7. Conclusions

Currently, bioresource is the single most important energy source in Uttara Kannada district, meeting more than 98% of the total energy needs. The over use of forestwood is creating serious ecological problems for the district in the form of deforestation, soil erosion and increased sedimentation. Uttara Kannada district mainly depends on noncommercial energy sources (96.23%), such as, firewood (78.071%), dung in the form of biogas (13.12%) and animate sources of energy (5.024%). While, commercial sources such as electricity (2.863%), kerosene,diesel, petrol, etc., (0.904%) and LPG (0.0001%), constitute 3.767% of total energy consumption in the district.

The availability of wind resource is quantified, and it is found that coastal taluks have a good potential of the order of 30.64 (avg)  31.72 (S.D.) W/m2 in Karwar and 26.50 (avg)  20.82 (S.D.) in Kumta. Availability of wind resources during pre-monsoon period, and local necessity of energy for industrial and irrigation purposes (for agriculture and horticulture) during this period make the exploitation of wind energy for mechanical and electrical energy purposes feasible and desirable in the coastal tract.

The electrical energy that can be harnessed by solar source is of the order of 191.43 million kWh by utilising 10% of wasteland, presently available in the coastal taluks of Uttara Kannada district. This constitutes about 65.1% of present electricity demand from various sectors of Uttara Kannada district. About 72% of solar energy is available during October to May period, when most of the agro-processing tasks such as drying (areca, cardamom, coconut, etc.) take place.

It is seen that about 1787.61 million units (mkWh) of electrical energy from hydropower sources in Aghnashini and 1079.17 million units (mkWh) in Bedthi river basin can be harnessed in an ecologically sound way.

Bioresources available in the region is of the order of 13,705.7 million units (mkWh) from forests, 318.07 million units (mkWh) in the form of agricultural residues and 825.97 million units (mkWh) as bioresidues from areca, coconut and cashew plantations.

Bioresource availability from livestock population is about 1.28 million tonnes, which is equivalent to 46.29 million cubic meter of biogas. This is adequate to meet the requirement of 30% of the total population.

End use efficiency study carried out in randomly selected households in some villages shows that there is scope for saving about 27.45% of fuel wood by switching over to energy efficient stoves.

If the entire district is looked at, bioresource supply appears to be diverse and sufficient in magnitude to comfortably sustain population pressure under the base case demand scenario investigated. As bioresource (fuel wood) enhancement strategies are pursued through social forestry, etc., complementary policies to promote technically feasible and cost effective improvements in the efficiency of end use equipment are needed.

The decision support system (DSS) approach is adopted for designing integrated regional energy planning for Uttara Kannada district. Integration is emphasised across all types of resources in the system and across all parts of the energy system (such as sectorwise energy demand, seasonal constraints in availability, environmental and economic impacts). Thus, the proposed integrated energy system is capable of meeting all energy needs from energy sources, taking into consideration the seasonal constraints in the availability.

There could be substantial saving in energy and overall cost, if efficient matching of resources and tasks is implemented. Optimisation based on the objective of cost minimisation, shows cost saving of 36.24%, and energy saving that could be of the order of 19.19%.

Optimisation carried out with the objective of maximisation of efficiency of ‘ijk’ combination for all combinations, shows the energy saved to be about 19.98% and the saving in total cost as about 31.78%.

The scenario analyses show that potential renewable resources in Uttara Kannada district can meet the energy requirements of the district even under the assumption of high growth rates. That is, the relatively vigorous growth in energy demand in Uttara Kannada district can be accomplished without exceeding available resources in the region.

The process of energy planning at present, however, is a highly centralised activity, and district and local level institutions are not playing any significant role in the process. As a result, the energy crisis in rural areas, and particularly in hilly districts like Uttara Kannada, is not adequately reflected in national level planning.

In addition, energy development and conservation programmes are not being effectively implemented. This applies to a wide spectrumof programmes, ranging from the enhancement of social forestry to the introduction of energy-saving devices, e.g., improved cooking stoves. Hence, for energy plan to be optimal, there is a need to look at all sources available in the region and scrutinise the demand for energy services intensively.

This study has shown that the objective of effective implementation of energy planning cannot be achieved without decentralisation and community involvement. India is fortunate that it has a wide network of local government institutions at the district and lower levels. However, the system can be effective only if these institutions are assigned their due role.

The existing energy planning capability of the district is very weak. It is extremely important to amend this state of affairs by strengthening the energy planning and management capabilities from district to institutional level. This study has suggested some measures that can be adopted by existing institutions to generate an adequate database. This information can be used for effective energy planning. The study also showed that community participation, generated through union council (panchayath) involvement, can produce feasible projects within the broad goals set by district planning.