Decentralized strategies for the development of renewable energy systems in India.

摘要

Energy self-reliance and environmental sustainability are among the growing concerns of many developing nations. Within this context, India, with 70 percent of its more than 920 million population living in villages, faces a mounting problem in providing energy services to its rural inhabitants. Of more than 576,000 villages in India, 20 percent of them are so remotely located that providing electricity services through conventional centralized energy systems is prohibitively expensive. The Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (MNES) has been entrusted with the development of renewable sources of energy for meeting the needs of remote rural communities. In more than a decade, since its inception in 1982, MNES has installed more than 61,799 solar photovoltaic lighting systems, 1,979,153 million biogas systems, and 16,927,000 million improved cook stoves, primarily for rural energy needs. However, in recent years, it has been increasingly realized that the programs of MNES have not yielded the expected benefits. Often, rural inhabitants discarded the installed renewable energy systems or greatly modified them to suit their living conditions.;This research investigates the renewable energy development strategies of the government to identify various organizational and institutional issues surrounding the deployment of renewable energy systems. Through a multidimensional analysis of existing institutional arrangements and structural characteristics, the research shows the incompatibility of current centralized strategies of the government with the practical conditions of energy use in rural areas. Data were gathered through in-depth field studies in two rural communities, a survey questionnaire of various renewable energy development organizations, and an analysis of published and unpublished documents of various organizations.;The research concludes that the policy-makers in MNES have little experience or knowledge regarding decentralized approaches to renewable energy development. Therefore, renewable energy development has been viewed in India as a highly skilled, sophisticated, and technical operation requiring centralized approaches through a technocratic bureaucracy. Based on the analysis, the present study recommends decentralization of the renewable energy development process, especially at the program planning and management levels. Furthermore, it argues the need for strengthening the structure and the functional role of village and district level renewable energy organizations.