
Decentralization of energy planning through local self-governments has become a possibility since the development of solar photovoltaics and other small scale power generation technologies. The state of Kerala, India is well known for its success stories in decentralized administration of villages through panchayati raj1institutions. Panchayats in Kerala have proved their efficiency in the past by handling development projects, hence the scope for implementing decentralized PV power plants in a panchayat scale in Kerala is quite high. A study was conducted at Chendamangalam gram panchayat, Kerala, India to assess the electricity demand and rooftop PV power generation potential of a typical panchayat located in the low-lands of Kerala. The changing trends in electricity consumption due to the use and spread of new appliances and 100% grid extension to the villages could be discerned. Appliances like televisions, ceiling fans, water pumps, washing machines, electric mixers, refrigerators etc has penetrated well in this area. Inverter based power back up systems and new high power equipments like induction cookers, air conditioners, water heaters etc. are increasingly being used by the domestic consumers, which indicate a possible leap in electricity demand in the near future. The study could conclude that the collective shade free rooftop area from nearly 6500 buildings in the panchayat can support nearly 11.3 MW rooftop PV installations and it is more than enough to meet the current energy demands of the panchayat. Innovative design of custom PV solutions and institutionalization of operation and maintenance, supported with clear government policies and finance options can help in transforming a panchayat into an energy surplus entity.
The important energy requirements for the desalination process impose especially in autonomous and decentralized plants supplied by Renewable Energy Sources (RES). In this paper, five alternative energy generation topologies of Reverse Osmosis desalination process are evaluated. The proposed topologies assessed in terms of economic, environmental, technological and societal indices are compared using multi-criteria analysis, namely the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment of Evaluations (PROMETHEE). Ranking of topologies resulted in the selection of direct connection and hybrid configuration as optimum solutions. In case economic priorities prevail diesel generation should also be considered.
Suraj Baral, Suman Budhathoki, Hari Prasad Neopane
This paper review different policies of on-grid and off-grid rural electrification in Nepal which are imposed by two different organizations, namely, Nepal Electricity Authority and Alternative Energy Promotion Centre. Also, the paper identifies different issues in rural electrification in changing context and different initiatives taken so far on connection of micro hydropower and mini grid development. The study reveals that grid connection and mini grid initiatives are not internalized and owned by the policy and institutional mechanism. Policy and institutional mechanisms need to be revised and restructured so as to adopt mentioned initiatives and to introduce synergy effects which are not often realized because of parallel policy and institutional mechanism. The policy and institutional mechanisms should develop suitable financing/investment mechanism not only based on subsidy but also on the principle of private sector involvement, business operation modality especially trading mechanism, technology transfer and capacity building, and institutional structure of mini grid based on decentralization and liberalization which could encourage competition in the sector as whole. Such policy provision and institutional mechanism make the flow of financial resource from urban to rural and also retain the human capital in the local level.
The availability of abundant renewable resources, lack of fossil fuels and difficult geographical terrain for grid line extensions contribute to the advantages of renewable based decentralized rural electrification in Ne-pal. Solar home system (SHS) and micro-hydro are the most commonly adopted off-grid renewable energy technologies in the country. This dis-sertation examines the market of renewable energy based rural electrifi-cation within prevailing policy and programmes framework. The study verifies whether the market has been able to serve the poor in Nepal. It also captures the perception of various stakeholders (e.g. private sup-ply/installation companies, NGOs, financial institutions and the donor‘s programme) regarding the business, financing issues and the role of gov-ernment policy on the market development. In addition, the study dis-cusses and analyses renewable based rural electrification supply models, the economics behind rural electrification, market drivers and market distribution in the rural areas of Nepal. The financial mix in the off-grid rural electrification is generally charac-terized by subsidy, equity and credit. The study shows that awareness about renewable energy technologies and willingness to pay for electricity access has increased considerably. However, there is a huge financial gap between the cost of electrification and affordability among the poor. The distribution analysis shows there is significant increment in the extensive growth but decrease in the intensive growth rate of rural electrification thus indicating market expansion with uneven penetration among the ru-ral people. Solar PV technology is still not in the reach of the economic poor. Access to credit and cumbersome subsidy delivery mechanisms have been perceived as the major factors affecting the expansion of rural electrification by the stakeholders, requiring innovation in the credit and subsidy delivery system so that a larger rural population can be given ac-cess to electrification.
