Energy drives the nation?s growth and development. Currently electrical energy is used for pumping, lighting, heating/cooling and traction/ drives. The demand for electricity is rising in the emerging countries. In India, the demand is met mostly through traditional fossil fuels-based sources. This excessive dependence on fossil fuels is contributing to global warming and depleting our resources.
A good part of the world, including India, has an abundance of untapped solar energy. India being a tropical country receives adequate insolation for 300 days, with the daily average incident solar energy from 4 to 7 kWh/m2, totalling 1,500?2,000 sunshine hours per year. India?s theoretical solar power reception, on land area alone, is about 5 Petawatt-hours per year (PWh/yr) (i.e. 5 trillion kWh/yr or about 600 TW) which is far more than the current total energy consumption.
By the 2011 census, India has 6.5 lakh villages. The energised agricultural pumps, numbering 17.6 million (CEA), account for a massive connected load of 62 GW. Adding to this a few millions of unaccounted electrical agricultural pump sets and diesel-based agricultural pump sets, the total pump set connected load may correspond to around 80GW, which is around 45% of our installed capacity. The revenue contribution of this sector as a percentage of total is a meagre 6.4% (PFC Report 2009-10).
One step towards the development of a sustainable energy system is the Renewable Energy Assisted Pump (REAP), developed by BSES Yamuna Power Ltd in collaboration with IIT- Delhi. REAP can bridge the demand-supply gap, provide green & clean energy, and act as an effective approach for rural/urban and off-grid electrification.
The REAP system is an easy to install, solar-powered water pumping device, with an option to store water in an overhead tank or directly install on a bore well. A solar array of a monocrystalline/multicrystalline photovoltaic cells fitted on an aluminum frame drives the specially designed brushless DC/AC motor for pumping water. Unlike the conventional system, REAP is free of a battery setup, thereby improving the efficiency and reducing the maintenance costs. The system works at different insolation levels.
The REAP System can be used in addition to the existing power system. With energy consumption at just 600 watt, zero operating cost and a payback period of less than three years, the REAP system is a good proposition for the small pumping customers. It also suits the pumping requirements at schools, malls, housing societies, parks, etc.
The system, with an attached water treatment setup, is also a potential solution to the potable water scarcity in remote villages. Every year, an estimated 7 lakh children in India die due to diarrhoea & dehydration.
REAP can eventually take out the pumping load of 80 GW off grid. This offset of the pumping load from the grid would mean an additional capacity creation corresponding to two Five-Year Plan growth or a clean alternative to setting up 20 ultra mega power projects. Additionally, the government would save on the annual agri-subsidy outgo.
The industry looks up to the government for subsidising the initial setting up cost or providing soft loans to potential REAP customer segments.
The writer is CEO, BSES Yamuna Power Ltd