Prologue:
Have you ever run into information dead-end on the web while researching certain ‘green’ topics or sustainable initiatives in India? I know it is limiting to just stick with the WWW but it’s the first place we tend to look, especially if you are living outside of India. Most times, I find bits and pieces of information that are hard to glue together and also missing crucial sections needed to complete the puzzle.
Solar applications in India:
Recently, I’ve been researching solar thermal / solar hot water (SHW) and the photovoltaic (PV) scene in India. I’ve been looking for installed capacity, generation, costs, incentives available, and barriers to adoption. What I’ve found are pieces of information like lists of manufacturers/ installers (not many have websites), news articles and a few technical reports, but no comprehensive source of information. This led me to wonder what I could do to remedy this situation.
The proposal:
My idea is to create PV and SHW maps for India. These maps will show an array of information based on location ranging from installed capacities to incentives available to solar insolation. These maps will also allow us to chart current and future trends while identifying underserved or booming states and building sectors. The maps will be interactive and users will be able to select a particular installed system and read about the project profile. The idea is to roll out SHW maps in the first phase and then move on to PV maps in the second phase. These maps will be tied to a database containing the following information:
- Address
- Building type: residential, institutional, commercial etc.
- Available solar insolation
- Installed capacity
- Type of collector
- Size of the system
- Cost (before incentives)
- Date installed
- Installer information
- Manufacturer information
- Availed incentives/subsidies (incl. bank loans)
Additionally, ‘Incentive maps’ will be created, these maps, as the name suggests, show incentives/subsidies by city and state. Selecting a state would list all the incentives/rebates, loans offered for solar applications.
Tools:
- Microsoft Access for the database creation
- Geographical Information System (GIS) for the mapping part
Data sources:
- Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE)
- Solar Thermal Federation of India (STFI)
- GRIHA India
- Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE)
- PV and SHW installers, manufacturers and dealers in India
Data submission and validation:
The community can submit data through a web-based form. Duplication and validation are two most critical steps in creating a good database. Here is one way of doing it. If you have any ideas of how this can be dealt with, please get in touch with me.
Interested?
Interested in working on this project? Leave a comment and I will get in touch you.
Pallavi Mantha
e.d + v 
Sirisha
April 23, 2010
Hello Pallavi, you are absolutely right on the non-availability of ‘proper’ data-I am currently working on my MPhil thesis in the area of ‘Energy and electricity policies’ for India, here in Judge Business school, University of Cambridge where I have encountered the same issues. I am quite interested in the project you are intending to take up and would like to make some good contribution . If you have any questions, please drop me a mail!
vIRENDRA kUMAR
April 23, 2010
The project should start from age old practices which harvest solar energy for day to day uses e.g. my great grand mother used to warm her buckets of water in the sun during winter or used to dry leafy vegetables available during winter in plenty for use in summer etc. Mention of such practices in any solar energy project, even fleetingly, brings us nearer to ourselves and gives our search for cleaner energy a healthy direction otherwise it becomes an exercise promoting another type of industry which produces pollution for manufacturing its products like any other industry.
regards
virendra kumar
Pallavi
April 24, 2010
Hi Virendra,
I see where you are coming from – our ancestors harvested the sun’s energy in many ways and we should learn from their experience and try to do the same. But these methods are to an extent a lifestyle choice and cannot be applied to larger buildings. PV and SHW are necessary for large scale production of electricity and hot water – and it is a fact that we need to invest more on this technology for a cleaner future.
Pallavi
April 24, 2010
Hi Sirisha,
Thanks for stopping by. Your thesis topic sounds interesting – are you proposing new ones or recommending changes to existing ones?
I’ll mail you shortly regarding the Solar India Project.
Sirisha
April 26, 2010
Hello Pallavi,
My current thesis is not based on renewable energy sources. However, it is based on the progress of efficiency of the distribution systems in India during the last decade. As known, we lose almost 2% of our GDP every single year because of illegal connections, power thefts, power outages etc.
I narrowed on this topic especially after quite along review on solar energy projects in India and other developing countries. My supervisor was more inclined towards my current topic because, he was aware that India is still in the initial stages with respect to renewable energy policies and practices. The success of solar projects would mainly rely on the economic viability( Solar panels are costly and seem to be ineffective)
However, I am planning to conduct a freelance-research to record the opinions of people and their attitudes on the usage of renewable sources. The business of sustainability as you know is complex-highly political, economically unstable, carbon credits, pollution, carbon trade, making billions understand and adapt etc, is a far achieved goal.
Also, I am exploring the basis of organizational behavior in energy usage in corporates==not for degree, but for understanding.
Adding to list of data sources, we have ‘too’ many other organizations:
Prayas Pune
TERI Delhi
Karmayog(NGO), Delhi
Apart from which, the likes of USAID , World Bank, ADB are also sponsering small village projects.
Regards,
Sirisha
Jay
April 24, 2010
Hi Pallavi,
Sorry if it is a double post, but my computer crashed on my first attempt to submit.
Really like the idea that you have proposed and I would like to volunteer technically for anything you might need some help in. I have experience in working with web application and data entry validation, de duplication and data merging (mainly contact data) but would love to investigate if this can be expanded to data dealing with duplicate or erroneous post of project data.
I would also like to propose if you thought of creating a sort of “match making” service between organizations (NGO’s, co-operatives) that would like to implement PV and SHW projects in their communities, and companies that are in the field of building and designing these systems as well as other agencies which might be interested in funding them as part of their CSR outreach or carbon trade programs.
For this we might need:
1) list of NGO’s , co-operatives and the areas they work in
2) list of PV and shw manufacturers/designers/installer (which you have mentioned in your post)
3) Companies/industrail houses that would like to fund such projects.
Let me know your thoughts.
Pallavi
April 24, 2010
Hi Jay,
Thanks for leaving a note!
We could really use your skills for the project. My experience with data validation and duplication is limited.
I recently had a similar conversation with another friend who suggested involving local organizations /communities .The three lists you have proposed are something I have started putting together – I will post them on the blog shortly.
Do check back for updates . Let’s keep in touch.
Pallavi
April 28, 2010
Hi Sirisha,
This is very interesting and I’m thinking may be we can join forces on this – we can tie in the results of your survey to my maps based on states and that will show the trend of awareness among people – like we can see which state is more open to embracing renewables vs. states where people lack awareness/shun renewables etc..
Let’s say we conduct a survey with a few questions – I can create a ‘color ramp’ map showing the results of each of the question – this will automatically show us results tied to geographic location..
I think this will be a great project. Let me know how I can contribute to your research.
Exciting 🙂
Agneya
March 15, 2011
Hi,
I don’t know if we are posting this little too late – but would like to understand more about the Solar India Project and it’s progress.
There are some technical things too we wish to understand – do get in touch.
Regards
Kedar
kedar[at]agneya[dot]in
Abhishek Agarwal
April 30, 2012
I am interested for the project. I am also working on similar.