The Ramakrishna Mission economic PV development initiative
- National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States)
- Sherring Energy Associates, Princeton, NJ (United States)
India is the world`s second most populous country, quickly approaching one billion persons. Although it has a well-developed electricity grid, many of the people have little or no access to electricity and all of the benefits associated with it. There are areas that are isolated from the grid and will not be connected for many years, if ever. One such area is the Sundarbans located in the delta region of the two great rivers, the Ganges and Brahmaputra, partially in India and partially in Bangladesh. It is estimated that 1.5 million people live in this area, crisscrossed by many islands and rivers, who have only marginal supplies of electricity generated primarily from diesel generators and batteries. Working with the regional non-governmental organization (NGO), the Ramakrishna Mission, and the West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency, the governments of India and the US initiated a rural electrification initiative to demonstrate the economic and technical feasibility of photovoltaics to provide limited supplies of electricity for such applications as solar home lighting systems (SHS), water pumping, vaccine refrigeration, communications, and economic development activities. This paper details initial results from approximately 30 kilowatts of PV systems installed in the area, including socio-economic impacts and technical performance.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC36-83CH10093
- OSTI ID:
- 305650
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/TP-520-25101; CONF-980735-PROC.; ON: DE98007497; TRN: IM9906%%330
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2. world conference and exhibition on photovoltaic solar energy conversion, Vienna (Austria), 6-10 Jul 1998; Other Information: PBD: Sep 1998; Related Information: Is Part Of NCPV preprints for the 2. world conference on photovoltaic solar energy conversion; PB: 142 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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