12/07/11

Smart grids and renewables to power India’s remote areas

Smart grids, renewable energy mix could light India's remote areas Copyright: Flickr/skyseeker

By: Archita Bhatta

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<div class="article-wrap">
<div id="article-introduction">
<h1>Smart grids and renewables to power India’s remote areas</h1>
<h4>By: Archita Bhatta</h4>
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<p><span>[NEW DELHI] India has begun setting up computerised ‘smart’  mini—grids powered with renewable energy sources to provide electricity  in inaccessible areas. </span></p>
<p><span>India’s ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) this month  (1 July) commissioned the country’s first ‘renewable energy-based smart  mini-grid system’ at Gurgaon, outside New Delhi. </span></p>
<p><span>The computerised electricity distribution system is equipped  with sophisticated sensors and control devices to manage local  electricity supply drawn from a mix of solar cells, micro-hydro power  plants, wind turbines and biomass.</span></p>
<p><span>The national power grid and small diesel-powered generators  offer a back-up to the system should renewable energy supply fail.  Response to power fluctuations and blackouts is faster than the  conventional grid, Parineeta Mohanty, fellow at The Energy and Resources  Institute (TERI), New Delhi, told <em>SciDev.Net</em>.</span></p>
<p><span>"The system is based on a computer programme that picks up  electricity from these sources, and monitors and balances the power  according to requirement. The programme dictates how much energy will be  picked up from which source at a particular time," Bibek Bandyopadyay,  who heads the solar energy centre at MNRE, said.</span></p>
<p><span>"Renewable energy, like solar and wind, is not always  available. The smart grid helps in switching from one energy source to  another depending on demand and availability, so that reliable power  supply can be ensured at an affordable cost even in remote areas," he  explained. </span></p>
<p><span>Smart grids can be used, for example, in Lakshadweep, an  archipelago in the Arabian Sea, which now depends on diesel shipped in  from the mainland to power generators. </span></p>
<p><span>TERI developed the smart grid with help from Australia’s  Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. Similar  grids are widely used in advanced and developing countries.   </span></p>
<p><span>Subhesh Bhattacharya, senior lecturer at the centre for energy,  petroleum and mineral law and policy at the University of Dundee,  Scotland, who is working on renewable energy systems in developing  countries, said propagation of renewable energy-based smart grids could  evolve as a viable policy for developing countries. </span></p>
<p><span>A digitally controlled mini-grid helps "technological  leapfrogging in the (renewable energy) supply and, if the systems are  properly standardised, they can be easily integrated into the national  grid", he observed.</span></p>

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[NEW DELHI] India has begun setting up computerised ‘smart’ mini—grids powered with renewable energy sources to provide electricity in inaccessible areas.

India’s ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) this month (1 July) commissioned the country’s first ‘renewable energy-based smart mini-grid system’ at Gurgaon, outside New Delhi.

The computerised electricity distribution system is equipped with sophisticated sensors and control devices to manage local electricity supply drawn from a mix of solar cells, micro-hydro power plants, wind turbines and biomass.

The national power grid and small diesel-powered generators offer a back-up to the system should renewable energy supply fail. Response to power fluctuations and blackouts is faster than the conventional grid, Parineeta Mohanty, fellow at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi, told SciDev.Net.

"The system is based on a computer programme that picks up electricity from these sources, and monitors and balances the power according to requirement. The programme dictates how much energy will be picked up from which source at a particular time," Bibek Bandyopadyay, who heads the solar energy centre at MNRE, said.

"Renewable energy, like solar and wind, is not always available. The smart grid helps in switching from one energy source to another depending on demand and availability, so that reliable power supply can be ensured at an affordable cost even in remote areas," he explained.

Smart grids can be used, for example, in Lakshadweep, an archipelago in the Arabian Sea, which now depends on diesel shipped in from the mainland to power generators.

TERI developed the smart grid with help from Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. Similar grids are widely used in advanced and developing countries.

Subhesh Bhattacharya, senior lecturer at the centre for energy, petroleum and mineral law and policy at the University of Dundee, Scotland, who is working on renewable energy systems in developing countries, said propagation of renewable energy-based smart grids could evolve as a viable policy for developing countries.

A digitally controlled mini-grid helps "technological leapfrogging in the (renewable energy) supply and, if the systems are properly standardised, they can be easily integrated into the national grid", he observed.