1. Domestic Scale Renewable Energy perspectives in Rural India
Govindarajan A Chittaranjan
Energy Scenario in India: Indian Government's 11th
(2007-2012), 12th
(2012-2017) and 13th
(2017-2022)
power planning has indicated exponential projections of peak demand which is expected to go up to
298.3 GW by the 13th plan pointing towards hastened rural electrifications, improve T&D losses, skewed
tariff structures and curbed power theft.
11th
plan estimates additions at 77GW – 14% already commissioned, 83% in construction phase, the
balance 3% (2.3GW) is for the non-conventional energy sources including 1GW for Nuclear power.
12th
plan allocates 10GW for wind power alone out of 14 GW of renewable energy power this excludes
Nuclear power plants.
Rural Scenario: rural population constitutes 70% of India’s population hence there is approximately 120
to 140 million families or households of which 30%-40% approx is without electrification [approximately
20 million households according to a report], from this it could be inferred that an enhanced living
standards at 1kW/household at 4 hours usage per day draws 105MWh per year/house hold which is
over 250MW approximately for household consumption sector alone.
Agriculture Scenario: India is a predominant Rice producing country, the Rice production for a year is
approximately 84 million Tons [1.9T / hectares] the rice production is expected to increase by 60%
[134.4 million Tons] assuming an addition 40% increase in the land usage the water requirements will be
1114200 kL of water/ hectares/ year. Assuming a 5 HP submersible water pump with a 350 meter head
range is capable of pumping at the rate of 400 liters/minute, it would therefore take up to 4000 pumps
of this spec to pump that water alone hence this sector would require around 20 MW for rice alone
altogether including offsets for losses and high wind penetration [200%] it would be fair to assume 360
MW of domestic scale wind plants projections at 40% of 450 MW (250 MW + up to 200 MW on rural
pumps] X 200% penetration with 270MW for Solar and other technologies. These however are initial
desk top studies which should be explored in detail in these lines. According to an unidentified survey a
rural household sample population is only willing to pay upto 150 INR per month [equivalent of 10 kWh
cost approx] which is 2% of their monthly consumption at 17500 kWh approx, hence initial
governmental & local body assistance in the form of incentives, tax waivers and feed-in rates for surplus
energy are required to implement this at a large scale this could incorporate solar street lightings and
other energy conservation systems.
Ideal solution: remote renewable power supply systems upgradable to grid interconnections during
surplus energy production these domestic scale wind and solar power converters ideal for use should be
5kW to 10kW PMSM or wound rotor HAWT or shrouded modular upgradable models integrated with PV
solar arrays for commercial viability, the T&D losses can be offseted to an extent by periodical O&M and
planning appropriate additional capacities in the storage medium [phase batteries]. A consortium of
domestic scale turbine manufacturers, solar power system and Capacitor and power converter
manufacturing units with test facilities could be pooled together to assess resources and present the
same to approval bodies [SEBs] and central Government [MNES, IREDA] Raw material requirements for
the manufacture of wind turbines and converter components can be easily sourced internally, Turbine
blades and solar panel mounts can be manufactured from landfill wastes which would ideally resolve
/or pave the way to resolve the distressing waste management issues in India.