• Energy Research

Abstract Owing to increased emphasis on renewable resources, the development of suitable isolated power generators driven by energy sources such as wind, small hydro-electric, biogas, etc. have recently assumed greater significance. A capacitor self-excited induction generator has emerged as a suitable candidate of isolated power sources. The utilization of a three-phase squirrel cage induction motor as an autonomous self-excited induction generator is reviewed. Variations of electrical power due to changes in wind speed should be as small as possible. This is obtained by using an induction generator driven by a wind turbine. The system incorporates the use of turbine blade angle pitch control to control wind turbine speeds and shaft torque. A variable pitch turbine operates efficiently over a wider range of wind speeds. Self-excitation with capacitors at the stator terminals of the induction machine is well demonstrated experimentally on a d.c. motor-induction generator set. The parameters and the excitation requirement of the induction machine run in self-excited induction generator mode are determined. The effects of variations in prime mover speed, terminal capacitance and load power factor on the machine terminal voltage are studied.

The Central American nations of Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua are among the poorest in the Americas. While the fraction of population dependent on solid fuels has declined in these nations over the last 25 years, the number of people using them has risen. Here, we first assess current patterns of cooking energy use in these nations. We then apply a discrete model of household cooking choices and demand to simulate future pathways of clean cooking uptake and the outlook for achieving target 7.1 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which aims to ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services by 2030. We find that by 2030, ensuing income growth is likely to enable 90% of urban populations in these nations to switch to using modern cooking energy services. However, without supporting policies, between 40% to 50% of rural Guatemalans and Hondurans, while over two-thirds of rural Nicaraguans, are likely to find clean fuels or stoves unaffordable in 2030. A targeted subsidy on modern fuels, like liquid petroleum gas (LPG), is the most effective policy mechanism we studied that could provide such support. A 50% subsidy policy on LPG targeted to the rural and urban poor population could, by 2030, make cooking with LPG affordable to an additional 7.3 million people in these countries. We estimate that such a policy would cost about $250 million per year and would have negligible greenhouse gas emissions impacts. Such a policy could also have significant health benefits, preventing about 8,890 premature deaths annually from reduced exposure to cooking-related household pollution in 2030.

Electricity access is an important driver of economic development. Previous studies treat electrification as a binary outcome. In reality, in developing countries households with access face chronic supply interruptions, which can last up to 12 h a day. This is the first study to estimate the income differences in urban and rural non-farm enterprises in Indian households with different levels of electricity supply, using a subset of 8125 households in the India Human and Development Survey, a cross-sectional national sample of 41,554 households. I use multiple econometric approaches, including linear regression with an instrument variable and propensity-score matching with multiple treatment levels to represent supply availability. I find a robust income effect of access, and suggestive evidence of the effect of better supply availability. The aggregate income impact across existing NFEs in India of improving supply to 16 h a day could be on the order of 0.1 percent of GDP.

Abstract Studies that examine the distributional impacts of climate change mitigation policies often neglect the influence of institutions that implement these policies. This study examines the short-term consumption-side distributional impacts of expanding low-carbon electric supply in the state of Maharashtra, India with a focus on the influence of regulatory discretion in pricing. Households' welfare impacts from economy-wide electricity price shocks are simulated against a baseline that is calibrated to actual household economic and electricity service conditions, including actual electricity budgets, block tier prices and supply rationing. Industrial price impacts are propagated to households using a Leontief input–output analysis. Regulatory pricing decisions are evaluated based on social welfare metrics for economic efficiency and income inequality. The analysis reveals new linkages between climate change mitigation, electricity policy and income distribution. Low-income households can be shielded from mitigation impacts without losses in aggregate welfare to the extent that regulators can recover mitigation costs through industrial price increases. Regulators' flexibility to distribute costs across households is constrained by industrial customers' migration off the grid. Reduced supply interruptions to the rural poor from the resulting demand contraction are a potential co-benefit of mitigation. Distributional impacts, therefore, depend on other electricity policies that are driven by the political economy of the sector.

Compelling empirical evidence on the gender differentiated impacts and determinants of energy transitions remains weak. In this paper, we focus on identifying key gaps in our current understanding of how women's well-being relates to energy poverty and in framing questions for further research. Our overarching message is twofold: first, more research and empirical evidence is needed to understand the factors – both outside and within the household – that influence women's decision-making power in relation to the adoption of modern energy services, and whether their adoption leads to the intended benefits. Second, policies (and research) that aim to improve (study) women's well-being through improvements in household energy use need to consider not only this broader enabling context, but also the multiple dimensions of modern energy service provision. Existing power relations and institutions today discriminate against women in many developing countries. Disregarding these gender inequalities can undermine the potential for transforming women's status and well-being.

Energy systems support technical solutions fulfilling the United Nations’Sustainable DevelopmentGoal for clean water and sanitation(SDG6), with implications for future energy demands andgreenhouse gas emissions. The energy sector is also a large consumer of water, making water efficiencytargets ingrained in SDG6 important constraints for long-term energy planning. Here, we apply aglobal integrated assessment model to quantify the cost and characteristics of infrastructure pathwaysbalancing SDG6 targets for water access, scarcity, treatment and efficiency with long-term energytransformations limiting climate warming to 1.5°C. Under a mid-range human developmentscenario, wefind that approximately 1 trillion USD2010 per year is required to close waterinfrastructure gaps and operate water systems consistent with achieving SDG6 goals by 2030. Adding a1.5°C climate policy constraint increases these costs by up to 8%. In the reverse direction, when theSDG6 targets are added on top of the 1.5°C policy constraint, the cost to transform and operate energysystems increases 2%–9% relative to a baseline 1.5°C scenario that does not achieve the SDG6 targetsby 2030. Cost increases in the SDG6 pathways are due to expanded use of energy-intensive watertreatment and costs associated with water conservation measures in power generation, municipal,manufacturing and agricultural sectors. Combined global spending(capital and operationalexpenditures)to 2030 on water, energy and land systems increases 92%–125% in the integratedSDG6-1.5°C scenarios relative to a baseline‘no policy’scenario. Evaluation of the multi-sectoralpolicies underscores the importance of water conservation and integrated water–energy planning foravoiding costs from interacting water, energy and climate goals. Environmental Research Letters, 14 (1) ISSN:1748-9326 ISSN:1748-9318

Household air pollution from traditional cook stoves presents a greater health hazard than any other environmental factor. Despite government efforts to support clean-burning cooking fuels, over 700 million people in South Asia could still rely on traditional stoves in 2030. This number could rise if climate change mitigation efforts increase energy costs. Here we quantify the costs of support policies to make clean cooking affordable to all South Asians under four increasingly stringent climate policy scenarios. Our most stringent mitigation scenario increases clean fuel costs 38% in 2030 relative to the baseline, keeping 21% more South Asians on traditional stoves or increasing the minimum support policy cost to achieve universal clean cooking by up to 44%. The extent of this increase depends on how policymakers allocate subsidies between clean fuels and stoves. These additional costs are within the range of financial transfers to South Asia estimated in efforts-sharing scenarios of international climate agreements. Many people globally still use solid fuels for cooking and heating, leading to programmes designed to subsidize cleaner alternatives. This study analyses possible effects of climate mitigation policies on fuel costs and hence the effectiveness of such schemes.