Renewable energy systems installed in Asia: current successes and the potential for future widespread dissemination

The US Agency for International Development (AID)-sponsored RETs (renewable energy technologies) were examined in Nepal, India, Thailand and the Philippines, including visits to field sites where units were being operated by purchasers or professional operators. Of the technologies examined, four have the potential for or have already begun widespread dissemination: (1) micro-hydro units in Thailand-locally produced systems that are installed and operated by local villagers at a low cost per delivered kilowatt, (2) micro-hydro mills in Nepal-locally produced units that are sold to local entrepreneurs as multipurpose power units for operating grain grinders, rice dehullers and mustard oil expellers; (3) biogas plants in Nepal-small-scale, locally designed units that are being sold to households and entrepreneurs throughout Nepal to provide lighting and cooking fuel, and increasingly to power engines for running grain grinding mills and other rural industries, (4) photovoltaic systems in India-small-scale systems for the provision of village lighting, TV and radio, and irrigation for high value crops. Several of these technologies - specially the Nepalese micro-hydro mills and the Thai micro-hydroelectric systems are already the systems of choice for consumers, if the resource base is available locally. Adoption of these successful technologies is often limited as much by access to credit and the availability of installation crews as by the acceptance of the technology itself. In addition, the AID-supported RETs were found to have near-term possibilities for widespread dissemination or transfer to another interested Asian countries. These are: (1) solar rice dryers in India, (2) biomass gasifiers in the Philippines and Thailand, (3) rice husk pyrolysis systems in Thailand and (4) wind water pumpers in the Philippines and Thailand.