Powering homes with DC powerline reduces power consumption and would be increasingly deployed with solar in urban and rural India homes, says lead researcher.
Solar-Direct Current (DC) Inverterless Technology, pioneered by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology – Madras, is lighting up homes in remote parts of the country which are beyond the reach of electricity grids.
Cygni Energy Private Limited, a startup that was incubated by the Rural Technology Business Incubator (RTBI) of IIT-Madras, is now installing 3,026 units in the villages of Manipur and another 25,000 units in Assam.
Advantages of the technology
Speaking with the Times of India about the importance of the project, Ashok Jhunjhunwala of IIT-M, who leads the research on this technology, informed that solar-DC system makes the equipment much smaller in size and cost. He further stated that powering homes with DC powerline reduces power consumption and would be increasingly deployed with solar in urban and rural India homes.
The said technology uses DC solutions to remove alternate current (AC) to DC and DC to AC conversions. Removing the need of conversion helps in saving 30 per cent to 40 per cent of energy, according to an official release.
This provides more power backup with lesser size of batteries and solar panel, which further contributes in reducing the cost of the system, it added.
