Towards Sustainable Energy Systems: Integrating Renewable Energy Sources is the Key for Rural Area Power Supply. Pradeep K Katti. Dr. Mohan K Khedkar.
Towards Sustainable Energy Systems: Integrating Renewable Energy Sources is the Key for Rural Area Power Supply Pradeep K Katti ABSTRACT: Over 1.6 billion people living in the rural areas of the poorest regions of the world, especially in subSaharan Africa and South Asia lack access to modern forms of energy services. In addition, currently used sources of energy for cooking and heating (wood, crop residues, charcoal, etc.) are a serious source of indoor pollution, causing Environmental and health problems and contributing to deforestation. Energy is a prerequisite for sustainable development and for fighting poverty. Availability of affordable and sustainable energy to all people is critical to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and its contributions impact in various ways. In the context this article has the objectives of emphasizing certain prime issues, challenges and probable solution for the promotion of Renewable Energy Technologies (RET) in an integrated way and stimulates on the removal of barriers on implementation strategies in the region of South Asia in general and India in particular. For the ease of understanding a simple integrated model and the results for a remote site has been presented along with the benefits of the system to rural area power supply. Key words: Sustainable Energy and development, renewable sources, integrated operation, rural area power supply, issues and challenges.
I. Introduction South Asia, with its population of above 1.3 billion, is home for about one fifth of the world’s population. The availability of energy, that advance- or at least is compatible with - long term human well being and ecological balance, is a key to sustainable development of this region. Thus aspect of sustainable energy supply is critical in the context of South Asian region in general and India in particular, as it is poised for higher growth. This is evident from the fact that the growth rate in GDP in the South Asian region was about 4.2 % and 4.8% in India during 2002 while world average was about 3.0% for the same year [19]. The growth of economy and population in South Asia has resulted in rapid increase in energy consumption above the world average. Thus the South Asian region faces the ‘sustainable development’ challenge of meeting the rapidly increasing energy
Dr. Mohan K Khedkar demand as well as conserving the natural resources and protecting the environment. II. Energy scenario in South Asia As per the Energy Information Administration (EIA), primary energy consumption of South Asia increased by nearly 58% from 1991 to 2000. The per capita primary energy consumption for South Asia is about 0.45 toe (tones of oil equivalent), which is very low, compared with the world average of 1.68. Similarly the per capita consumption of electrical energy is lower than the world average. Figures 1a and 1b show the country wise per capita primary energy and electrical energy consumption.
Fig1a. Per capita primary energy consumption
Fig.1b. per capita electrical energy consumption Sources: key statistics 2002, IEA
The commercial energy mix in South Asia is dominated by coal followed by petroleum and natural gas. The energy mix varies considerably
within the region, with India depending mainly on coal, Bangladesh on natural gas and in Sri Lanka, the dominant source is petroleum. [18, 19] Another critical issue in this region is of access to energy. Large portion of population dose not have access to commercial energy sources and is dependent on traditional biomass. Similarly, though there has been growth in the installed capacity, about 60%of population in the region still does not have access to electricity (table 1). Table 1: Level of electrification in South Asia Sr. No. Country % Population Electrificati without on electrification (million) 01 Bangladesh 20.4 02 India 43 03 Nepal 15.4 04 Pakistan 52.9 05 Sri Lanka 62 06 South Asia 41.55296 07 World 72.8 Source: World Energy Outlook, 2002, IEA
104.4 579 19.5 65 7.4 775.3 1644.5
The problem can be well addressed to overcome the short supply or to provide electricity by an autonomous way through RET’s. that are poised to deliver benefits, but significant barriers exist. III. Sources of Renewable Energy: Renewable energy is energy from sources that are replenishable. Nationally, India possesses broadly five major sources of renewable energy distributed over the geography with an additional option of Energy conservation measures: • Solar energy - Sunlight, or solar energy, can be used directly for heating and lighting buildings, generating electricity, providing solar cooling, pumping agricultural water, and meeting a variety of residential and industrial uses. The two forms of solar energy are solar photovoltaic panels and solar thermal-power plants. Although solar energy tends to be one of the more expensive power sources, however its availability coincides with peak usage. • Biomass energy - Biomass is organic matter (i.e. cow manure, almond shells) that can generate electricity (by burning as a fuel) and produce liquid fuels for transportation (i.e. ethanol, biodiesel). • Wind energy – Wind turbines can capture wind energy. Wind energy is the fastest-growing power source in the world and is among the cheapest types of renewable energy. Wind generators are relatively efficient, but wind is intermittent in availability. • Hydroelectric energy - The energy in flowing water can be captured to produce hydroelectric
