 |
4.56 The entire Ladakh Region, covering both Leh and Kargil districts, is considered as 100% electrified region. 10,000 solar home lighting systems and 6,000 solar lanterns have been installed under the Village Electrification programme, which was financed to the extent of 90% by the Central Government. The programme was implemented through the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Leh for Leh District and the District Development Commissioner (DDC), Kargil for the Kargil district, with active involvement of local NGOs i. e. Social Work & Research Centre (SWRC) and Ladakh Ecological Development Group (LEDeG). Training courses for local technicians have been conducted under the project and arrangements made for servicing of the systems for a period of five years. 4.57 The projects sanctioned during 2001-02 for SPV electrification of 14 villages in Uttar Pradesh, 30 villages in Chattisgarh, 16 villages in Tripura, 13 villages in West Bengal and 173 remote scheduled caste and scheduled tribe colonies in Kerala continued to be implemented during the year. These projects are likely to be completed within 2002-03. Research & Development 4.58 The Research and Development activities in the solar photovoltaic technology are aimed at achieving improved performance of PV modules and systems. The Ministry is supporting research on all aspects of the PV technology through higher efficiencies and improvements in the production yields, design and reliability of PV systems and reduction of costs in the production of solar photovoltaic cells, modules and systems. During 2002-03 the Ministry continued to support R&D on new materials for fabrication of solar cells, thin film solar cells, development of electronics to be used in a PV system etc. 4.59 A major project on development of large area multi-junction amorphous silicon solar modules at the Indian Association for Cultivation of Science (IACS), Kolkata concluded during 2002-03. The project was funded jointly with DST. Under this project, the IACS team designed a Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition (PECVD) system for deposition of amorphous silicon films and a magnetron sputtering system. Both these equipment are required to fabricate large area (30 cm x 30 cm substrate size) double junction amorphous silicon solar cell modules. Double junction amorphous silicon solar cell modules of 6 7% efficiency have been developed at IACS. The IACS team has also developed laboratory scale process to produce 10% efficiency solar cells. New material for encapsulation of amorphous silicon modules has also been developed. 4.60 In view of the potential of the polycrystalline thin film solar cell module technologies to bring down the cost of photovoltaic modules in future, the Ministry has been supporting R&D on various aspects of thin film solar cells. During the year, a project on Nano Composite Copper Oxide based Thin Film Solar Cells progressed at the IIT, Delhi. Another R & D project on development of silicon thin films is also under implementation at the Jadavpur University. 4.61 Development of PV systems, various system components and their performance testing continued during the year. Under a project on design and development of SPV systems as replacement to diesel generators used in urban areas, a 1.5 kW capacity system was installed at HUDCO centre at Gwalpahari, District Gurgaon. The performance of the satisfactorily working system is being monitored by IIT, Delhi. The design and development of stand alone inverter for use in PV systems in under progress at IIT-Bombay. A project on measurement of AC parameters of solar cells is progressing at the IISc., Bangalore. 4.62 The Ministry continued to work with the Bureau of Indian Standards and other international organisations for evolving standards for solar photovoltaic systems. The test facilities created at the Solar Energy Centre of the Ministry and other authorized test centres were utilized effectively for testing and standardization of photovoltaic modules, components and complete PV systems. SPV Water Pumping Programme 4.63 The main objective of the SPV water-pumping programme is to promote large-scale use of photovoltaic pumping systems in the country. This in turn is expected to reduce consumption of fossil fuels. Large-scale use of pumping systems is also expected to reduce the cost of PV modules in the country and help in strengthening the production base in the country. |
