Small-scale Renewable Energy Technologies Research Articles

Microgrids through the Energy-Water-Food Security Nexus in La Guajira, Colombia: Increasing water and food security or jeopardizing groundwater levels?

This study analyses the impacts of small-scale renewable energy technologies on Colombian rural indigenous communities in La Guajira through an Energy-Water-Food Security (EWF) Nexus lens. Due to the high-water scarcity in the region, special attention lays on identifying the water-related trade-offs when increasing access to energy technologies. Recognizing the importance of the indigenous people's knowledge about their land, this research draws on semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and observatory research to underpin a comparative case study between individuals with access to wind energy, solar energy, and people lacking energy access. The renewable energy systems, especially the newer solar energy microgrids, significantly increase water and food access by powering groundwater pumping systems. However, groundwater depletion is becoming an increasingly growing issue where the systems have been using the same aquifer for several decades. Therefore, this study identifies a major trade-off when increasing access to groundwater resources in arid regions, mainly a growing risk of depleting the local aquifers. This has relevance for all development interventions aiming to increase the access to groundwater through renewable energy technologies in arid regions and allows for more holistic management and policy decisions to be taken.

Small-Scale Renewable Energy Technology to Support the Sustainability of a Food Security Village in Malang City

Nowadays, the energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable energies is taking place worldwide. Every year, the amount of renewable energy installed increases dramatically. Many small-scale renewable energy technologies have been developed, for example at the household level, or at the environmental level as community-owned renewable energy. This research focuses on the development of renewable energy technology using the resource potential and local community wisdom of Glintung Water Street (GWS), a flood-prone area in Malang City. The objectives of the study were to analyze the potential of water resources in the study area to be developed as renewable energy, particularly under low flow conditions, and to investigate community support for the program of energy independence as a basis for developing a green economy to strengthen GWS as a food security village. This study uses 2 types of data, namely qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative data is used to deepen the urgency of using renewable energy as alternative energy to replace PLN electricity. Meanwhile, the quantitative data collection consisted of 2 types of data, namely data on the measurement of the hydraulic characteristics of the flow as a source of driving force for the water wheel, and data on the community response and support using a questionnaire instrument. The results showed that the minimum flow to drive the water wheel under low flow conditions was 3 l/s. The maximum RPM recorded during waterwheel operation is 9 RPM, i.e. after it rained the night before the measurement, and the resulting voltage was 20 Volt. However, at higher flow conditions, the voltage generated by the waterwheel can reach 40 Volts. The community strongly supports the energy independence program although there are still doubts due to limited knowledge and experience in applying renewable energy technologies.

Resource-efficient and renewable energy transition in the five least developed countries of Asia: a post-COVID-19 assessment

The economic fallout from COVID-19 resulted in an economic slowdown and a contraction in economic output, changed economic structures, and reduced financial inflows in the five least developed countries (LDCs) of Asia – Bangladesh, Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR), Myanmar, and Nepal. This policy brief discusses these impacts in light of the LDC-graduation procedures of the United Nations together with the challenges that these countries face meeting their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and the environment-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 7, 12, and 13). The economic slowdown in Bangladesh, Lao PDR, and Myanmar and a contraction in economic output in Cambodia and Nepal has increased poverty in the five LDCs and is putting pressure on biomass resources in the rural areas of these countries. The change in the structures of their economies, which threatens to reverse processes of economic modernization in these LDCs, is undermining two decades of progress regarding the efficient use of natural resources and the associated reduction in greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP). A decline in financial inflows such as remittances, foreign direct investment, and official development assistance (ODA) is also a risk to both short- and long-term prospects of further investment in renewable energy generation and low GHG-emissions technologies. This policy brief suggests policies that target technical interventions and incentivize small-scale renewable energy technologies that are less susceptible to microeconomic and macroeconomic impacts from external shocks such as COVID-19.

