Various applications of Solar power in India

Solar power in India

Lack of electricity infrastructure is one of the main hurdles in the development of rural India. India's grid system is considerably under-developed, with major sections of its populace still surviving off-grid. As of 2004 there are about 80,000 unelectrified villages in the country. Of these villages, 18,000 could not be electrified through extension of the conventional grid. A target for electrifying 5,000 such villages was set for the Tenth National Five Year Plan (2002–2007). As of 2004, more than 2,700 villages and hamlets had been electrified, mainly using solar photovoltaic systems. 

Various Applications of Solar power in India are listed below:

Rural electrification

Developments in cheap solar technology are considered as a potential alternative that allows an electricity infrastructure consisting of a network of local-grid clusters with distributed electricity generation. It could allow bypassing (or at least relieving) the need to install expensive, lossy, long-distance, centralized power delivery systems and yet bring cheap electricity to the masses. Projects currently planned include 3000 villages of Orissa, which will be lighted with solar power by 2014.

Solar lamps and lighting

By 2012 46,00,000 solar lanterns and 861,654 solar powered home lights have been installed. These typically replace kerosene lamps and can be purchased for the cost of a few months worth of kerosene through a small loan. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is offering a 30% to 40% subsidy for the cost of lanterns, home lights and small systems up to 210 Wp. 20 million solar lamps are expected by 2022.

Agricultural support

 Solar PV water pumping systems are used for irrigation and drinking water. The majority of the pumps are fitted with a 200–3,000 watt motor that are powered with 1,800 Wp PV arrays which can deliver about 140,000 liters of water per day from a total head of 10 meters. By 30 September 2006, a total of 7,068 solar PV water pumping systems had been installed, and by March 2012, 7,771 had been installed. Solar driers are used to dry harvests before storage.

Solar water heaters

Bangalore has the largest deployment of rooftop solar water heaters in India. These heaters generate an energy equivalent of 200 MW. Bangalore is also the first city in the country to put in place an incentive mechanism by providing a rebate of INR50 on monthly electricity bills for residents using roof-top thermal systems. These systems are now mandatory for all new structures. Pune, another city in the western part of India, has also recently made installation of solar water heaters in new buildings mandatory.

Source: Wikipedia