Deambi - Photovoltaic System Design: Procedures, Tools and Applications

Suneel Deambi, PhD, is a solar energy specialist with practical experience of about 25 years in the renewable energy (RE) sector. His active areas of interest are RE policy, planning, technology, financing, programme implementation, performance evaluation and capacity building initiatives. He is a prolific writer on energyenvironment issues with three books to his credit plus a large number of published articles/features/ reviews etc. in the leading media of information dissemination.

I am very grateful for the support of various stakeholders who are involved in the overall development of the solar PV programme in India. Without their help, it would have been quite difficult to put this book together. It is not possible for me to acknowledge each source of information individually. However, I extend my sincere thanks to all of them.

I owe my profound sense of gratitude to CRC Press, who motivated me and Dr. Om. P. Nangia (ex-BHEL) to take up this topic from an Indian perspective. Although Dr. Nangia could not continue being part of this project, I thank him for his help at the initial stages of the preparation of this book.

Finally, I dedicate this book to the cherished memory of my late father, Sh. Brij Nath Deambi. My affectionate thanks also go to my wife, Neeru Bhat Deambi, and daughter, Tammana Deambi, for their patience and support throughout the stages of the book preparation.

As per the International Energy Agency, around 1.3 billion people do not have access to electricity, mainly people living in the rural regions of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Incidentally, just about 5% of sub-Saharan Africa has access to energy. Electricity consumption in this region is only as much as in the state of New York. Importantly enough, the challenge of energy accessibility must be viewed in terms of availability as well as affordability for individuals and communities. A good thing about renewables is that renewable energies (REs) such as wind, solar or biomass are available in small units, that is as solar cells or wind turbines. This makes their construction and maintenance fairly straightforward. Over time, the costs for solar, wind and renewable biomass have dropped down significantly. Importantly, some countries have already made remarkable inroads in distributing RE technologies. Take for instance a small country like Bangladesh where more than 80,000 solar home systems are being installed month after month in rural off-grid areas. The RE sector in Bangladesh has employed as many as 200,000 personnel.

According to the World Resource Institutes (WRI) report, between now and 2050, countries in the Global South need an estimated $531 billion per year of additional investment in energy distribution, grid and storage systems. This is expected to limit the global temperature rise by 2C above the prein-dustrial levels. It is now widely believed that sound national and regional policies that spur the energy transition and development of renewables are key to attaining progress. At a global level, feed-in-tariffs have proven to be an effective means to quickly increase the generation of renewable-derived electricity.

Feed-in-tariffs or simply FITs accord the small-scale power producers an option of being paid for feeding their electricity into a regional or national electricity grid. These payments have been showcased to be more effective than the other RE policies such as direct investment subsidies in terms of pricing, innovation and job growth. FITs, when made adoptable to the local context of a country or region, can enhance overall energy production and boost economic development besides improving access to energy. In addition, the decentralized approach offers a sound opportunity for community-owned energy production.

However, creating a reliable environment for investments in RE is one of the biggest challenges for the industry. As the availability of domestic finance is often a key barrier to rolling out FITs in domestic countries, the newly established Green Climate Fund of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change aims to provide an effective solution. There is already some global experience in implementing FITs using international climate financing. Seemingly, little or no pledges to the Green Climate Fund have been made so far. However, it represents a promising attempt to address the challenges that RE investors face in developing countries. Approaches such as FITs are real opportunities that encourage the development of RE in the Global South.

There are several key drivers of global energy demand such as increasing population. The global population in 2011 was around 7 billion as against a projected number of 8 billion by 2030. The growing economies of the world are BRICS and N11 countries in a broader context. Approximately 1.3 billion people do not have access to electricity and 2.6 billion people even today rely more on wood, dung, coal and other traditional fuels in their homes. In sum, energy demand is increasing at a rate of around 2% per annum. Following are the few core objectives as enshrined under the international energy policy:

• To double the share of RE in the global energy mix

• To ensure universal access to modern energy services

• To double the global rate of energy efficiency in buildings, agriculture and transportation sectors, etc.

• To contribute to food, air and water security

Any day the private sector is expected to contribute its capacity, knowledge, experience and targeted funds, besides the flexibility and much needed efficiency, in implementing the earlier measures. Amongst others, these private entities include major pension funds, mutual funds, sovereign wealth funds, private corporations, development banks and other investors. It is worth mentioning here that a limited use of recent technological advancements has been made so far in energy planning and monitoring activities. Also decision makers at times do not capture the complexity and spatial patterns of the socioeconomic systems.

The following section takes a close look at the resource mix from several key considerations.

Energy has always been the most important factor and the prime mover of global economy. All energy sources play significant roles in achieving a reliable access to energy for the masses in an efficient manner. Today, over 20% of the global population lives without access to electricity and an equivalent share is estimated to have only an intermittent access in the developing world. Energy is the key driver of our economy in real terms. It is thus of special relevance to continue producing from all the possible sources available to us on earth. This is called effective energy resource mix. To meet the growing energy needs, besides preserving the environment, societies have to put in place a varied energy mix over the long term, with reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Combined with energy savings, this technological and political development is also the key to a more secure energy supply. This ongoing development towards the supply and demand of goods and services is acknowledged by the societies. Against a backdrop of globalization, this process extends to emerging and developing countries. In China, India and Brazil, a new middle class is gradually emerging; they expect the modern conveniences that are already widespread in Europe and North America (such as household appliances and personal vehicles). Take, for example, the often-talked-about fact that India has the largest chunk of middle class families in the world.