Rural Electrification Model at Renewable Energy Centre, Mithradham, Kerala, India. Photovoltaic a key technology for rural electrification
Scattered throughout India are approximately 500,000 villages. Most Indian villages are small; nearly 80 percent have fewer than 1,000 inhabitants. Most are nucleated settlements. It is in villages that India's most basic business--agriculture--takes place. Here, too, flourish many of India's most valued cultural forms.But most of the villages lack an energy supply system. Supplying energy from a central power station to the spread out remote areas is not a viable option. An energy supply based on fossil resources would also spoil the very fabric of the village. The necessary infrastructre for a central supply is also not available. Hence, renewable energy produced in the village by solar, wind and biomass by the villagers themselves is the best option for energy supply to these villages. These resources are readily available in the villages. Mithradham has demonstrated an electric supply network which could be easily copied for rural electrification for Indian villages. By adopting the model each hut of the village could be an energy producer feeding the village net work. The multifunctional energy roof for rural electrification is also used for training and awareness programs conducted in Mithradham.
