Independent Village Photovoltaic Panel

Are off-grid solar systems bringing villagers a lot?

It was just one bulb powered by a small solar panel, but in this remote village that means a lot. In some of the world’s most remote places, off-grid solar systems are bringing villagers like Jawa more hours in the day, more money and more social gatherings.

How many villages in India have a solar mini-grid system?

In the Indian case, the solar mini-grid systems served almost 1000 villages in Chhattisgarh state by April 2018, according to CREDA records.

Can village scale solar power supply be sustainable?

Our cases demonstrate that a variety of sustainable, technical and organizational solutions for village scale solar power supply is possible. However, these conditions do not automatically lead to delivery models that are well adapted to the local contexts.

How can government institutions support solar mini-grids and other village-scale power plants?

The cases demonstrate that suitable policies, regulations and government institutions, including individual government officials’ acceptance of radically different socio-technical configurations are key to enabling solar mini-grids and other village-scale power plants.

Are village-scale electricity systems economically sustainable?

Economic sustainability was a more difficult target. It is common to expect village-scale electricity systems to be able to sustain themselves economically and give a surplus for expansion , , , , but this was not realized in the three cases.

Can a PV system fulfill the load demands of a village?

In this study, RETScreen model is used to investigate the optimal design options and the techno-economic viability of the PV system to fulfill the load demands of a village in Pakistan. The studied village has small load demands which is estimated based on facility type.