Renewable energy development in rural areas of Uttar Pradesh: Current status, technologies and CO2 mitigation analysis

The main factor having severe impact on lives of millions of people under the poverty line is energy deficiency. For the improvement of living and standard of education, there is a need to electrify the rural areas. India has an aim of achieving 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022. The use of Renewable Energy Technologies propounds huge benefits to rural areas. Over the past two decades, rural electrification has been a continuous process, accelerated through various programs and schemes. Uttar Pradesh state of India, located in the north central region of the country is the most populous state. Energy demand is increasing steadily with the development of the state. With respect to limited conventional energy sources and increasing environmental pollution, production of energy based on renewable energy sources is given high priority. This paper presents the current status of renewable energy in the state, renewable energy-based options for rural electrification including the single technology-based systems, integrated and the hybrid energy systems depending on availability of resources. The current scenario of power generation and requirement is also discussed. A complete analysis of the current CO2 emission and the mitigation potential of different RESs are presented. Based on this the cost saving potential is performed.