Thursday, July 14, 2011

India's rural poor give up on power grid, go solar

By Katy Daigle, Associated Press

Tuesday, July 5, 2011






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In this May 25, 2011 photograph, Sharan Pinto installs a solar panel antenna on the roof top of a house in Nidle village, on the outskirts of Manglore, India. Across India, thousands of homes are receiving their first light through small companies and aid programs that are bypassing the central electricity grid to deliver solar panels to the rural poor. Those customers could provide the human energy that advocates of solar power have been looking for to fuel a boom in the next decade. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

NADA, India (AP) — Boommi Gowda used to fear the night. Her vision fogged by glaucoma, she could not see by just the dim glow of a kerosene lamp, so she avoided going outside where king cobras slithered freely and tigers carried off neighborhood dogs.

But things have changed at Gowda's home in the remote southern village of Nada. A solar-powered lamp pours white light across the front of the mud-walled hut she shares with her three grown children, a puppy and a newborn calf. Now she can now cook, tend to her livestock and get water from a nearby well at night.

"I can see!" Gowda said, giggling through a 100-watt smile. In her 70 years, this is the first time she has had any kind of electricity.

Across India, thousands of homes are receiving their first light through small companies and aid programs that are bypassing the central electricity grid to deliver solar panels to the rural poor. Those customers could provide the human energy that advocates of solar power have been looking for to fuel a boom in the next decade.

With 40 percent of India's rural households lacking electricity and nearly a third of its 30 million agricultural water pumps running on subsidized diesel, "there is a huge market and a lot of potential," said Santosh Kamath, executive director of consulting firm KPMG in India.
"Decentralized solar installations are going to take off in a very big way and will probably be larger than the grid-connected segment."

Next door to the Gowdas, 58-year-old Iramma, who goes by one name, frowned as she watched her neighbors light their home for the first time. At her house, electrical wiring dangles uselessly from the walls.

She said her family would wait for the grid. They've already given hundreds of dollars to an enterprising electrician who wired her house and promised service would come. They shouldn't have to pay even more money for solar panels, she insisted.

But she softened after her 16-year-old son interrupted to complain he was struggling in school because he cannot study at night like his classmates.

"We are very much frustrated," she said. "The children are very anxious. They ask every day, 'Why don't we have power like other people?' So if the grid doesn't come in a month, maybe we will get solar, too."

Despite decades of robust economic growth, there are still at least 300 million Indians — a quarter of the 1.2 billion population — who have no access to electricity at home. Some use cow dung for fuel, but they more commonly rely on kerosene, which commands premium black-market prices when government supplies run out.

They scurry during daylight to finish housework and school lessons. They wait for grid connections that often never come.

When people who live day-by-day on wage labor and what they harvest from the land choose solar, they aren't doing it to conserve fossil fuels, stop climate change or reduce their carbon footprints. To them, solar technology presents an elegant and immediate solution to powering everything from light bulbs and heaters to water purifiers and pumps.

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In this May 24, 2011 photograph, Parvin Yeyyada works with electric wiring as Boommi Gowda looks on during the installation of solar power in her house in Nada, a village near the southwest Indian port of Mangalore. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

"Their frustration is part of our motivation. Why are we so arrogant in deciding what the poor need and when they should get it?" said Harish Hande, managing director of Selco Solar Light Pvt. Ltd.

The company, which is owned by three foreign aid organizations, has fitted solar panels to 125,000 rural homes in Karnataka state, including the Gowdas', outside the west coast port of Mangalore.

Getting the technology to low-income customers is not easy. They need help with everything from setting up their first bank accounts and negotiating loans to navigating the fine print of payment contracts.

To find new clients, agents must go door-to-door in remote settlements, sometimes crossing rivers, hiking mountains or wading through wetlands to reach them.

But the sales pitch leads to reliable profits. Solar panels take little space on a rooftop, the lights burn brighter than kerosene lamps and they don't start forest fires or get snuffed in strong winds. Unlike central power, solar units don't get rationed or cut.

Buying solar panels is more expensive than grid electricity, but for people off the grid it compares well with other options. One of Selco's single-panel solar systems goes for about $360, the same or less than a year's supply of black-market kerosene. And government subsidies mean customers actually pay less than $300.

