Is Microgrid An Answer To Rural India's Power Woes?
Power Watch India|May 2017

Microgrid can be defined as a small network of electricity users with a local source of supply that is usually attached to a centralised national grid, but is able to function independently. From India’s context, rural microgrid is a small electricity network implemented at a village level with its own generation unit and the electricity generated thus supplied primarily to the village households and in some cases, to some commercial load centres. These microgrids are often not connected to the national grid and have been set up in the villages where there is no grid connection or even if there is a grid, power supply is highly erratic.

Rudranil Roy Sharma
Is Microgrid An Answer To Rural India's Power Woes?

Rural microgrid is not a new concept for India, which has been a pioneer in rural micro grids since 1990s through participation from the private entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs took the initiative to light up the villages which were under the curse of darkness since ages. In those days, when solar power was not available or was not an affordable technology, biomass or husk based generation was a technology of choice. With the advent of technology, solar power based microgrid has now become an obvious choice for the developers due to various reasons. These solar plants are modular in nature; capacity can be scaled up easily; easier and faster to install; fuel availability is not an issue and O&M is simpler. Capacity of these solar microgrids vary from less than a KW to as high as 10-12 KW. India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) estimates that India has installed over 2,000 AC microgrids of over 5 kW by 2016 and over 10,000 DC microgrids with the majority sized at less than 1 kW.

A solar microgrid will typically have a set of solar individual modules with capacity of 150–400 W, a set of solar batteries with storage capacity of 75–150 Ah, controllers in some places, inverters for DC to AC conversion for bigger microgrids, and finally, a set of cables carrying electricity to the households and other commercial load points. The households generally get to light 2–3 bulbs and a plug point for charging mobiles. In most of the cases, power from the microgrid is consumed between 6–11 pm. In most of the villages, there is no meter installed to measure the consumption and villagers pay a fixed sum every month, irrespective of their consumption.

Denne historien er fra May 2017-utgaven av Power Watch India.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra May 2017-utgaven av Power Watch India.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA POWER WATCH INDIASe alt
Time Is Ripe for Adoption of Innovative Technologies
Power Watch India

Time Is Ripe for Adoption of Innovative Technologies

Amit Vaidya, Director, Strategic Customer Team, India, Sensus speaks about the potential of the UDAY scheme and the need for deployment of automation and smart technologies in the distribution infrastructure, in an interview with Monica Chaturvedi Charna...

time-read
4 mins  |
December 2016
Conext Inverter Will Reduce the Levelised Cost of Energy
Power Watch India

Conext Inverter Will Reduce the Levelised Cost of Energy

Anurag Garg, Vice President – Solar Business, Schneider Electric, speaks about the company’s latest launch, an inverter that will help cut down the operational cost of solar power plants, in an interview with Monica Chaturvedi Charna...

time-read
3 mins  |
December 2016
Hands Off My Discom!
Power Watch India

Hands Off My Discom!

Most people who take an interest in the electricity sector are aware that the discom train has clearly jumped off the rails in a large number of Indian states.

time-read
9 mins  |
December 2016
There is Immense Business Opportunity in the Metering Space
Power Watch India

There is Immense Business Opportunity in the Metering Space

Says Gautam Seth – Jt. Managing Director, HPL Electric and Power Ltd., in conversation with Monica Chaturvedi Charna...

time-read
5 mins  |
March 2017
Solar Is in Comfortable Position, Does Not Require Hand Holding
Power Watch India

Solar Is in Comfortable Position, Does Not Require Hand Holding

Dev Arora – Founder and CEO, 8 Minutes Future Energy Pvt Ltd expresses enthusiasm over the solar sector’s performance in India, with investments on the rise and storage being the next big thing to look out for, in an interview with Monica Chaturvedi Charna...

time-read
5 mins  |
March 2017
india is the 2nd largest led market in the world
power watch india

india is the 2nd largest led market in the world

states neelima jain, national programme manager, energy efficiency services ltd, in an interview with monica chaturvedi charna...

time-read
6 mins  |
october 2016
Recommendations for Energy Storage in India
Power Watch India

Recommendations for Energy Storage in India

India’s energy sector has grown rapidly over the last year driven by policies, reforms and investments. Various policy initiatives such as introduction of UDAY, amendments in National Electricity Act, new solar RPO target for states, biofuel policy, small hydro policy, offshore wind policy and new hydrocarbon policy have all contributed to growth of the industry. However, there is still a long way to go with some persisting issues requiring attention and resolution at the earliest, making the upcoming budget crucial to the energy sector.

time-read
3 mins  |
February 2017
Report
Power Watch India

Report

Asia-Pacific Region Provides Best Opportunities In Declining Global Gas Turbine Market: GlobalData.

time-read
2 mins  |
May 2017
Backup Power
Power Watch India

Backup Power

Decision-makers should put in place backup power with safeguards including computer-security measures so that the system offers round-the-clock power and is protected from all sorts of disruptions.

time-read
9 mins  |
May 2017
Microgrids Enable A Greater Level Of Penetration For RE
Power Watch India

Microgrids Enable A Greater Level Of Penetration For RE

Says Sanjith S Shetty, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Soham Renewable Energy India (P) Ltd, in conversation with R Srinivasan.

time-read
8 mins  |
May 2017