Ramakrishna Mission initiative impact study-a rural electrification project in West Bengal, India

Author

Stone, Jack L. ; Ullal, Harin S. ; Chaurey, Akanksha ; Bhatia, Pankaj

Author_Institution

Nat. Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO, USA

fYear

2000

fDate

2000

Firstpage

1571

Lastpage

1574

Abstract

Three-hundred photovoltaic-powered solar home lighting (SHS) systems have been successfully operated in the Sundarbans region of West Bengal since 1997. This paper details the impact of these systems on the beneficiaries, including student study time, kerosene consumption and savings, effectiveness of supply and after-sales service, nature and frequency of problems in the systems, technical evaluation of the systems including detailed battery-charging patterns, satisfaction of users, and summary of payment collection. The Ramakrishna Mission has been an excellent choice as the nongovernmental organization (NGO) responsible for administering the project and training the teams responsible for installing and maintaining the systems. Other applications, such as battery-charging stations, common-area lighting, water pumping, and vaccine refrigeration, were also evaluated

Keywords

lighting; photovoltaic power systems; India; Ramakrishna Mission; Sundarbans region; West Bengal; after-sales service; battery-charging patterns; common-area lighting; kerosene consumption reduction; nongovernmental organization; payment collection; photovoltaic-powered solar home lighting systems; rural electrification project; student study time; technical evaluation; user satisfaction; vaccine refrigeration; water pumping; Frequency; Laboratories; Lifting equipment; Photovoltaic systems; Power generation; Power transmission lines; Refrigeration; Renewable energy resources; Rivers; Solar power generation;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2000. Conference Record of the Twenty-Eighth IEEE

Conference_Location

Anchorage, AK

ISSN

0160-8371

Print_ISBN

0-7803-5772-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.2000.916197

Filename

916197