• Energy Research

Solar Photovoltaic Water Pumping (SPVWP) systems have established their potential as the most dependable and economically viable systems compared to the diesel based or grid-based electrical pumps. This paper presents an in-depth investigation of the energy efficiency of SPVWP system based on solar radiation, temperature, and operational heads. The study also identifies the shortcomings in the conventional design method based on Best Efficiency Point (BEP) concept that is applicable only in case of fixed frequency and voltage type pumps. However, in the case of SPVWP systems, due to variations in the solar intensity, ambient temperature, and water head, BEP concept does not offer the best efficiency design. The study experimentally proves that the model based on weighted system efficiency and Solar Operational Duty Head (SODH) increases the performance of SPVWP system (∼9% gain) and is consistently provide higher efficiencies in any season or under any climatic conditions.

An attempt has been made to estimate the potential of using biogas plants, solar cookers and improved cookstoves for domestic cooking in India. Based on 1991 statistics on the bovine population and ownership pattern, the potential number of family size biogas plants comes out to be around 38 million in the optimistic scenario whereas, in the realistic scenario it is around 29 million. The potential of improved cookstoves is estimated at about 90 million and that of solar cookers is estimated at about 75 million.

Abstract Power generation, using gasification technology, is a well–understood science but could not adopt widely due to a few technical challenges. One of the challenges is the poor conversion efficiency of producer gas when used in internal combustion (IC) engines. Poor conversion efficiency is due to the lower heat value of producer gas, which leads to the low energy density of the air-fuel mixture and causing derating of the engines. The present research is focused on studying the performance of the IC engine operated with hydrogen-enriched producer gas, with enhanced energy density. The specific fuel consumption and the thermal efficiency of the IC engines are mostly influenced by adiabatic flame temperature and energy density (Ed). A detailed analysis of energy balance, elemental balance, and emissions of a power generation system using the air–steam gasification system was conducted. Experimental results show; that the maximum Ed achieved is 3.2 MJ Nm−3, which shows an increment of 10%. The IC engine operated on producer gas generated through the air–steam gasification system works with specific fuel consumption as 0.98 kg kWh−1 and the power generation efficiency as 21.6% at a compression ratio of 12.5:1.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of rural energy transition in cooking options in India. Although India is aiming to achieve a double-digit economic growth, a large share of rural households still rely on firewood for cooking which not only has serious repercussions of increasing indoor pollution but also has a concomitant adverse effect on women and child morbidity and mortality. However, transition to clean energy options like improved cookstoves for these households may not be necessarily linear. It is often driven or resisted by latent factors such as caste, trust, social capital, information flow, social positioning of clusters that are deeply embedded in the social and cultural norms and values specific to local rural contexts. This has been shown in the present case study that pertains to eight villages in the remote and deprived Purnea district of Bihar and the need for internalizing them in the macro energy policymaking has been established in the paper. Design/methodology/approach The paper applies a macro foundation research that is complemented by micro foundation tools of fuzzy cognitive mapping-based mental model framework to achieve the purpose of the study. Focused-group discussions and interviews are also conducted to establish the narrative of the paper. Findings Caste, socio-political position, asset structure, remoteness, culture and technology access affect rural households’ decision making capability that is related to shifting from using the traditionalmeans of firewood and biomass based traditional cookstoves for cooking to adopting improved clean cooking stoves which will enable the transition toward the use of clean rural energy in the eight villages in Bihar chosen for this study. Research limitations/implications The findings of the paper have larger implications for the broader macro energy policymaking in the country by taking into account the non-linear, latent factors of village contexts. Practical implications The research will help energy policymakers in decision-making and will guide the implementation process of national- and state-level policies on rural energy transition in India. Social implications The findings of the paper will help the smoother implementation of national- and state-level rural energy transition policies for cooking, creating developmental dividends for rural Indian households. Originality/value The research is new with regard to the application of non-deterministic fuzzy cognitive mapping-based mental model approach to contribute to the country’s national- and state-level rural energy transition policies.

Initiatives towards large-scale dissemination of solar dryers for drying of agri-produce face severe competition from the largely prevalent practice of open sun drying in most of the developing countries. Therefore, solar drying systems must offer exceptionally attractive financial gains to enhance their acceptance among the potential users. A modest attempt to develop a simple framework to facilitate a comparison of the financial feasibility of solar drying as against open sun drying has been made in the present work. Results of some exemplifying calculations are presented and briefly discussed.

Past experiences show that a large number of off-grid electrification projects fail because focus is generally given in technical installation without paying sufficient attention to the long-term sustainability of the projects. In such projects, several important steps, which need to be followed, are not covered. Moreover, there is no standardized approach, which could be followed while formulating the off-grid electrification projects. Therefore, there is a need for developing and benchmarking the systematic approaches, which could be followed for project planning and formulation. In this paper a modest attempt has been made to develop a decision making tool which involves approaches that are to be followed for entire planning and formulation of off-grid electrification project. The standardization of processes is expected to help in accelerating the implementation of off-grid electrification projects in an effective manner while fostering to achieve the national electrification targets in a stipulated timeframe.

Greenhouse gas emissions in China and India have been increasing rapidly over the last decade. Scenario studies can provide insight into expected future trends and the emission reduction potential in these regions. The scenarios show that growing population, gross domestic product, and energy demand are likely to lead to a further increase in emissions. At the same time, a decreasing emission intensity would still allow to create decarbonization scenarios in line with the requirements for reaching a maximal warming of 2 °C. There is, however, a wide range of assumptions across these studies. Based on the literature review, this paper observes that key assumptions in scenarios developed by national institutes in China and India differ from those presented by international studies or modeling teams. We explore how this—and other factors like data availability—may influence the interpretation of the scenarios and how international and national modeling groups could learn from each other. Our main recommendation is for more extensive collaboration between national and international research groups, so that national and international scenario studies can be compared in more detail in order to support international negotiations.