Cost Of Renewable Energy Technologies Research Articles

Model for empowering rural poor through renewable energy technologies in Bangladesh

This paper proposes an integrated ecological, economic and social model to assist sustainable rural development in villages in Bangladesh. In the model, renewable energy technologies (RETs) create income-generating activities for male landless and marginal farmers and for women from such households, while reducing environmental problems, like deforestation and indoor air pollution from cooking with poor-quality fuels. Because of the high capital costs of RETs, the model proposes an extension of the well-known micro-credit approach developed by such NGOs as the Grameen Bank and BRAC. With the assistance of an External Agency composed of NGO, business, government and university representatives, such groups of villagers would form Village Organizations, comprising cooperatives or other forms of business, borrow money from a bank or large NGO, and purchase a RET based on biogas, solar or wind, depending upon location. By selling energy to wealthier members of the village, the Village Organizations would repay their loans, thus gaining direct ownership and control over the technology and its applications.

Dissemination of renewable energy technologies in developing countries—lessons for the future

SYNOPSIS The rate of growth in the demand for power in many developing countries is alarming. Some are facing unprecedented power shortages, which are increasingly hindering the opportunity to fulfil potential economic development. In rural areas, particularly where the agricultural sector is leading the way towards higher per capita incomes, as is the case in many areas of India, the shortages are being felt the most. This trend is likely to continue as demand from rural areas increases through population pressure and development requirements, and may worsen due to the fact that the conventional means of supplying power to these areas i.e. through extension of the centralised grid, is fraught with inefficiencies. Rural areas of developing countries have long been recognised as the places where it may be cost-effective to harness renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar energy, for power and subsistence energy requirements. However, their utilisation still remains at a relatively low level. The aim of this paper is to identify the reasons why this is so, bearing in mind that the cost of renewable energy technologies has decreased significantly over the last twenty years. The role of the World Bank is critically assessed, since it sets the intellectual agenda on development matters. It is concluded that their use of tools to compare the costs between conventional non-renewable energy and renewable energy technologies does not fit into the modern, increasingly holistic, way of measuring costs, which takes into account the benefits of flexibility, modularity, and of not having to rely on imported fuel. Also, attempts to “green” their policies have largely failed. The other aims of this paper are to examine how governments and the private sector are involved in the scheme of things, and to reason how the dissemination of renewables may best be carried out. India is used as an example of a country which has typical, and extreme, power problems, characteristic of developing countries experiencing rapid economic growth. But its government has also led the way in opening up the power sector to private participation, in such a way as to encourage the development and dissemination of renewable energy technologies. The progress to date is reviewed. The contribution which biomass could make is recognised, but with one or two brief exceptions, this has been regarded as beyond the scope of the paper. Private participation is becoming increasingly important in the power sector, particularly with all the renewable energies, and in the final section a possible role for multinational oil companies in the potentially huge “renewables” market, which has been identified over the next two decades, is discussed. It is argued that the problems facing the oil industry now, and in the future, will make life difficult for them, and that these problems can be, at least partly, offset by involvement in the renewables market. Being seen to be investing in environmentally benign activities may also help in turning around adverse public opinion.