Sustainable rural electrification planning in developing countries: A proposal for electrification of isolated communities of Venezuela

Small-scale renewable energy technologies offer impoverished rural communities in developing countries the ability to overcome extreme poverty and improve their living conditions. Unfortunately, most presented frameworks for rural electrifications have not adequately addressed the three cores of energy trilemma. This paper proposes a methodology of rural electrification planning to overcome the three cores of the energy trilemma (environment, security and equity), considering four sustainability dimensions: environmental, technical, socioeconomic and institutional. The proposal is based on a review of the Venezuelan program “Sembrando Luz” (“Sowing Light”), developed between 2005 and 2013, through visits to 28 beneficiary communities. A set of lessons learned were used to define the methodological proposal developed here. This proposal establishes specific objectives for the achievement of sustainability in rural electrification programs, through a novel conceptual framework, valid for the achievement of universal access anywhere in the world. In addition, hierarchical criteria and a projects classification are proposed, which finally enables a projects portfolio to be designed according to the technical and financial conditions available in each country. As a case study, the planning methodology is applied to 2,269 isolated communities in Venezuela that still lack electricity. The methods and conclusions of this work are intended to be a contribution to the improvement of rural electrification programs with renewable energy in other countries of the developing world.

Energy Internet forums as acceleration phase transition intermediaries

Citizen users play important roles in the acceleration phase of energy transitions, during which small-scale renewable energy technologies (S-RET) become taken up more widely. From users’ perspective, turning the early, and typically slow, proliferation into a more rapid and widespread diffusion requires not only the adoption of S-RET but also the adaptation, adjustment, intermediation and advocacy of S-RETs. These activities become necessary because S-RET face a variety of market, institutional, cultural and environmental conditions in different countries. New Internet-based energy communities have emerged and acted as key user-side transition intermediaries that catalyse these activities by qualifying market information, articulating demand and helping citizen users to reconfigure the standard technology to meet the specificities of different local contexts. In doing so, Internet communities foster an appreciatively critical discourse on technology. Such user intermediation is important in expanding the markets for S-RET beyond that of enthusiasts, environmentalists and other early adopters, to the early majority of adopters who demand more exposure, clearer information and less uncertainty about new technology options.

The diffusion of consumer innovation in sustainable energy technologies

Consumers are no longer mere adopters of small-scale renewable energy technologies (S-RETs) such as solar, pellet and heat-pump technologies. Prosumers create new technology solutions, collaborate with other consumers, and share their ideas, knowledge and inventions with peers in online communities they have formed. These activities by consumers support the proliferation of sustainable energy technology in contexts where institutions and technology characteristics are not yet fully developed for the wide proliferation of S-RET. The issues in the market diffusion of cleaner micro-generation technologies are not limited to “barriers” or “challenges” to top-down diffusion. Given that prosumers do many things to aid the diffusion of S-RET, we investigated how consumer created technology solutions diffused: their existence adds to solution variety, but do others then pick this up? The findings show that 2.7% of the consumer innovations diffused through commercial channels and 8.2% diffused through their straight adoption by peers. A significant share of projects (34.1%) were part of “innovative peer diffusion” adaptations and further modifications carried out among peers. Prosumers’ efforts to diffuse their solutions remain low level and indicate directions for platform development by which prosumer solutions may spread more widely.

Domestication pathways of small-scale renewable energy technologies

The sociology of consumption uses the domestication framework to examine adaptation processes in which technology becomes part of everyday life. This study applies the domestication framework to renewable decentralized energy technologies (DET). Drawing on interviews and Internet material from household and summer-cottage inhabitants using DETs in Finland, the study sheds light on how renewable energy technologies are adapted in local conditions. In such adaptation, multiple domestications are linked and lead to the increasing use of new technologies without a stable final point, a process which can be conceptualized as domestication pathways. Modularity, product multi-purposing, and convenient interoperability with other systems are key requirements to enhance the diffusion of renewable energy technologies.