In two years, India's government hopes the off-grid solar yield will quadruple to 200 megawatts — enough to power millions of rural Indian homes with modest energy needs.

Boommi Gowda's family signed up for its solar system within weeks of seeing one at the home of neighbor Babu Gowda, who is not related but shares the common regional last name.

"With kerosene, you have to carry the lamp around wherever you go. The light is dim, and smoke fills the room and spoils the paint," said Babu Gowda, a sprightly 59-year-old.

He finally decided on solar after losing his dog to a tiger from the neighboring national park. Now light from his home wards off predators.

"I kept waiting and thinking the grid would come, and after years I was angry. But now I'm thrilled," he said. "Now we have light. We can move on, maybe expand with another solar panel and get a TV."

What's predicted for India's solar market is not unlike the recent explosion in cell phones, as villagers and slum-dwellers alike embraced mobile technology over lumbering landline connections. There is now at least one mobile phone link for every two people in the country.

The government has pushed for manufacturers and entrepreneurs to seize the opportunity. Its solar mission — an 11-year, $19 billion plan of credits, consumer subsidies and industry tax breaks to encourage investment — is fast becoming a centerpiece of its wider goal for renewable sources, including wind and small hydropower, to make up 20 percent of India's supply by 2020. Solar alone would provide 6 percent — a huge leap, since it makes up less than 1 percent of the 17 gigawatts India gets from renewables alone. The federal government leads a massive campaign titled "Light a Billion Lives" to distribute 200 million solar-powered lanterns to rural homes, while also supporting the creation of so-called "solar cities" with self-contained micro-grids in areas where supply is short.

Solar power is making inroads in smaller ways as well.

Near Nada, some schools send students home with solar-charged flashlights to study at night, and the temple town of Dharmasthala, visited by 10,000 pilgrims a day, offers free water purified through solar filtration.

Another Hindu temple in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh boasts one of the world's largest solar-powered kitchens, preparing 30,000 meals a day, while western Gujarat state has experimented with a solar crematorium. Even in the Himalayan frontier state of Arunachal Pradesh, where the sunshine is not India's brightest, Buddhist monks have installed solar panels to heat water at the 330-year Tawang Monastery.

Solar panels are becoming a must-have luxury item on dowry lists, even for those who have electricity but are annoyed by power cuts. And the capital of New Delhi requires hotels, hospitals and banquet halls to have solar water-heating systems.

Even Tata Power, India's energy giant and main supplier of coal-sourced grid power, is eyeing the off-grid market while it plans large solar and wind installations to feed into the network.

"Decentralized and distributed power from renewables is where we see a lot of growth. There are many suitable technologies. All that's needed are entrepreneurs," Tata's chief sustainability officer Avinash Patkar said.

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In this May 24, 2011 photograph, Pushpa Gowda right, makes Bidi, a low-grade tobacco, as she sits with her mother Boommi Gowda, left and brother Ubay Gowda after they installed solar light in their house. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

India's government is desperate to expand its energy options as its fast-moving economy faces chronic electricity shortages. Last year's 10 percent shortfall is expected to increase to 16 percent this year, according to the Central Electricity Authority. Within 25 years, India must increase electricity production fivefold to keep up with its own development and demand, the World Bank says.

India is planning new nuclear plants and quickly building more coal-firing plants, but it's also working to take better advantage of its renewable energy opportunities. It has been named the world's third most attractive destination for renewable energy investment, after the U.S. and China, according to two separate reports by global consulting firms KPMG and Ernst & Young.

Western states like Gujarat and Rajasthan get the full brunt of the sun, with famed deserts and scrublands filled with sand dunes, camels and residents who spend hours fetching water from wells. These states are luring big projects for solar fields to plug into the grid.

But most new grid capacity will be sucked up by industry, leaving little for the poor who live in off-grid desert outcrops, mountain hamlets and jungle villages like Nada. For them, the surest way to get electricity anytime soon may be to get a solar panel and make it themselves.

