Feature Article

Pumped storage power plants help achieve maximum efficiency for the power generating system and maintain power system stability as a whole.

Aryavart Grameen Bank operates in six districts of Uttar Pradesh. AGP decided to install PV systems at five of its branches to provide back up power during mains power cuts. The PV modules generate DC electricity in sunlight, which is stored in rechargeable lead-acid batteries.

Tanzania has one of the lowest rates of electrifi cation in the world. Zara Solar and its sister company Mona-Mwanza Electrical & Electronics both based in Mwanza provide high-quality, aff ordable PV systems in Northern Tanzania. Zara Solar is a rapidly growing business that uses a network of self-employed technicians to reach out to the remote rural areas.

Winrock International, in partnership with the Ford Foundation, has been implementing the project on 'Increasing Access of Poor Nepali Communities to Biogas Technology to Strengthen Livelihoods and to Enhance Environment Management', since August 2007.

A new revolutionary, renewable and clean energy product is showing the light, quite literally in many rural homes. The Kisan Torches and Lanterns manufactured by the Freeplay Energy Group and distributed by IFFCO (Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd) need no batteries, no kerosene, no electricity and come with a very long shelf life including one year warranty.

The promotion of renewable energy is in line with India

Groups of women in Zambia started providing energy services like battery charging, irrigation, milling and welding, to the community by using a replacing diesel with jatropha oil that they produce themselves.

Recent technological developments in biomass have made it possible to deploy various biomass-based systems for meeting total energy requirements of villages in an efficient, reliable, and cost-effective manner. Modern biomass technologies offer considerable effi ciency gains over traditional biomass use.

Orlando Wagner and Jochen Hauff compare the booming renewables market with other sectors where a boom has been followed by a bust, on the lookout for danger signals. They conclude that the renewable energy sector has strong foundations - but does have some areas of vulnerability, which they examine in detail.

As would be expected in a maturing market, there are considerable changes in the wind energy industry, particularly when viewed over a period of several years rather than in any one year in particular. The size of wind farms continues to grow, as does the size of the wind turbines which populate them.