The Ramakrishna Mission economic PV development initiative

India is the world`s second most populous country, quickly approaching one billion persons. Although it has a well-developed electricity grid, many of the people have little or no access to electricity and all of the benefits associated with it. There are areas that are isolated from the grid and will not be connected for many years, if ever. One such area is the Sundarbans located in the delta region of the two great rivers, the Ganges and Brahmaputra, partially in India and partially in Bangladesh. It is estimated that 1.5 million people live in this area, crisscrossed by many islands and rivers, who have only marginal supplies of electricity generated primarily from diesel generators and batteries. Working with the regional non-governmental organization (NGO), the Ramakrishna Mission, and the West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency, the governments of India and the US initiated a rural electrification initiative to demonstrate the economic and technical feasibility of photovoltaics to provide limited supplies of electricity for such applications as solar home lighting systems (SHS), water pumping, vaccine refrigeration, communications, and economic development activities. This paper details initial results from approximately 30 kilowatts of PV systems installed in the area, including socio-economic impacts and technicalmore » performance.« less