• Energy Research
• UK Research and Innovation close
• 2017 close
• 2022 close

In 2015, the Indian Prime Minister launched the International Solar Alliance (ISA), a global initiative with headquarters in India. Photovoltaic (PV) solar energy systems, which are the focus of this study, are particularly suited for distributed generation: their modularity and scalability make them easy to configure so as to meet most power and space requirements; as a result, they can be installed in close proximity to the point of consumption. Typically owned by natural persons or cooperatives of people, distributed PV solar energy systems stage the rise of energy 'prosumers'. The technological arrangements of the PV materiality thus 'afford' to construe the transition from carbon to low-carbon modernity in ethical terms: through distributed solar energy, vulnerable rural and remote communities come to shoulder the - politically difficult to place - blame for anthropogenic climate change; expiating this blame requires a model of ethical self-formation based on the acknowledgement of local, distributed agency. As it comes to be accepted as a universally desirable ideal - distributed solar energy for rural electrification acquires the quality of 'public good'. Understanding the deployment of distributed solar energy in these terms is important: this study does not want to be an account of eroded state sovereignty in a (neo)-liberalising world; instead, it aims to illuminate how previous aspirations overlap, potentially colliding, with the ethical project of realising a new public good, resting on new frameworks of statecraft and the economy. Purpose, research questions and relevance Political in nature, the research will be conducted at the 'social interface' between the initiators of a global pro-solar discourse, and the local actors in different positions of power to negotiate the translation of this discourse into reality. It addresses two main sets of question: (1) What does a modernity achieved through distributed solar energy look like in the experiences of local actors with a stake in policy-making and of rural and remote communities? What frameworks of statecraft and the economy characterise it? (2) How do these experiences, and the frameworks of statecraft and the economy that characterise them, interact with those prescribed by the dominant narrative of a solar modernity? What subjectivities are produced by this interaction? The proposed research intends to explore these timely concerns and contribute to a growing area of inquiry by placing the anthropology of energy in dialogue with the anthropology of development, the state and the economy. Context and methodology The study consists of ethnographic research of the making of solar energy policies in India and West Bengal, and Sagar Island. It focuses on two main informant groups: the actors with a stake in local policy-making, members of lobby associations and advocacy groups for solar energy, private consultants in the solar energy sector, representatives of state agencies in the context of India's international cooperation on energy, and in particular GIZ; on the other side, the Bengali-speaking residents of one village on the Sagar Island who generate electricity through community-owned PV solar energy systems. The first group of informants will be engaged through in-depth interviews; attendance of conferences, meetings, consultations and discussions; textual analysis of reports, policy papers, official statements and case studies. In order to capture the 'temporality' factor, the project will also involve life-history interviews and archival research. Research at the grassroots level of fieldwork focuses on memories of life on the island before the deployment of solar and hopes attached to rural electrification; perceived livelihood improvement through the use of solar compared to other energy sources; perceptions of the environment and climate change etc

The global capacity for energy generation by wind and solar technologies is currently around 650GW. This capacity is projected to double by 2020 making renewables a major component of the global energy landscape. Many renewable energy sources are particularly vulnerable to variations in weather and climate, such as generation by wind and solar technologies. There is therefore a need for accurate and reliable weather and climate information across a range of timescales from hours to years, so that energy companies can be better informed in their planning and decision-making. This includes their ability to account for the effects of weather and climate on energy supply/demand and on scheduling equipment maintenance. However, the current uptake of operational seasonal predictions by energy suppliers is generally low because of a perceived lack of skill and difficulty in interpreting forecast information, which both limit their usefulness. While the ability to predict the weather up to a week ahead has improved steadily over the past few decades, predicting conditions for the forthcoming season has remained a major scientific challenge. However, there have been recent significant advances in predicting some of the major drivers of seasonal weather and climate variability in North America and Europe, such as the winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). These advances in predictive skill have the potential to be translated into provision of more useful information for end-users in the renewable energy sector. This PhD project will investigate how recent advances in seasonal prediction can be exploited to provide actionable information (e.g. on wind intensities) to end-users in the renewable energy sector. This will be achieved through strong engagement with CASE partner WEMC throughout the project. The focus will be on energy generation in North America and Europe, since these are regions where there have been advances in prediction capability and where there is substantial wind and solar energy capacity.