Remote area power supplies in India - growing need for storage batteries

Even when all the power projects planned in India are completed and commissioned, there still will be a significant number of unconnected areas within a region serviced by a power grid and a large number of villages in areas far removed from urban and suburban localities and therefore outside the grid. Extending power lines to such areas may not be practicable on account of prohibitive cost of grid connection. The problem can be solved by developing and installing remote area power supply (RAPS) systems based on renewable energy sources such as solar energy, biogas and wind energy. Applications of RAPS in remote areas and components of a typical RAPS system are enumerated. One essential component of any RAPS system is a device to store energy which maintains power supply in unfavourable climatic conditions. A battery bank based on lead/acid storage batteries is the more generally used device to store electricity derived from the various energy inputs to RAPS systems. Some findings of the use of lead/acid batteries for RAPS service and certain suggestions for development and test facilities for batteries for RAPS system are given. (M.G.B.)