POWERING OF A REMOTE AREA THROUGH RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES

Abstract

Energy plays an important role in our day to day life. Electric power is a key driver of economic growth and prosperity. Due to the adverse affects of using conventional energy sources for power generation and due to their depleting nature, the world is shifting towards non conventional energy sources. Renewables are indigenous, non-depleting, modular and environment-friendly. They can meet a broad spectrum of energy demand. India is blessed with huge potential of renewable energy which can be used to power remote unelectrified areas. India has been pursuing renewable energy sources of energy for various applications for a long time now. Currently, renewable energy sources of energy make up for about 5% o. of grid electricity produced in the country. Despite the increasing contribution of renewables to the total national power, about 21% villages still remain in dark and not all the households of the electrified villages have power. There are still a number of villages which do not have even a single light in their households. Because of the technical and economical problems associated with extending electricity services from the regional grid to these villages, they were left unelectrified. Renewable energy sources that are available in those villages can be used for meeting power demands of such villages. Among the various options available for generating and distributing power from renewable energy sources, Decentralized Generation and distribution is best suited for remote unelectrified areas which are located far away from ` the Grid and whose connection to the grid is technically and economically unfeasible. Twelve unelectrified villages of Jaunpur block of Tehri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand were selected for study. The villages are rich in renewable energy sources and possess a total power potential of 50.8kW which is proposed to be generated from Micro Hydro Power, Biomass, Solar Photo Voltaic and Wind Energy Conversion technologies. The total power demand of the cluster of villages under the study area is 47.0418kW. Various options available for distributing the power to among the villages are studied and a cost comparison of the same was done. The cost optimized distribution system was arrived at with a total cost of Rs 3,84,614/km.