TY - GEN
T1 - Powering india’s villages sustainably
T2 - International Conference in Emerging Trends in Engineering, Science and Technology, ICETEST 2018
AU - Kamath, D.
AU - Anctil, A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, London.
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - Since independence, the Indian government has been trying to electrify all rural areas—a daunting task. Bihar, with less than 50% of households electrified, has ambitious plans for increased solar power use. This study compared the environmental and economic benefits of centralized and decentralized solar power options to electrify Bihar’s rural households. A centralized scenario with utility-scale, photovoltaic plants was compared with decentralized residential rooftop photovoltaic systems. A comparative environmental and cost life cycle assessment was conducted with a functional unit of 1 kWh electricity to a rural household in Bihar. The centralized scenario had lower environmental impacts and costs. However, Bihar’s electricity consumption is mainly residential, which could lead to unutilized electricity. Considering this made the centralized scenario the worse option. This study tried to understand the effect of electricity consumption profiles on a system’s environmental impacts and costs and the role it plays in policy decisions regarding generation capacity increases.
AB - Since independence, the Indian government has been trying to electrify all rural areas—a daunting task. Bihar, with less than 50% of households electrified, has ambitious plans for increased solar power use. This study compared the environmental and economic benefits of centralized and decentralized solar power options to electrify Bihar’s rural households. A centralized scenario with utility-scale, photovoltaic plants was compared with decentralized residential rooftop photovoltaic systems. A comparative environmental and cost life cycle assessment was conducted with a functional unit of 1 kWh electricity to a rural household in Bihar. The centralized scenario had lower environmental impacts and costs. However, Bihar’s electricity consumption is mainly residential, which could lead to unutilized electricity. Considering this made the centralized scenario the worse option. This study tried to understand the effect of electricity consumption profiles on a system’s environmental impacts and costs and the role it plays in policy decisions regarding generation capacity increases.
KW - Centralized and decentralized power systems
KW - Environmental benefits
KW - Life Cycle Assessment
KW - Photovoltaics
KW - Policy
KW - Rooftop solar
KW - Rural electrification
KW - Sustainable Development Goals
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85061300984&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85061300984
SN - 9780815357605
T3 - Emerging Trends in Engineering, Science and Technology for Society, Energy and Environment - Proceedings of the International Conference in Emerging Trends in Engineering, Science and Technology, ICETEST 2018
SP - 213
EP - 219
BT - Emerging Trends in Engineering, Science and Technology for Society, Energy and Environment - Proceedings of the International Conference in Emerging Trends in Engineering, Science and Technology, ICETEST 2018
A2 - Jiji, K.S.
A2 - Vanchipura, Rajesh
PB - CRC Press/Balkema
Y2 - 18 January 2018 through 20 January 2018
ER -