power. However, dams, which often serve to generate hydroelectric energy, can have an adverse effect on marine and wildlife. • Geothermal energy - Geothermal energy taps the Earth’s internal heat for a variety of uses, including electric-power production and the heating and cooling of buildings. Geothermal energy is relative cost-effective, but its availability depends on the presence of natural resources, such as geysers. • Energy Conservation and Efficiency Conservation is usually behavior related (e.g. turning off lights, operating a machine fewer hours); efficiency has to do with improving energy efficiency (e.g. using power-saving appliances, cogeneration). These strategies can also be forms of renewable energy, and they are typically cost effective alternatives. [4, 7, 10, 13] IV. Country scenario: India The contribution of renewable energy technologies in Indian economy and impact on overall development can be classified in two categories: off-grid and grid connected applications. The country’s renewable energy potential and achievement are given in Table 2. Table 2 Technical potential and achievements in India Sr Source/Technol Approximate Achievement No. ogy potential (2003) 01 Solar PV Power 20MW/Sq.k 4.7 m 02 Wind Energy 1500 MW 1870 03 Small Hydro 15000 1600 04 Bio Biogas 12 million 3.5million ener plants gy Biomas 19500MW 484 s power 05 Waste to 1700Mwe 26 Energy Source: MNES website
V. Potential Benefits of Renewable Energy Renewable energy can provide important benefits to communities. The key benefits are: • Environmental benefits: Most renewableenergy technologies are clean sources of energy that have a much lower environmental impact. • Sustainability benefits: RE by definition is replenishable. They will be available till our grand children and further. Other sources of energy are finite and deplete someday or become too expensive to use. • Economic benefits: Most renewable energy investments, unlike investments on costly imports, are usually made within the country, frequently in the same state and often in the same town as the users of energy. The result is that
energy cost stays back in home to create jobs and fuel local economies, rather than going overseas. • Security benefits: Our national dependence on foreign oil supplies leaves us vulnerable to supply disruptions and price fluctuations complicating foreign relations. [10] VI. Current Renewable-Energy Use Despite the environmental benefits offered by RET’s, they currently constitute a very small share of our nation’s energy supply, which is just around 3% of total. The very fact may be due to certain issues and challenges those barrier the utility, these have been briefly discussed along with some solutions that favour the use of RET’s in an integrated form which would lead towards Sustainable Energy System by Integrating Renewable Energy Sources (RES) for Rural area power supply (RAPS) and Productive Use. i. The Issue Delivering affordable energy services from lowrisk energy sources to the poor and raising the living standards for a growing world population is the ultimate goal of sustainable energy systems. These ambitious goals can be reached by combining the inherent benefits of renewable energy sources. Further by optimising demand side through energy end-use efficiency, increase of energy demand and costs can be kept much lower. The energy costs saved can be invested to accelerate the market introduction of the still expensive but in long run more sustainable supply from renewable energies. Neither just shifting from traditional energy supplies to renewable energies nor investing only in energy end-use efficiency while neglecting the need to diversify the energy supply by renewable energies and cogeneration of heat and power can do the job alone: Integrating renewable energies with other issues is the key to sustainable energy systems. ii. The Challenge Today’s patterns and trends in overall energy demand and supply are not sustainable, neither in industrialised nor in developing countries. This can only be change by harvesting inherent benefits of renewable energies sources. * Around 2 billion people still lack access to modern and affordable energy services, while the poor often pay the highest prices or remain isolated for energy sources. * Many market and structural barriers are hindering renewable energies, and especially their integrated use both at project and national levels. Under the circumstances long-term, least-cost solutions for
