When does unreliable grid supply become unacceptable policy? Costs of power supply and outages in rural India

Off-grid solar photovoltaic systems for rural electrification and emissions mitigation in India

“…The breakeven distance, after which off-grid PV has a lower LCUE than grid extension, is similar for the two hilly locations with high or low irradiance levels (Ladakh and Dhemaji) at distances greater than 16 km and 19 km respectively. This is similar to breakeven distances for biomass and PV systems from previous studies [29,53]. For the plains location, Barmer, with high irradiance it is much larger, with the off-grid PV being the cheaper option for distances greater than 28 km.…”

“…For this research, a shortfall of 5% was used to evaluate the NPV, LCUE and emissions intensity of the mini-grid systems as this eliminates the most extreme instances of low generation and high demand, but is still sufficient for the vast majority of the time. The corresponding LCUE and specific emissions values for grid extension are derived using data from the literature concerning the cost and emissions of grid electricity and those associated with extending the distribution network [29,53]. Data concerning the distribution network is taken from Nouni (2008) [13], and hence we consider two values corresponding to 'plain' and 'hilly' topography.…”

Private sector electrification in Base of the Pyramid marketplaces in India: opportunities for energy and business to create Shared Value

“…These include installing smart meters and legalising existing connections (estimates are one-third of domestic customers engage in electricity theft through meter or transmission line modifications; Mukherjee, 2014), which will improve the financial sustainability of suppliers. This, coupled with community solutions to cashflow issues and payment models (Chaurey et al, 2012), may well change the dynamics of load shedding which currently disadvantages more remote areas (Harish et al, 2014). These options, and franchising opportunities in the supply chain, all have the potential for private sector involvement.…”

“…Despite this, load shedding is still implemented by distribution companies in areas with high collection losses, where not supplying power is more economical than supplying power and not recovering costs (Palit & Bandyopadhyay, 2016). Rural areas face disproportionate load shedding due to their high transmission losses and dominance of agricultural pump sets, which incur financial losses (Harish et al, 2014). Maharashtra is one of the few states with a formal load shedding protocol, where the distribution collection losses influence the number of hours of load shed per day (Kale, 2014).…”

“…Revenue from agricultural pump sets in rural areas is typically in the form of a flat-rate, unmetered fee based on the horsepower of the pump (Harish et al, 2014).…”