Alternatives For Renewable Energy In Rural India: The Napaam Case Study

Abstract

Energy is the vital input for sustainable development of a country as it is directly related to the country’s economic growth. Even though energy use has doubled since 2000, but energy consumption per capita is still only around one-third of the global average and some 240 million people have no access to electricity. This study investigates the present energy demand scenario of a rural village and finds the possibilities of achieving energy access by the available alternate energy in rural areas. A detailed survey was done on the energy demand and available energy resources in a village of Assam in the Northeastern part of India. Energy demands on different sectors were calculated and the sources of energy were studied. The total technical bioenergy potential is 3.0 MWh per year from available rice husk only. The result implies that there are abundant of untapped bioenergy resources available in the village and alternatives to diversify its source of energy. This research concludes that the energy demand of households varies intensely with national averages. This bottom-up approach study of a rural village is to understand the domestic scenario of villages in developing countries, as it can be related to other villages to a much extent