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Free Watts from Nature: Wind Solar Hybrid System Project.
Case Study
The town of Mt. Abu is located high in the Avarali mountains above the deserts of southern Rajasthan in India. It is the main market centre for the district of Sirohi and is also a tourist destination. During the summer months, its cooler climate attracts visitors escaping from the heat of the desert.
Sirohi has a population of 90,000 people. About half of them live in, and around Mt. Abu and the rest live in small villages scattered throughout the district. Life is hard for the people of this area. Employment is scarce, many villages do not have road access, water is in short supply and outside of Mt. Abu electricity is not available.
Mt. Abu's electricity supply comes from a coal fired power station in Kota 600 kilometres away. However it is just one of many towns that are supplied with mains electricity from that one particular power station. The supply has many problems including;
- not enough electricity can be generated to meet the demand
- the supply often breaks down
- most people do not have enough money to pay for it
Because of these problems many people carry out their daily work by hand. It is common to see treadle sewing machines, oil burning lamps and hand operated water pumps. In the outer villages, people either rely on diesel generators or go without electricity at all. However, there are other ways to produce electricity that would reduce the need for mains power in Mt. Abu and improve daily life in the remote villages.
Examples of other ways of making electricity are found just a few kilometres from Mt. Abu at the Academy for a Better World. Built in 1991, the Academy teaches people from all over the world how to work peacefully together for a better future. The Academy is also environmentally friendly. Water is saved and reused, fruit is grown in organic orchards and electricity is made by using the 'free watts' from the sun (solar) and the wind. This type of energy is called renewable energy as it does not use up the Earth's valuable resources such as oil, coal or gas.
Several international governments have helped the Academy to develop its renewable energy systems. In 1995 the Australian government partly funded a solar-wind (hybrid) combined project. Using solar panels and a wind turbine, this system produces up to 10 kilowatts of electricity -- enough to run the equivalent of 100 x 100 watt lights. The Academy uses this system to:
- support the emergency lighting
- run computers
- operate water pumps, an important use for electricity throughout Sirohi.
These free watts from the sun and wind are collected, used and any surplus is stored in a bank of batteries. During the cloudy monsoon season the wind turbine on its own is not enough to keep the system going and mains electricity is used to charge the batteries. If the mains power fails completely, as it sometimes does, a diesel generator is used.
The energy produced by this solar and wind system would more than meet the needs of two average Australian households. It would certainly help to meet the needs of a small community or reduce the use of mains power. While the cost of building these systems is high, connecting remote areas to the mains supply is often more expensive. And once built, the energy produced is;
- cheaper to use than mains power
- environmentally friendly - it does not rely on burning fossil fuels that produce greenhouse gases.
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