REMOTE ISLAND ELECTRIFICATION THROUGH SOLAR POWER IN LAKSHADWEEP, INDIA

摘要

This paper describes Solar PV installations in the Lakshadweep Islands, India. These islands situated inthe Arabian sea with a lagoon area of 4200 square kilometers and comprising of 36 islands out of which only 11 areinhabited with a total population of over 70,000. The Lakshadweep islands are scattered between 8° and 12° 13'North Latitude and 71° and 74° East Longitudes. The remote islands of Lakshadweep rely primarily on dieselgenerators for electric power. Diesel generators suffer from a number of drawbacks, specifically high cost of fuel inview of transportation and storage. Environmental considerations make the introduction of clean photovoltaic powergenerators desirable. Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), the largest engineering organization in India and theLakshadweep Electricity Department initiated a joint project to install grid interactive solar power generators atvarious islands with an objective to specifically reduce fuel consumption of diesel generators. The project wasexecuted under the aegis of Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources, Government of India. A total of 865 kWpSPV generators have been installed in 10 islands leading to a diesel saving of 10% of the annual average fuelconsumption.