Photovoltaics for Rural Electrification in Developing Countries: A Road Map

The evidence suggests that many solar programs are being designed and implemented in isolation and without reliance on published guidelines or the experience gained by others. The conclusion is obvious: the likelihood of a program being successful would be greatly improved if program implementers were made more aware of best practice guidelines and of the lessons and experience learned by others in implementing previous programs. Furthermore, the best practice guidelines not only need to be readily available but need to describe the stages, issues and the stakeholders’ roles in designing and implementing a SHS program. This book showcases a detailed road map that has been developed for the implementation of rural electrification projects in developing countries using solar PV. Features of this book will be case studies derived from personal participatory observation of the authors on Solar Home Systems, their impact, their advantages and disadvantages and their operation.

Tania Urmee has been directly involved in renewable energy research and development from 1996 to the present. She started her career working for Grameen Shakti (GS), a non profit organization in Bangladesh that was established to promote the take up of solar home systems in rural areas of Bangladesh using a micro-credit financing mechanism. She also worked as research associates at the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand in the projects funded by Global Network for Energy and Sustainable Development (GNESD) and the Swedish SIDA (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) and the Thailand Energy and Environment Network (TENET). During this time she worked on the policy analysis of institutional reforms of energy markets in developing countries, successfully analysed the policies of Bangladesh, Thailand and Vietnam. She also served as assistant editor for the international Energy Journal published by the “Regional Energy Resources Information Centre (RERIC)”. Tania Urmee completed her Ph. D. from Murdoch University of Western Australia (MU) in 2009. She used her experience in this area, to supervise research students and to publish the results to disseminate the information to the international community. Tania Urmee has a deep passion for renewable energy and energy efficiency and has a strong desire to share this knowledge and experience with the research communities (related and interdisciplinary) in the world. She is also internationally known for her contributions to the social, economical and environmental issues with rural electrification using renewable energy. She has developed a holistic approach to rural electrification using RE in developing countries.

David Harries is an executive director of four companies, EMC Ltd, EMC Construction, EMC Technology Australia and Solar Farm Carnarvon, all of which are part of a group of solar energy companies based in West Perth. He is an Adjunct Professor with the University of Western

Australia’s School of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering. He is a board member of the WA branch of the Australian Solar Energy Council and Vice President (and former President) of the Conservation Council of Western Australia, and president of the Compassionate Friends of Western Australia.  His previous work and roles have included establishing and heading up the Research Institute for Sustainable Energy (RISE) at Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia, which was an accredited testing facility for renewable energy equipment and systems such as PV inverters and which incorporated the national small wind turbine testing centre. David also set up the Centre for Research into Sustainable Transport (CREST), a joint Murdoch University and Curtin University initiative, was the Executive Director of the Western Australian government’s Sustainable Energy Development Office and the Assistant Director of the Office of Energy Planning and Conservation in Tasmania. His work in the energy field over three decades has included major projects on natural gas, electricity, renewable energy and energy efficiency. David has represented governments on several high level energy policy committees and advisory panels, has presented papers at a number of international energy conferences and has published a number of peer reviewed journal papers. In his academic career he has supervised numerous Master and Ph.D. research projects and several of these have focused on renewable energy opportunities, policies and programs in developing countries, including wind, biomass and on solar home system projects.

Hans Holtorf has been involved in solar energy from the side of application and lecturing since 1987. He started his career in 1987 at International Battery and Solar Power Consulting (IBC) as a sales engineer for off-grid PV systems. He participated in 1988/1989 in Postgraduate Programme Renewable Energy (PPRE) at University of Oldenburg (UOL) where he is employed since then. In the research team ‘Physik Regenerativer Energiesysteme’ (PRE) under Prof. Luther he was responsible for the operation of Energielabor (a research and demonstration building for the off-grid energy supply by renewable energy) and for the technical supervision of a research project on photovoltaic pumping systems. Subsequently Hans Holtorf was engaged in the research team of Prof. Parisi, ‚Energie und Halbleiterforschung' (EHF). Within EHF he focused on projects for the energy meteorology research group (meteorological measurement station and a hydrogen project) and renewable energy education. He lectures in Postgraduate Programme Renewable Energy (PPRE) and for students of the Institute of Physics at UOL. In parallel to his obligations at University of Oldenburg he has served ‘Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit’ (now GIZ) as short term expert in Tunisia, Morocco and Senegal on Solar Home Systems. At present he is researching with Tania Urmee on success factors of SHS in Africa.