Awareness of the potential of renewables can greatly enhance their acceptence

An awareness of the potential of renewables beyond power-generation, particularly for heating, cooling, cooking and mechanical applications would greatly enhance their acceptance amongst the public, according to a report released by WWF-India and Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW).

Renewable Energy beyond Electricity is a compendium of innovative renewable energy applications beyond electricity generation. The fourteen renewable energy applications documented in this report cover four different renewable energy sources - biomass, wind, geothermal, and solar - in a variety of renewable energy applications like improved biomass cook stoves, solar space heating and cooling systems, solar photovoltaic water pumps, solar pasteurizers, solar desalinators and wind water pumps, among others in operation across the country.

The compendium analyses each application with respect to various parameters such as technology, cost, market potential and the current policy scenario. An example of this is the Reverse osmosis (RO) plant at the Kotri village in Rajasthan that produces 600 liters of water per hour, for six hours each day and meets the drinking water needs of more than 1,000 men, women and children.

Dr Arunabha Ghosh, CEO of CEEW, said,“The potential of renewable energy to transform our lives and ways of living is underestimated and under-appreciated. By examining its applications beyond simply switching on lights and fans, we can begin to broaden our technological horizons, deepen the foundations of business models offering a range of additional energy services, strengthen the financial ecosystem to support decentralised energy, and most importantly, fuel our imaginations to develop solutions to everyday challenges. RE+ should be a new mantra for empowering people to take control of their energy destinies.”

Speaking about the potential of renewable energy beyond electricity, Mr. Ravi Singh, Secretary General & CEO, WWF-India said, “This compendium advocates multivariate applications of renewable energy. It celebrates and encourages innovations while documenting existing applications with the purpose of replicating them on a larger scale. Applications like these could ensure that renewable energy is accessible for use in even the remotest of areas, benefiting communities and ecosystems. WWF believes that ‘Renewable energy as the new normal’ would happen only when applications like these are promoted in our daily lives.” While current policies and activities focus primarily on power generation through renewables, there is a greater need to explore the potential of applications of renewable energy beyond electricity generation.