sustainable development will not be possible without a new approach for removal of barriers. * Present growth rate shows that, world primary energy demand is expected to at least double by 2050, with high investment costs and emissions and threatening risks of climate change, nuclear disasters and geostrategic conflicts on oil and gas [4, 8]. iii. The Solution Intensive use of renewable energies can reduce demand for risk loaded fossil and nuclear energies, but only if they are integrated will they enable an affordable and risk-minimising path to sustainable energy systems. * Scenario analysis based on proven technologies and good policy practices show that RET’s integration are expected to stabilise world primary energy demand by 2050. This enables RE to provide a larger share of demand, thereby reducing world CO2 emissions to a grater extent, while raising living standards and alleviating poverty. * Framework conditions, institutional settings, incentive structures and the motivation of actors in developing and industrialised countries are all too often still oriented on traditional fossil and nuclear energy supplies. As far as the benefits of RES are acknowledged by diversifying the energy supply, this strategy will be the more promising the more it is used in an integrated way. * In all sectors (e.g. production, buildings, transportation, irrigation, households), a large but untapped cost-effective energy saving potential (between 25 and 85%) has been demonstrated. Barriers to least-cost energy services can be removed with low transaction costs, using advanced efficiency technologies and innovative management methodologies. * The net cost savings from energy efficiency can be used to accelerate market introduction and to “buy down” the initially higher cost of renewable energies. This is the case both from a macroeconomic perspective and for specific projects. In sum, it enables cost reductions through mass production and learning effects, making renewable energies more rapidly competitive with fossil and nuclear energies. * Thus the integrated operation of RET with end-use efficiency is sure to create more favourable conditions to reduce the demand for energy imports, to improve security of supply of energy services, to create local jobs and income,
iv. The Implementation In developed as well as in developing countries, an effective policy for integrated operation of renewable energies requires: * A change in basic concepts, methodologies and decision-making criteria in the energy sector: delivering least-cost energy services and substituting risk-prone energies by renewable energies should be given top priority; * an energy policy aimed at reducing subsidisation and internalising external costs by introducing energy taxes step by step, so that, in the end, prices reflect the true societal costs; * an appropriate combination of policy supporting a broad implementation of renewable energies and combining the inherent benefits of renewable energies for their utility; * a supportive framework for the integration of RET and end-use efficiency, co-/trigeneration and power. The general guideline should be to integrate renewable energy technology projects and develop least-cost implementation strategies for renewable energy options. [1, 5, 8, 12] VII. . How an integrated Renewable Based Power system Work With renewable based Rural Area Power Supply (RAPS), solar, wind, bio or small hydro power replaces some or all of the power otherwise provided by a generator. Batteries store the energy produced so that power is always available. A device called an inverter is usually used to change the direct electric current (DC) produced by batteries and renewable energy sources to the alternating current (AC) at required level of potential needed by most household electrical appliances. An integrated RAPS, incorporating both renewable energy sources and a diesel generator, is shown below.
Fig.3.An integrated RAPS
The operation of a 2.2-kW Wind-PV system for charging batteries, installed in Electrical Engineering Department at V N I T – Nagpur – India has been described (study of integrating other sources is in progress). In the original design, the system has been intended to satisfy a simulated load for the remote place. A near by on-site historical 12 years wind speed and 18 years irradiance data have been used. The data was obtained from the India meteorological department of vidrbha region Nagpur. The statistical functions of probability Density function for wind speed and solar radiation have been used for analysis. With an average load profile for the site, a 1.6kW wind turbine, and 0.60 kW of PV and 7.5 kWh of battery storage is seem to be optimum combination, the results of the system performance are presented for the operation. Fig. 5 shows typical profiles of monthly load averaged on daily basis and the IRE energy production for each month. Energy generated By IRE System 16
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to raise living standards and thus to contribute to poverty alleviation.