Simulation of disaggregated load profiles and development of a proxy microgrid for modelling purposes

The deployment of small-scale renewable energy technologies affects the electricity grid depending on the local resource potential as well as on the regional composition of consumers. Spatially explicit renewable energy supply data and spatially disaggregated load profiles of consumers are usually not available to modellers. These data are, however, necessary to better account for the particularities of electricity systems with high levels of distributed renewable production. We present a methodology to estimate the load profile for the distribution grid of household and commercial consumers at 1kmpixel resolution for Austria. Consequently, we combine statistical data on the distribution of electricity consumers with standardized load profiles. Additionally, we present a model that allows allocating theoretical transformers to pixels allowing constructing proxy microgrids. We validate the load generation methodology for three different days and seasons. Hence, we use recently measured load profiles from the federal state of Vorarlberg. The proxy microgrids are validated using data on transformer locations from the federal state of Upper Austria. The modelling approach allows reproducing the historically measured load profiles and the number and location of transformers in the distribution grid with reasonable accuracy. The validation results show that about 80-91% of the variance of the modelled demand data can be explained by the variance of the measured data. In addition, about 78% of the transformer locations can be replicated.

Large-Scale Promotion of Animal Dung-based Domestic Biogas Digesters through Public Private Partnership: A Successful Case of Nepal

Large-scale promotion of small scale decentralized renewable energy technologies to achieve a part of millennium development goal remained a great challenge until recently. However, a properly implementation of a public private partnership applied in biogas sector in Nepal has shown that scaling up of small scale renewable energy technologies is feasible if a multi-stakeholder sector development approach and favorable policy as well as modality is adopted. Nepal’s biogas program has been instrumental in helping to achieve some of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by creating economic and social development opportunities in a sustainable way. Such model could also be widely replicated in any other renewable energy technologies and other continent of the world. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/hn.v8i0.4908Hydro Nepal: Journal of Water, Energy and Environment Issue No. 8, 2011 JanuaryPage: 29-33Uploaded date: 17 June, 2011

CREATING MARKETS UNDER INSTITUTIONAL VOIDS: THE CASE OF SMALL-SCALE RENEWABLES IN TAJIKISTAN

This paper explores the process of new market creation under conditions of institutional voids, or when market supporting structures are lacking. Market-based strategies are increasingly used for poverty alleviation strategies in developing countries, where institutional voids are often present. Drawing upon the case of Tajikistan, a developing post-Soviet country in Central Asia, and the market for of small-scale renewable energy technologies, this analysis investigates why some actors in a nascent market escape the effects of institutional voids, while others fail. Adopting a field perspective of markets, in my analysis of qualitative data from interviews with organizations from the entire field, I find that institutional voids are a source of ambiguity in the creation of new markets in Tajikistan. The results suggest that organizations that employ strategies lying in the same domain as the institutional voids are less likely to succeed in overcoming institutional voids. Meanwhile, the incorporation of ...

Analysis: Always look on the green side

E&T looks at the UK's Budget allocations for green technology. This will be channelled to the development of low-carbon technologies such as wind and marine energy. Support small-scale renewable energy technologies and community heating schemes. The government intends to foster the development of combined heat and power (CHP) by extending the Climate Change Levy (CCL) exemption for indirect sales of CHP electricity to 2023. Support for offshore wind investments. The government intends to invest in research into the process of capturing carbon dioxide from fossil fuel combustion and storing it instead of releasing it into the atmosphere.

Decentralised renewable energy: Scope, relevance and applications in the Indian context

Presently used centralised energy planning model ignores energy needs of rural areas and poor and has also led to environmental degradation, whereas decentralised energy planning model is in the interest of efficient utilisation of resources. Energy planning at the village level is the bottom limit of the application of decentralised planning principle. The individual villages are the smallest social units where the energy consumption occurs. Renewable energy is energy derived from sources that are being replaced by nature, such as water, wind, solar or biomass. Renewable sources are essentially non-polluting if applied correctly. The paper presents a review of the important decentralised renewable energy options, related case studies of successful deployment of renewable energy technologies in India and resulting lessons learnt. Case studies discussed in the present work show the feasibility of decentralised energy options for the residential and small scale applications in a village or a cluster of villages. The paper also details the different initiatives taken by the government of India to promote decentralised energy production in India. It is found that the small scale power generation systems based on the renewable energy sources are more efficient and cost effective. Thus the focus should be on the small scale renewable energy technologies that can be implemented locally by communities and small scale producers, but can make a significant overall contribution towards the national energy supply.