Small hydro is the development of hydroelectric power on a scale suitable for local community and industry, or to contribute to distributed generation in a regional electricity grid. Exact definitions vary, but a "small hydro" project is less than 50 megawatts (MW), and can be further subdivide by scale into "mini" (<1MW), "micro" (<100 kW), "pico" (<10 kW). In contrast many hydroelectric projects are of enormous size, such as the generating plant at the Three Gorges Dam at 22,500 megawatts or the vast multiple projects of the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Rural electrification is the process of bringing electrical power to rural and remote areas. Rural communities are suffering from colossal market failures as the national grids fall short of their demand for electricity. As of 2019, 770 million people live without access to electricity – 10.2% of the global population. Electrification typically begins in cities and towns and gradually extends to rural areas, however, this process often runs into obstacles in developing nations. Expanding the national grid is expensive and countries consistently lack the capital to grow their current infrastructure. Additionally, amortizing capital costs to reduce the unit cost of each hook-up is harder to do in lightly populated areas. If countries are able to overcome these obstacles and reach nationwide electrification, rural communities will be able to reap considerable amounts of economic and social development.
Micro hydro is a type of hydroelectric power that typically produces from 5 kW to 100 kW of electricity using the natural flow of water. Installations below 5 kW are called pico hydro. These installations can provide power to an isolated home or small community, or are sometimes connected to electric power networks, particularly where net metering is offered. There are many of these installations around the world, particularly in developing nations as they can provide an economical source of energy without the purchase of fuel. Micro hydro systems complement solar PV power systems because in many areas water flow, and thus available hydro power, is highest in the winter when solar energy is at a minimum. Micro hydro is frequently accomplished with a pelton wheel for high head, low flow water supply. The installation is often just a small dammed pool, at the top of a waterfall, with several hundred feet of pipe leading to a small generator housing. In low head sites, generally water wheels and Archimedes' screws are used.
Microgeneration is the small-scale production of heat or electric power from a "low carbon source," as an alternative or supplement to traditional centralized grid-connected power.
Hybrid power are combinations between different technologies to produce power.
The production of renewable energy in Scotland is a topic that came to the fore in technical, economic, and political terms during the opening years of the 21st century. The natural resource base for renewable energy is high by European, and even global standards, with the most important potential sources being wind, wave, and tide. Renewables generate almost all of Scotland's electricity, mostly from the country's wind power.
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is a ministry of the Government of India, headed by current Union Cabinet Minister Pralhad Joshi, that is mainly responsible for research and development, intellectual property protection, and international cooperation, promotion, and coordination in renewable energy sources such as wind power, small hydro, biogas, Battery Energy Storage and solar power.
For solar power, South Asia has the ideal combination of both high solar insolation and a high density of potential customers.
China is the world's leader in electricity production from renewable energy sources, with over triple the generation of the second-ranking country, the United States. China's renewable energy sector is growing faster than its fossil fuels and nuclear power capacity, and is expected to contribute 43% of global renewable capacity growth. China's total renewable energy capacity exceeded 1,000 GW in 2021, accounting for 43.5 per cent of the country's total power generation capacity, 10.2 percentage points higher than in 2015. The country aims to have 80 per cent of its total energy mix come from non-fossil fuel sources by 2060, and achieve a combined 1,200 GW of solar and wind capacity by 2030. In 2023, it was reported that China was on track to reach 1,371 gigawatts of wind and solar by 2025, five years ahead of target due to new renewables installations breaking records. In 2024, it was reported that China would reach its target by the end of July 2024, six years ahead of target.
An independent power producer (IPP) or non-utility generator (NUG) is an entity that is not a public utility but owns facilities to generate electric power for sale to utilities and end users. NUGs may be privately held facilities, corporations, cooperatives such as rural solar or wind energy producers, and non-energy industrial concerns capable of feeding excess energy into the system.