R. Layi Fagbenle, M. Tunde Oladiran, Taiwo Oyedemi
Nigeria’s grid electricity supply of 5.881 GW installed capacity in the period 1994–1997 has experienced a sharp decline over the past five years to about 3 GW by 2002, even as electricity demand has grown due to population pressures, industrialization, and urban migration. Indeed the present situation is a near total collapse of the state power utility services, as total prolonged blackouts have been commonplace throughout the country in the past couple of years, and the situation may grow much worse unless significant shift in energy policy and investment takes place urgently. Diversification of energy sources to reduce the overt increasing dependence on fossil fuel generation and a shift towards renewable energy generation, particularly solar photovoltaic electricity, is a highly desirable policy shift. Among the gains would be reduced carbon emission into the environment and reduced transmission and distribution losses due to the possibility of decentralized generation and localized use of solar photovoltaic electricity. This paper examines the use of decentralized and gridconnected solar PV in building cladding as a pragmatic solution to the current power problems of Nigeria. The results of an ongoing investigation of the potential generating capacity of stand-alone and grid-connected solar PV cladding on residential and commercial buildings in Nigeria. An economic analysis of the proposed system is also considered as well as suggestions on financing. The cost of electricity from the proposed solar PV-clad buildings, calculated using an assumed 8% discount rate and a 25-year life expectancy was found to be significantly higher, in the double digits, than the present national tariff. Thus, novel financing schemes required are examined in the paper.
Small hydropower (SHP), a renewable and non polluting energy, could participate in the sustainable development of humanity. As a mature industry, SHP is a decentralized energy. It's also a wonderful economic development tool for rural countries, poor areas or for millions of people in the world who have not yet access to electricity. Nevertheless obstacles are too many to increase SHP, i.e. : poor financing capacity in foreign countries, environmental lobbies in Europe and in France...
The California power crisis and September 11 terrorist attacks of 2001 have reinvigorated debate over the electric power system’s vulnerabilities. But beyond the threat of terrorist attacks on nuclear power stations and the issue of insufficient power, a central, fossil-, and nuclear-based electric power infrastructure carries additional risks. These include aging transmission and distribution systems, environmental impacts, and the failure to bring power to 1.8 billion people in the developing world. Such vulnerabilities could be lessened through small-scale, decentralized technologies. These micropower units exhibit many hidden benefits, such as improved fuel supply diversity, strengthened transmission and distribution systems, and a lower ecological footprint. Micropower is emerging in two niches: developed nations where businesses place a premium on power reliability and developing-nation regions where small-scale power is the most economical means of alleviating power poverty. But broader deployment of micropower requires removal of market barriers and greater use of innovative financing.
The note focuses on the external \n benefits of rural electrification (RE), i.e., improved \n access to communication, education, and economic \n opportunities, in addition to extended health services. It \n outlines key lessons to scaling up RE, namely macroeconomic \n stability, continued government commitments, and \n institutional capacity. However, it also suggests that grid \n extension is not always cost-effective, rather, \n decentralized delivery options, and alternative energy \n sources, such as solar photovoltaic, mini-hydro, and other \n renewable energy sources should be considered. Moreover, \n good practices indicate the need for power sector reform, \n regulatory framework with legal guarantees that utilities \n can operate autonomously, and, financial viability, that is, \n to ensure commercialization, and identify a cost-recovery \n system that takes into account capital investment costs, and \n contributions levels. Strongly emphasized is the involvement \n of local communities in the design, and implementation of \n RE, by setting rural electrification committees, and by \n establishing institutional, and organizational procedures \n for project planning.