To tackle the challenges of air pollution (caused by about 60% share of fossil fuels in power generation, vehicles, rudimentary agricultural practices and industry), quality of power, energy poverty and rural-urban development disparity, India will have to consider, more urgently than ever, solar energy generated cleaner fuels and energy storage media such as hydrogen.
To address the lack of robust transmission and distribution network in rural locations (>65% of India’s population lives in villages), it is imperative that village-scale decentralized power generation systems assisted by dedicated mini- or micro-grids are deployed. In this context, the DeSHI project, led by Brunel University London in collaboration with Arktik Renewables and Energy Efficiency Pvt Ltd (India) and Institute of Rural Management Anand (India), is investigating the technoeconomic feasibility and potential societal impact of advanced solar photocatalytic and electrolytic hydrogen generators in rural India in the run up to 2070 (India’s committed deadline to become a zero-carbon economy) and in the post-carbon India (after 2070). Informed deployment scenarios, performance parameters and industry perspective data are being employed to understand and evaluate the impact and disseminate project outputs. The potential generative impacts of solar hydrogen in supporting rural commercial, industrial and horticultural activities are being particularly evaluated.
The following objectives have been identified:
- Development of deployment scenarios for DeSHI solar hydrogen technology in rural locations
- Collection of interfering parameters including competing technologies, energy demand profile, ambient and solar conditions
- Understanding and evaluating the impact of the technology and disseminate the outcomes and develop capacity
The project is funded by UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).
Project Team
Dr Harjit Singh - Dr Singh, Professor of Sustainable Energy Technologies, received his BEng, and MEng (IIT Roorkee, India) with specialisation in Mechanical and Thermal Engineering disciplines and PhD (University of Ulster, UK, 2009) in concentrating solar energy generators. His research focusses onto solar energy technologies for heating, cooling, power, biogas and hydrogen; vacuum insulation systems and building/industrial retrofit for improved energy efficiency with over 100 peer reviewed publications in the area. As PI and/or CoI he has particpated in research projects securing over £26 Million in funding from UKRI, Newton Fund (UK-Egypt, UK-India), Horizon2020, Innovate UK (UK-Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, India), UKIERI-DST (UK-India) and several industry funders based in USA, Germany and the UK. Research outputs in vacuum insulation and solar energy technologies are currently licensed for commercialisation in global locations. Two patent applications are in porgress. He was consultant to a project for developing Vaccine Storage Devices funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He was the Chair of the SOLARIS international conference (2017), International Vacuum Insulation Symposium (IVIS2021) and the President of the IVIS Advisory Board (2022-2024).