P.N. Babu, a 51-year-old laborer who supplements his wages by tapping sap from rubber trees, finally stopped waiting for the grid when he saw his 14-year-old son's eyes tearing as he tried to read by lamp.

"My children are too important," Babu said as the sun set in Nidle village, about 10 kilometers (six miles) south of Nada.

Normally, it is so dark not even moonlight cuts through the dense canopy of palms overhead. But on the family's first night with solar electricity, the house was ablaze.

The family took turns praying, elated they could see the Hindu icons of Lords Krishna and Ganesh by the light.

"When school starts again, I am ready now to get high scores," Babu's son Suresh said. "I couldn't see the words in the book before, with the smoke and the tears."

With the lights on, Suresh grabbed his sketchbook, filled with fanciful drawings of tigers, hippos, flowers and water jugs. He opened to a blank page and quickly outlined a modest house like his own, complete with a neatly swept yard and jungle gardens growing wild.
He finished by drawing the small box of a solar panel atop the roof.

SOURCE: The Associated Press
http://www.rdmag.com/News/2011/07/Energy-India-s-rural-poor-give-up-on-power-grid-go-solar/

Cientifica Release 2011 Report Global Nanotechnology Funding and Impact

Cientifica, the worlds most respected nanotechnology information and forecasting company has just released the much anticipated 2011 report on global nanotechnology funding and impact.

Founder Tim Harper commenented, "It's something we do every year, undertaking one of the world's most exhaustive searches into the global funding of nanotechnologies in order to identify not only where the dollars, euros and yen are being spent, but also to gain an unique insight into the trends shaping tomorrow's applications."

The major change for this year has been to develop a method of determining how effective government investment in emerging technologies is likely to be, using data from the World Economic Forum's annual Global Competitiveness Report among other sources.

The report found that while countries such as the UK have academic excellence, the service based economy means that there is little outlet for the fruits of nanotechnology research, unlike for example Germany which has a large and vibrant manufacturing sector that is hungry for new technologies to stay competitive.

A white paper giving an overview of the key numbers, which we believe to be the most accurate available anywhere, can be downloaded here.

Key findings are:

  • With US government funding of nanotechnology receding slightly in 2011, Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) estimates indicate that for the first time, China will spend more than the US to fund nanotechnology.
  • In the last 11 years, governments around the world have invested more than US$67.5 billion in nanotechnology funding. When corporate research and various other forms of private funding are taken into account, nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars will have been invested in nanotechnology by 2015.
  • Corporate research and private funding were thought to have surpassed government funding figures as far back as 2004. But this year, according to Cientifica's estimates, in PPP terms China will spend US$2.25 billion in nanotechnology research while the US will spend US$2.18 billion. In real dollar terms, adjusted for currency exchange rates, China is only spending about US$1.3 billion to the US's $2.18 billion.
  • This appears to be a temporary hiccup in US dominance in public funding of nanotechnology with the US again taking the lead next year even in PPP terms, spending $2.46 billion with China allotting $2.2 billion.
  • Cientifica's index of countries' ability to take advantage of emerging technologies indicates the US, Germany, Taiwan and Japan have the combination of academic excellence, technology-hungry companies, skilled workforces and the availability of early stage capital to ensure effective technology transfer.
When combined with levels of nanotechnology funding, the US is still the place to be, although China and Russia are increasingly attractive. The UK and UK and India struggle at the bottom of the league.

Source: http://www.azonano.com/news.aspx?newsID=22980

Monday, September 27, 2010

ISAEST-9

9th International Symposium on Advances in Electrochemical Science and Technology (ISAEST 9) is to be held during December 2 - 4, 2010 at Hotel Green Park, Chennai, India. It is organised by the Society for Advancement of Electrochemical Science and Technology (SAEST) and CSIR-Central Electrochemical Research Institute, Karaikudi (CECRI).

The Symposium will provide a forum for electrochemists and technologists from all over the world to meet and exchange knowledge and research experience. The Symposium will discuss developments in all branches of Electrochemical Science and Technology.

Please visit : www.saest.com to explore more about the Symposium.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Nanotechnology Helps to Develop Solar Cells with Over 65% Efficiency

TU/e researchers want to develop solar cells with an efficiency of over 65 percent by means of nanotechnology. In Southern Europe and North Africa these new solar cells can generate a substantial portion of the European demand for electricity. The Dutch government reserves EUR 1.2 million for the research.



