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.
Off-the-grid or off-grid is a characteristic of buildings and a lifestyle designed in an independent manner without reliance on one or more public utilities. The term "off-the-grid" traditionally refers to not being connected to the electrical grid, but can also include other utilities like water, gas, and sewer systems, and can scale from residential homes to small communities. Off-the-grid living allows for buildings and people to be self-sufficient, which is advantageous in isolated locations where normal utilities cannot reach and is attractive to those who want to reduce environmental impact and cost of living. Generally, an off-grid building must be able to supply energy and potable water for itself, as well as manage food, waste and wastewater.
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.
India's solar power installed capacity was 84.28 GW AC as of 31 May 2024. India is the third largest producer of solar power globally.
For solar power, South Asia has the ideal combination of both high solar insolation and a high density of potential customers.
The developing nations of Africa are popular locations for the application of renewable energy technology. Currently, many nations already have small-scale solar, wind, and geothermal devices in operation providing energy to urban and rural populations. These types of energy production are especially useful in remote locations because of the excessive cost of transporting electricity from large-scale power plants. The applications of renewable energy technology has the potential to alleviate many of the problems that face Africans every day, especially if done in a sustainable manner that prioritizes human rights.
SELCO Solar Light Pvt. Ltd. is a for-profit social enterprise based in Bangalore, India. SELCO has played an instrumental role in improving living standards of poor households in rural India especially in the state of Karnataka through solar energy based interventions and low smoke cook stoves. In recognition of the services towards reduction of the gap in access to energy, SELCO has been awarded the prestigious Ashden Awards twice, in years 2005 and 2007. SELCO India was founded in 1995 by Dr.Harish Hande an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur with INR 15,000 funding from its co-founder Mr. Neville Williams. SELCO India has installed solar light systems in 2,000,000 houses till date.
The largely government owned electricity sector in Haiti, referred to as Électricité d'Haïti (ED'H for "Haiti Electric Utility", faced a deep crisis characterized by dramatic shortages and the lowest coverage of electricity in the Western Hemisphere in 2006. with only about 38.5% of the population having regular access to electricity. In addition, Haiti's large share of thermal generation makes the country especially vulnerable to rising and unstable oil prices.
ECAMI is a renewable energy business based in Nicaragua, focusing on solar photovoltaics, wind power and hydroelectric system.
Solar power in Pakistan became part of the energy mix in 2013, following government policies aimed at supporting renewable energy development. Benefiting from nine and a half hours of sunlight daily, the country now has seven solar projects that contribute 530 MW to the national grid. Rising electricity costs and grid reliability concerns have driven industries, businesses, and urban homeowners to increasingly turn to solar solutions, including rooftop photovoltaic installations.
As of 2019, renewable energy in Morocco covered 35% of the country’s electricity needs.
Innovation: Africa is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization which brings Israeli solar, water and agricultural innovations to rural African villages. Since its establishment in 2008, the organization has completed over 1000 projects providing light and solar energy to schools and medical centres and crucially, pumping clean water to more than 5 million people across 10 African countries. Innovation: Africa maintains headquarters in the US and Israel and has projects across Uganda, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, South Africa, Cameroon, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, and Eswatini.
In Guyana, the areas outside of the coastal plain are referred to as hinterland. Approximately twenty percent of the Guyanese population live in the hinterland. The population mostly consists of Amerindian communities who have little access to modern energy services such as electricity, light and modern fuels for cooking and transportation. This situation contrasts with the coastal plain, where there is access to the electricity grid. Several initiatives are in place to improve energy services in the hinterland.
Despite its high potential for wind energy generation, wind power in Kenya currently contributes only about 16 percent of the country's total electrical power. However, its share in energy production is increasing. Kenya Vision 2030 aims to generate 2,036 MW of wind power by 2030. To accomplish this goal, Kenya is developing numerous wind power generation centers and continues to rely on the nation's three major wind farms: the Lake Turkana Wind Power Station, the Kipeto Wind Power Station, and the Ngong Hills Wind Farm. While these wind power stations are beneficial to help offset fossil fuel usage and increase overall energy supply reliability in Kenya, project developments have also negatively impacted some indigenous communities and the parts of the environment surrounding the wind farms.
Most of Kenya's electricity is generated by renewable energy sources. Access to reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy is one of the 17 main goals of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Development of the energy sector is also critical to help Kenya achieve the goals in Kenya Vision 2030 to become a newly industrializing, middle-income country. With an installed power capacity of 2,819 MW, Kenya currently generates 826 MW hydroelectric power, 828 geothermal power, 749 MW thermal power, 331 MW wind power, and the rest from solar and biomass sources. Kenya is the largest geothermal energy producer in Africa and also has the largest wind farm on the continent. In March 2011, Kenya opened Africa's first carbon exchange to promote investments in renewable energy projects. Kenya has also been selected as a pilot country under the Scaling-Up Renewable Energy Programmes in Low Income Countries Programme to increase deployment of renewable energy solutions in low-income countries. Despite significant strides in renewable energy development, about a quarter of the Kenyan population still lacks access to electricity, necessitating policy changes to diversify the energy generation mix and promote public-private partnerships for financing renewable energy projects.
Renewables supply a quarter of energy in Turkey, including heat and electricity. Some houses have rooftop solar water heating, and hot water from underground warms many spas and greenhouses. In parts of the west hot rocks are shallow enough to generate electricity as well as heat. Wind turbines, also mainly near western cities and industry, generate a tenth of Turkey’s electricity. Hydropower, mostly from dams in the east, is the only modern renewable energy which is fully exploited. Hydropower averages about a fifth of the country's electricity, but much less in drought years. Apart from wind and hydro, other renewables; such as geothermal, solar and biogas; together generated almost a tenth of Turkey’s electricity in 2022. Türkiye has ranked 5th in Europe and 12th in the world in terms of installed capacity in renewable energy. The share of renewables in Türkiye’s installed power reached to 54% at the end of 2022.
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 $33.66 billion in 2020, amounting to about 1% of South Asia and 0.04% of the World's GDP.
GivePower is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that develops clean water and energy systems in communities across the world. GivePower has installed 2,650 solar power installations in villages across 17 different countries and in underdeveloped areas of the United States.
