Local electricity: Africa goes off-grid - (...) Dundee project. Dr Bhattacharyya is leading a research project to explore ways of making off-grid electricity generation a reality for less-industrialised countries. 'Just extending the grid does not help the poor as they always lose out when there are shortages. What they need is local power,' he said. He said the challenge was to find power generation and supply models that could work in rural areas. 'There has been some examination in the past of the kinds of technology that could be used to help provide electricity supply in areas like this, whether it be solar energy or bio-energy and so on. However, what needs to be looked at in much greater detail is how this translates to the ground. 'It is about looking at the whole picture – how do we provide the electricity, who pays for it, what can it be used to do. This is not just about powering up televisions or running lightbulbs,  we have to look at how supply can be connected to remote regions and how it can best be used for the people there, and how they can sustain it themselves. 'It needs to be run by local businesses, not by government,' he added. Dr Bhattachatyya expects to have a demonstration project up and running in India within two years. They hope the model will then be replicated across the less-industrialised world (...) - TheEcologist.org

£2 million research project into off-grid electricity development
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/cepmlp/gateway/index.php?news=30009


Voir aussi :
http://www.solar-aid.org/