An agency of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, will grant the EUR 1.2 million to researchers dr. Jos Haverkort, dr. Erik Bakkers en dr. ir. Geert Verbong for their research into nanowire solar cells. It is their expectation that, when combined with mirror systems, these solar cells can generate a sizeable portion of the European electricity demand in Southern Europe and North Africa.

The current thin-film solar cells (type III/V) have an efficiency that lies around 40 percent, but they are very expensive and can only be applied as solar panels on satellites. By using mirror systems that focus one thousand times they can now also be deployed on earth in a cost-effective manner. The TU/ researchers expect that in ten years their nano-structured solar cells can attain an efficiency of more than 65 percent. Jos Haverkort: "If the Netherlands wants to timely participate in a commercial exploitation of nanowire solar cells, there is a great urgency to get on board now." The research is conducted together with Philips MiPlaza.

They think that nanotechnology, in combination with the use of concentrated sunlight through mirror systems, has the potential to lead to the world’s most efficient solar cell system with a cost price lower than 50 cent per Watt peak. In comparison: for the present generation of solar cells that cost price is 1.50 euro per Watt peak.

StackingNanowires make it possible to stack a number of subcells (junctions). In this process each subcell converts one color of sunlight optimally to electricity. The highest yield reported until now in a nanowire solar cell is 8.4 percent. Haverkort: 'We expect that a protective shell around the nanowires is the critical step towards attaining the same efficiency with nanowire solar cells as with thin-film cells." Haverkort thinks that at 5 to 10 junctions he will arrive at an efficiency of 65 percent.

Scarcity of raw materialsIn addition, the researchers expect considerable savings can be made on production costs, because nanowires grow on a cheap silicon substrate and also grow faster, which results in a lower cost of ownership of the growth equipment. What is more, the combination of the mirror systems with nanotechnology will imply an acceptable use of the scarce and hence expensive metals gallium and indium.
Source: http://www.tue.nl/

LINK

Monday, December 28, 2009

2010 Global R&D Funding Forecast

The 2010 Global R&D Forecast, created by Battelle analysts and the editors of R&D Magazine, predicts overall global R&D will increase 4.0% in 2010 to $1,156.5 billion from $1,112.5 billion spent in 2009. This increase will mostly be driven by continued spending by China and India, who will drive a 7.5% increase in Asian R&D.

American R&D spending is expected to increase 3.2% to $452.8 billion, while EC spending will only increase 0.5% to $268.5 billion in 2010.
Download the report:
http://www.rdmag.com/uploadedFiles/RD/Featured_Articles/2009/12/GFF2010_ads_small.pdf

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Tech Pioneers Who Will Change Your Life

Tech Pioneers Who Will Change Your Life
K.R. Sridhar, Bloom Energy
The Sunnyvale, Calif., start-up says it has developed a fuel-cell system that produces energy that's cleaner and more efficient than oil, gas or coal and more reliable than wind or solar power. "This technology is fundamentally going to change the world," gushes K.R. Sridhar, co-founder and CEO of Bloom Energy. "It's going to have a disruptive impact on the way energy is produced."Read more: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1948486_1948485_1948479,00.html#ixzz0b25Q1sSw

Monday, November 30, 2009

The water-powered clock: the most eco-friendly timepiece ever?

It doesn't need batteries, solar panels or winding, it just needs water. The Water Powered Clock sounds like something out of mythology, but it's real and it's turning H2O into energy somewhere near you.

All you have to do to keep the clock ticking is change the water every six months. It uses "the latest electrochemical technology" to power the digital display with water and there are no emissions or waste. Shaped like cans, the clocks are available in four colours.

It's not an alarm - water obviously isn't that powerful yet, but it does look quite cute and displays the time on the digital panel at that front. Pair it up with Efergy's showtime water-use monitor as a green present for the eco-warrier in your life.

Even better, get GreenStamp's water-powered clock making kit and let your green friend experiment with what liquids make the clock run. A good one for kids.

SOURCE