News about Solar, Wind and alternative green power technologies

According to The World Bank, around 2 billion people live without supply of basic access to electricity. The rural population is the one that we are mainly considering, in continents such as Asia, Latin America and Africa as well as several islands. They are deprived from their fundamental necessities in contemporary society such as clean water, communication, appropriate health service and access to light during the evenings. Solar energy starts to ascend lifestyle to higher quality of life.

The solution that is coming to our mind is ‘Off-Grid Solar for Rural Development”. According to Roger Taylor (National Renewable Energy Laboratory, USA) and Wole Soboyejo (Princeton University USA) off-grid solar energy can alleviate basic problems and provide electricity to the deprived ones.

The success of implementing a rural development project to provide electricity in regions such as Brazil amidst others isn’t easy. It comes with an astronomical cost and in the field of solar energy nothing such as ‘maintenance-free exists’. The possibility of deploying photovoltaic on every rural house will not only depend on cost-effectiveness and investment but also on the rural infrastructures.

The first step is to address the maintenance cost. The PV technology must be made less complex and more simple so that operational cost falls. It must be made easy to convey the technology to local citizens through some refresher courses.

Significant change must also be applied to utility suppliers. Alternative paying structures must be devised, not per unit but rather a fix monthly fee. This would imply that solar panels installed on the rooftop of schools, health clinics, homes or for water pumping would only charge a fix fee irrespective of quantity consumed. However, that supply per solar panel is limited to a calculated supply of energy per month.

Cooperatives are also still common in the developing world. Fishing, agricultural and other types of cooperatives available in regions can collectively demand a grand solar provision for their need. This would thereby facilitate utility companies to cater for larger regions such as villages.

Larger projects are more cost-effective. It does hence consolidate and support investment in developing the technology even further. Off-grid solar projects are already prevalent in many villages. For example NoonKodin Secondary School in village of Eluai in Monduli district, Tanzania is provided with electricity through collaborative effort by Aang Serian Community School. The aim is to ensure supply of electricity to light up classrooms and boarding houses. Staff for the school has also been given training to maintain the photovoltaic solar panels.

Off-Grid solar panel is finally viable solution to improve healthcare service in Africa. The need to keep medicine in regulated temperatures such as refrigerators can finally become an achievable goal. However, to make this a sustainable solution, contracts and agreements must be made. The lifespan of solar panels are around 20 years and above depending on maintenance. This is a significant factor to determine interest to invest in the technology.

It is highly probable that organic electronic structure can very soon provide much more cost-effective solutions. These include answer to problems such as solar cells. Storing energy is a challenge yet behind the timeline and eventually much research has to be raised.

Off-Grid solar power rural development is yet the most gainful solution. There is an absence of high cost involved in building smart electric grids (cable and installation costs). This makes solar energy a convenient solution to alleviate electric supply deficiency that more 2 billion people are suffering from.

Reference: MRS BULLETIN, VOLUME 33, APRIL 2008, Harnessing Materials for Energy

Further Reading: www.mrs.org/bulletin