The Asian Regional Energy Initiative of the IEI

Rural energy needs

• IEI's village-based water-supply project:
  
  An update has been prepared on the status of IEI's Rural Energy and Water-supply Utility (REWSU) project. It briefly gives the status of the REWSUs originally invested in; it also lists causes for their discontinuation. A detailed report is then given on the operation of the plant at Mavinakere village (Arsikere taluk, Hassan district, Karnataka). This includes quantitative input/output information, and other performance indicators. The report concludes with a section on the lessons learnt so far from the REWSU project and suggestions for the successful functioning of such rural utilities. These lessons pertain chiefly to technical and sociological factors in the selection of a village, the tasks of promoters/implementers of the project, the role of the operator/s, and the prevailing state policies regarding finance, and integrated development. [Click here].
   
• Rural energy modelling:
  
  This project will involve the development of a generic rural energy demand-supply model and demonstration of its applicability to village-level energy requirements and resources. The purpose of the model is to address, in particular, the inadequate supply of and access to energy services, by including all the available sources of energy services and deriving the most economical ways of meeting the demand for them. The model will consider on the one hand, estimates of the energy services required, including those not yet obtained, and, on the other, the various options for meeting these services, particularly from locally available resources. The annualised costs per unit of delivered energy through each alternative will be estimated, enabling comparatively low cost options to be indicated. It is intended to be a generic model, applicable to any region, but data from Indian villages will be used for demonstration. [Click here].
   
• Energy-development enterprises:
  
  The objective of this project is to promote rural enterprises that deliver improved household energy services, sustaining this delivery through integration with income generation.  We are demonstrating this approach in a village in the state of Karnataka (south-west India).  Biogas for household cooking will be generated and distributed to every home in the village.  The source of fuel will be cattle dung from a co-operative dairy, whose milk sales will help to support the operation financially.  The proposed scheme is unique because it includes all the families, through innovative use of proven technologies and operational structures.  Demonstration of the feasibility of this project is expected to lead to replication.