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Fig.4 Typical Load profile and energy supplied (kWH)
As a result from fig. 4 following observations are made; i) April-July; the days are being much longer and windy. The sun paths are relatively long. highest system performance is recorded, representing a good environment for system operation ii) Aug-Nov - is the period characterized by short and cloudy days, in which the daily load is met completely. iii) From Dec-Mar is the worst followed by very short days with low wind speeds making the season of the lowest wind energy production. Finally the monthly percentage load that can be covered has been presented in Fig. 5 though most of the time load is covered to the largest extent; there are periods when a loss of power supply probability (LPSP) occurs. For example Nov, Dec, Jan and Mar this can be overcome by adding more PV and battery units. However
there is a limit of unit and cost optimization, if a large storage to absorb entire power is provided then the impact of LPSP may disappear which is not the sole objective at present. %ge Load coverage by IRE System 250
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Fig 5. Percentage load coverage over the year
VIII. General Socio-Economic Benefits of Increased Electricity Use: Integrated operation of Decentralized local generation and distribution facilities for electrical services in rural areas will definitely benefit the rural population and help to develop rural areas in particular and national development in general, certain important benefits those can be achieved are listed below; * Rural Electrification – Boost agriculture production, trigger off farm activities, reduce migration to urban areas, increase food security, better health, higher literacy rate and promotes social integration * Poverty Alleviation – Enhanced employment, increased income, increased savings, progressive food & non-food expenditures, increases in health/education spending and higher empowerment of women * Rural Asset Building – Land ownership increase with increase electrification * Health Improvement – Better information access – health, sanitation and medical facilities * Education – Promotes technical and vocational education, student enrollment increases and attendance rate/study time increases * Demographic Impact – Population growth rate decreases and migration to urban areas reduces * Empowerment of Women – Wood collection reduces, resulting in income generating activities and community participation activities increases [3, 4, 9] IX. Conclusion: In the paper certain key issues and challenges for the RET have been presented. Further the scenario
of energy and electrification of South Asia region in general and India in particular have been presented. Examination of some of the key issues on energy and sustainable development clearly shows that achieving a sustainable future will require the concerted effort at all levels. Apart from that enhanced international cooperation, strong national commitment and public funding are necessary to build the necessary basic energy service delivery structures to those currently without access to modern energy, as energy is a prerequisite for sustainable development and for fighting poverty. However a question arises as is renewable energy ready to meet its promise? The answer is a resounding yes, as depicted by observations drawn as a result from the figures 4 and 5 of section VII, for a two (Solar-Wind) source integrated system. The experimentation of integrating other sources is underway. From the broad variety of RET’S, some are already making large inroads in the marketplace. Other technologies, perhaps those most beneficial to a sustainable future, are farther from commercialisation. Most, however, are progressing more quickly than ever; there are no technical stumbling blocks for renewable energy. RE will be a major force in the Indian energy future; the only question is when? The answer will depend only on the will of the Indian people, policy makers, Government and other market players in the field to have a clean environment and a sustainable economy with reliable energy from RET’s. This will determine whether we regard the following statement as a promising of what India can become in 2020, or as mere fantasy and wishful thinking. India 2020 will be bustling with energy, entrepreneurship and innovation. The country’s 1.35 billion people will be better fed, dressed and housed, taller and healthier, more educated and longer living than any generation in the country’s long history. Illiteracy and all major contagious diseases will have disappeared. School enrolment from age 6 to 14 will near 100 per cent and drop out rates will fall to less than one in twenty. (President of India) Therefore the key issues and challenges identified throughout the paper required to be thought carefully for the region so as to achieve the long-term objective of sustainable energy supply and demand for the region.
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XI. Bibliography M. K. Khedkar was born in 1959.He graduated from Nagpur University’s degree in electrical engineering in1980. He obtained his M. Tech. and Ph.D. degrees from the same university in 1983 and 1994. He is working with Vivsesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur as a Professor, in electrical engineering department. His areas of interest are Distribution automation &Renewable energy Sources. He is the author of 60 papers at national as well as international level. One fellow has completed PhD under his guidance and presently he is guiding three researchers, for their doctoral work. He has wide experience in postgraduate teaching and supervising dissertation. He was nominated as referee for the international journal EPSR. Pradeep. K. Katti was born in 1961. He graduated from Mysore University’s degree in Electrical Engineering (Power) from BIET-Davanagere in 1985. He obtained M.E (Control System) from Govt. College of Engineering of Pune University in 1991. Presently he is a Ph. D research scholar at VNIT-Nagpur since-2003. He has a wide teaching experience, and presently working with Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University as a faculty in the dept of electrical engineering. He has guided projects at U.G. & P.G. level. He has several papers to his credit at national level and few noted at international level.
