Off-grids can power South Asian electrification

South Asian governments would do well to integrate off-grid with grid options in their quest to achieve universal electrification, says a new study. The governments prefer to extend the grid even to those regions in which renewable energy sources are available in plenty, says Mr Debajit Palit, Associate Director, Social Transformation division, TERI, and co-author of the study due to be published July in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. In the study, Mr Palit and Dr Kaushik Ranjan, Associate Professor, TERI University, have compared both grid and off-grid modes by carrying out an exhaustive survey of the literature on both methods. The study infers that both modes need to be integrated to achieve universal access to electricity.