Enhancing Access to Electricity In Rural India

Presented by Rajiv Ranjan Executive Director The Green Mantra

Decentralized Distribution- Key Issues, Challenges & Solutions

Introduction What is DDG Approach Concept Choice of Technology Benefits Challenges Barriers Conclusion

Introduction

People think of energy as wires, poles and power plants, oils wells and pipelines. But we forget the demand side: the nexus between poverty, health, education, energy & gender empowerment. Access to modern and reliable source of energy is a major driver for rural development & improved livelihoods Grid Extension and Decentralized Distributed Generation are the two basic means used to electrify rural areas

Current Scenario

1.6 billion people do not have access to electricity 2.6 billion people depend on biomass fuels for heating & cooking Transmission of power over long distances led to high transmission & distribution losses. Inadequate investments, improper billing & high pilferage. Major bottleneck in the development of the power sector is

Poor financial state of the utilities, Lack of adequate revenues and state subsidies for supply to the rural subscribers. Present policies of building large centralized generation and extended distribution networks are unlikely to solve the problems of rural electricity supply in near future.

What is DDG

Another option for rural electrification covers a broad range of technologies supplying small scale power at sites close to users where connectivity to the grid is not feasible and cost effective. Enables electricity generation at the local level using locally available resources ensuring reduced dependence on external resources. Local distribution networks or micro-grids are set up over a cluster of villages and powered by a local generating plant. Based on renewable energy such as; wind, solar, hydro power, and biomass. A new era, where thousands or millions of users will own their generators, becoming both producers and consumers of electricity.

Approach
Four Stages of Implementation: First Stage: Rapport building with the villagers to understand all issues connected with the village. People are associated with the village surveys to ensure the involvement right from the beginning. Second Stage: Technology development and demonstration Creation of Village Energy Development Committee to motivate the villagers to participate in the process of induction of a new technology. Third Stage: Technology acceptance and capacity building among the villagers. Receptive to its adoption through demonstration and dissemination to evoke better response from the individuals Fourth Stage: Dissemination of new technologies for which bulk of the work will be carried out by the persons trained in the village. TGMs assistance in terms of providing technical guidance regarding the technologies used for community use a detailed overview will be given to the village panchayats.

Choice of Technology

DDG-based renewable energy projects are site specific and may face issues related to limited options for technology selection. Technology to be used for rural electrification through the renewable DDG route should be selected based on the potential for each technology in the area, availability of feedstock, total demand, and cost of implementation. Requires careful planning based on various drivers, that is feedstock supply, ability to operate, maintain, and service the newly installed systems and potential applications for income generation.

DISTANCE FROM GRID

DISPERSION

Size of Demand

TYPE OF LOAD

DECISION: GRID EXTENSION OR OFF GRID

DECISION:MINI GRID OR INDIVIDUAL SYSTEMS

MINI GRID

INDIVIDUAL SYSTEM

COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION RESOURCE AVAILABILITY

SHS

INCOME LEVEL DIESEL

WHS

PICO HYDRO RET EQUIPMENT AVAILABILITY BATTERY

DIESEL/RET HYBRID

Benefits of DDG

Energy consumers, power providers and all other state holders are benefited in their own ways by the adoption of distributed power. The most important benefit of distributed power stems from its flexibility, it can provide power where it is needed and when it is needed. Over the next 20 years, significant investment will be required to upgrade the transmission and distribution networks. In order to cut these costs, distributed generation can be used as a way to bypass the transmission and distribution networks.

Major Benefits to Various Stakeholders

Consumer-Side Benefits:

Better power reliability and quality, lower energy cost, wider choice in energy supply options, Better energy and load management and faster response to new power demands.

GridSide Benefits:

Reduced transmission and distribution losses, reduction in upstream congestion on transmission lines, Optimal use of existing grid assets, higher energy conversion efficiency than in central generation and improved grid reliability. Capacity additions and reductions can be made in small increments closely matching the demands. Instead construct Central Power Plants to meet an estimated future rather than current demand under distributed generation.
Continued.

Benefits to Other Stakeholders

Energy Service Companies get new opportunities for selling, financing and managing distributed generation and load reduction technologies and approaches. Technology developers, manufacturers and vendors of distributed power equipment see opportunities for new business in an expanded market for their products. Regulators and policy makers support distributed power as it benefits to consumers and promotes competition.

Challenges

Greater challenge in justifying DDG projects in developing countries, particularly in rural settings to meet the basic needs of village dwellers that do not have access to grid electricity. Work out the economic viability of the projects which is often more important than the limited choice of site-specific technologies. Limited rural income generally can only cover operating costs and some equity, leaving the majority of the initial capital expenditures to be supported in the form of grants from local government or development agencies. Assessment of a suitable technology option which can be managed by the local community.

Barriers

Financial institutions in India, due to lack of adequate knowledge of these technologies, their advantages, and returns, are not convinced enough to lend for the purchase of these (RETs). Data collected by govt. agencies is neither shared nor collated into a single database system which results in limited data and information for entrepreneurs looking to enter DDG market. Owing to a rigid program based approach, little or no attention has been given to either the effectiveness of these programs or the issues that promote human welfare through a measurable approach. Governments are slowly coming forward with creative ways to support DDG, but the gap between government subsidies and the true cost of a project is too wide to be bridged by local users .

Conclusion

Access to electricity - which is an important instrument to eliminate energy poverty in rural areas remains a challenge even in relatively more developed States of India. Decentralized Distributed Generation (DDG) transforms the rural electricity distribution scenario bringing about immense opportunities for socioeconomic development Facilitate successful adoption of simple but innovative approaches for alleviation of energy poverty.

Thank You For Your Attention

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