100% renewable energy is the goal of the use renewable resources for all energy. 100% renewable energy for electricity, heating, cooling and transport is motivated by climate change, pollution and other environmental issues, as well as economic and energy security concerns. Shifting the total global primary energy supply to renewable sources requires a transition of the energy system, since most of today's energy is derived from non-renewable fossil fuels.
The Green Energy Act (GEA), formally the Green Energy and Green Economy Act, 2009, introduced in the Ontario legislature on February 23, 2009 and later repealed on January 1, 2019, was intended to expand renewable energy production, encourage energy conservation and create green jobs. Among many clauses, the GEA was best known for creating a number of feed-in tariff rates for different types of energy sources. Notable among these is the microFIT program for small non-commercial systems under 10 kilowatts, and FIT, the larger commercial version which covers a number of project types with sizes into the megawatts.
Renewable energy in Pakistan is a relatively underdeveloped sector; however, in recent years, there has been more and more interest to explore renewable energy resources for the energy production. Around 10.57% of Pakistan’s total installed power generation capacity comes renewables. Most of Pakistan's renewable energy comes from hydroelectricity. As per the vision of the Prime Minister, there is the aim to “induct 20% of RE by the year 2025 and 30% of RE by the year 2030.”
Energy for All is the name of an initiative and partnership, both of which are founded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), to reduce energy poverty in Asia and the Pacific.
Renewable energy in Afghanistan includes biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, and wind power. Afghanistan is a landlocked country surrounded by five other countries. With a population of less than 35 million people, it is one of the lowest energy consuming countries in relation to a global standing. It holds a spot as one of the countries with a smaller ecological footprint. Hydropower is currently the main source of renewable energy due to Afghanistan's geographical location. Its large mountainous environment facilitates the siting of hydroelectric dams and other facets of hydro energy.
Concept of smart villages is a global modern approach for off-grid communities. Vision behind this concept is to assist the policy makers, donors and socio-economic planner for rural electrification worldwide.
Nepal is a country enclosed by land, situated between China and India. It has a total area of 148,006.67 square kilometers and a population of 29.16 million. It has a small economy, with a GDP of $42 billion in 2024, amounting to about 1% of South Asia and 0.04% of the World's GDP.
Programme for Economic Advancement and Community Empowerment (PEACE), is a four-year project funded by the European Union. and implemented by the Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP). It was launched in 2013 in all districts of Malakand Division, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, namely, Swat, Shangla, Buner, Lower Dir, Upper Dir, Chitral and Malakand Agency.
There is enormous potential for renewable energy in Kazakhstan, particularly from wind and small hydropower plants. The Republic of Kazakhstan has the potential to generate 10 times as much power as it currently needs from wind energy alone. But renewable energy accounts for just 0.6 percent of all power installations. Of that, 95 percent comes from small hydropower projects. The main barriers to investment in renewable energy are relatively high financing costs and an absence of uniform feed-in tariffs for electricity from renewable sources. The amount and duration of renewable energy feed-in tariffs are separately evaluated for each project, based on feasibility studies and project-specific generation costs. Power from wind, solar, biomass and water up to 35 MW, plus geothermal sources, are eligible for the tariff and transmission companies are required to purchase the energy of renewable energy producers. An amendment that introduces and clarifies technology-specific tariffs is now being prepared. It is expected to be adopted by Parliament by the end of 2014. In addition, the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business indicator shows the country to be relatively investor-friendly, ranking it in 10th position for investor protection.
The energy sector in Tunisia includes all production, processing and, transit of energy consumption in this country. The production involves the upstream sector that includes general oil and gas, the downstream sector that includes the only refinery in Tunisia and most of the production of natural gas, and varied electrical/renewable energies. Renewable energy has been a strong point of focus for Tunisia as they look to optimize their green energy sources and advance their developing country. The Tunisian government has partnered with Russia and France in hopes of establishing nuclear energy as a viable alternative to fossil fuels and taking up a nontrivial chunk of the energy production in Tunisia. This is expected to be accomplished in the 2020s.
“Salinee Tavaranan: Micro-energy”, PopTech