Renewable energy in key sectors

As Tashi and Lalima discussed and the night settled, the sound of crickets grew louder outside the window.

Lalima stood up.

"I feel a craving for some more yogurt.”

“Sure, go ahead. Actually, can I also have some yogurt?”

Lalima served Tashi and sat down. As she took a spoonful of yogurt, she inquires.

“We youths want to see the uptake of renewables, but going back to the data you showed me earlier about the declining trend of the share of renewables in the total energy supply despite additions of renewable in most countries. How do you see the trend going forward?”

Tashi looked up and replied in short, “It’ll only go up.” He took a spoonful of yogurt and continued,

“The solar energy segment is expected to witness significant growth in the South Asia renewable energy market over the coming years and most of the demand will come from India (Mordor Intelligence, 2023).

In urban areas, commercial and industrial customers have driven the growth of solar energy in the region (Mordor Intelligence, 2023). These customers have relatively large land areas and buildings in which solar panels can be installed to reduce their national grid electricity bills and partially offset diesel generator costs – which can lead to significant savings.

Now, think of Aabroo’s construction business as it evolves. As more commercial and industrial customers adopt solar energy systems, buildings, and other urban infrastructure should be designed to allow space for solar panel installations so that the customer can take advantage of the declining Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) of rooftop solar. In such a manner, Aabroo’s construction business can stay on top of market trends and allow customers to integrate renewable energy technology into the infrastructure.

Levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) is defined as the price at which the generated electricity should be sold for the system to break even at the end of its lifetime (Tamburini, Cipollina, & Micale, 2022). LCOE is critical to making an informed decision to proceed with the development of projects.

Coming to Kishor’s agrovet business which is interlinked with the agricultural value chain, there are ample opportunities for renewable energy to support the agricultural value chain. The agriculture value chain encompasses all stages of production, processing, and distribution of food until its final consumption.

In the farms, Agrivoltaic systems can be installed which include photovoltaic modules installed on agricultural land that optimally distribute sunlight to crops, and maximize food and energy yields within reasonable limits (Gorjian, Fakhraei, Gorjian, Sharafkhani, & Aziznejad, 2022). Agrivoltaic systems have the potential to reduce water demand and increase the overall water productivity of certain crops. A study done in Japan showed that when solar panels were installed in the rice fields within certain shading limits, the agrivoltaic system preserved at least 80% of the rice yield and generated almost 30% of the total electricity demand for rice production (Gorjian, Fakhraei, Gorjian, Sharafkhani, & Aziznejad, 2022).

Similarly, solar energy can be utilized in greenhouses. The electrical energy from solar photovoltaics provides the required electrical energy and ensures sufficient crop production. A demonstration study showed that the use of solar technologies in greenhouses can increase the quantity and quality of agricultural produce. Concentrated solar power (solar thermal) can also be installed to improve the thermal performance of solar greenhouses by 29% (Gorjian, Fakhraei, Gorjian, Sharafkhani, & Aziznejad, 2022).

In another case, there was a study done in Greece where small wind turbines were installed to meet the electricity demand of greenhouses and it was found that wind electricity in areas of high electricity demand can be economically viable (Gorjian, Fakhraei, Gorjian, Sharafkhani, & Aziznejad, 2022).

Also, biomass can be utilized for heating, CO2 storage, and enrichment systems. For example, the use of biomass can reduce the need for gasoline-based fuels and costs by using low-cost pellets. In this system, a boiler with CO2 recovery from flue gases enriches the greenhouse, and wood chip pellets can provide heat. This improves the energy efficiency in both nighttime temperatures and daily CO2 concentrations, as both biomass from agricultural water and CO2 released by the heater is recycled (Gorjian, Fakhraei, Gorjian, Sharafkhani, & Aziznejad, 2022).

Then there are solar water pumps that we discussed the earlier day which can directly compete with diesel pumps for irrigation needs in farms.”

“What other integration of renewable energy systems do you see in the agriculture value chain?”

Lalima quickly jumped in to answer.