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According to UNDP Policy Note 2014, only 23% of Yemen rural community have access to electricity – having connected to national grid or use small isolated generating units – while the country is one of the richest in solar energy with over 3000 h per year clean blue sky. The objectives of this paper is to concentrate on the utilization and the cost effectiveness of photovoltaic solar energy for electrification of Yemeni rural and desert communities, which will result in enhancing education, culture, science, medical services, and improve the living conditions in rural areas. Otherwise, energy poverty that is a facet of a multidimensional poverty in Yemen will persists because the possibility of connecting rural communities to the national grid, even in the next ten years, is invisible due to major political and financial problems that the country is facing. Moreover, PV energy is environmentally clean and has proved to be one of the best solutions for rural electrification in many countries worldwide due to noticeable drop of PV systems prices with the advance in PV technology. Accordingly, it should be the best solution for rural electrification in Yemeni as well. The paper demonstrates the cost effectiveness and the design procedure of utilization of solar energy for rural and desert communities in Yemen using a number of subsequent cases typical to Yemeni communities and provides also a practical study to support Bedouin backpackers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the simultaneous scheduling of electrical vehicles and responsive loads to reduce operation cost and emission in presence of wind and PV powers in microgrid. In the proposed method, the electrical vehicles are used for peak shaving and load curve modification while the responsive loads are employed to supply the reserves needed to compensate the intrinsic uncertainties of wind and PV powers. Furthermore, a developed two-stage model is proposed to determine the expected operation cost of microgrid (energy and reserve). In the first stage, the generation and reserve power costs are minimized while in the second stage, the costs associated with unit scheduling changes resulting from wind and PV power variations are minimized. The proposed model is implemented in a microgrid with various distributed generations. The simulation results have shown that the incorporation of electrical vehicles and responsive loads leads to decrease the system operation costs and emissions while the uncertainties related to wind and PV are compensated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India has an active participation in global solar energy contribution through the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) and its many states are also walking hand in hand with the national government through individual state solar policies. The state of Gujarat, through the ‘Gujarat Solar Power Policy 2009 (GSPP 2009)’, has been leading the country in solar power generation. The feed-in-tariff based GSPP 2009 is a unique experiment of the state to develop individual solar projects as well as public-private partnership based large-scale ‘solar parks’. Of the about 2700 MW (in September 2014) installed solar energy capacity in India, Gujarat occupies a share of more than 900 MW. This paper, through semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted with project developers involved in implementation of the Charanka solar park, Gujarat, investigates the industry perspectives on the GSPP 2009. With an installed capacity of 216 MW (in April 2012), the Charanka Solar Park is the Asia׳s largest solar park. Findings from this study indicate that the attractive fixed feed-in-tariff and strong implementation mechanisms are the key strengths of the policy. On the other hand, the key challenges are lack of trust of financial institutions on solar energy projects, and tradability and bankability of the solar power purchase agreements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Solar photovoltaic (PV) power is a new and green energy source. China has significant opportunities for solar energy utilization with its huge solar resource. The solar PV power in China has developed for 50 years, and experienced a rapid progress in the last 10 years. To address the needs of the fast growth of the PV power industry in China, it is critical to identify, analyze and understand the growth path and the characteristics of the industry. This paper summarizes the status of the solar energy resources and the development of the solar PV power industry in China, and puts forward the main factors that impacted the development of the industry. A study refers to the selected five main factors the factors are: technology research and development, industrial plans, laws and regulations, electricity price policies, and projects incentive policies. A multifaceted approach including literature survey, statistical data investigation, law review, and regulation and policy study are adopted to investigate these factors. Analysis of the typical events, the growth process and the characteristics of the five factors, allows the establishment of growth route models. The results can be a useful reference for the development of solar PV power industry in China and other countries. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]