Can Solar-Wind Hybrid Systems Bring Power to Indian Villages?

More than 200 million people live in rural areas of India without any access to grid-connected power. While the Indian government has taken up the task of rural electrification on a warpath, it has a long way to go since over 18,000 villages are un-electrified during FY2016. The huge cost involved in installing and servicing of power transmission lines is the main reason for this problem, while heavy transmission and distribution losses and poor power reliability are other issues aggravating the problem.

Hence, we need to look for alternative forms of energy to electrify our villages, which has led to the promotion of solar photovoltaic and wind power generation systems at a large scale. However, these standalone systems are not sufficient enough to provide stable electricity round the year, because of changing weather conditions. Solar energy is mostly available in the day-time, that too in summers, while wind energy is available only intermittently.

Creating a hybrid model of solar and wind power can be ideal for implementation in rural areas, since it integrates the capabilities of both the systems to provide uninterrupted electricity. Particularly in rural areas where electricity requirement is low, we could utilize this energy to store electricity in batteries, which can serve as a backup when the conventional power supply goes down.