Papers
Rural Electricity Policy paper
-marginal utility & developement contribution highest at first KWhr
-44% rural areas have electricity access
-electricity alone seldom increases standard of living unless it aids income generation
-National Institutions: Ministry of Power (MOP) & Ministry of NOn conventional energy sources (MNES), aim to electrify 80000 villages by 2012, 18000 of which require non-conventional sources. (budget: Rs 20 million/annum)
Case Study:
-only 34% of rural Rajasthan have electricity
-RSEB is in financial woes, Rs.18 billion deficit in 2000, almost 40% T&D losses!
-Many hamlets not electrified, because they were not on census
-electrified villages face 16-20hr continuous blackouts, 20 days a month
-Billing: 65 for first 50 units, 90 for subsequent 50s. Average bill: 110-150/month
-Voltage fluctuations/ low voltage rule out using certain appliances like tubelights.
-Solar panels deployed by government subsidies in off grid locations. Improve village lighting considerably. (12000 cost, 6000 Rs. after subsidies). Plagued by infrequent maintainance infrastructure. Poor reach due to limited funds.
-Rural wellbeing depends on availability of non farming employment, sufficient & clean water for drinking, irrigation, health & education.
-Electronic Milk testing machines, which need electricity, can spur forming milk cooperatives, boosting non farm income.
-Many villages use Electric pumps for irrigation & drinking, reliable & good quality electricity a must for this. They face acute water shortage.
-Villages having no electricity, immediate requirement is for lighting to extend day. Main issues are thefts, insect bites, poor lighting for cooking. lack of social interaction.
-Distributed generation:
Solar: least cost option, Indian has largest program. 180000 are in use. If locals are trained for maintainance, it is a viable option.
Modular generators: turbines microturbines, wind, hybrids. 1kw-50kw
As villages branch out, cost of extending grid skyrockets. We can have decentralized grids.
-750-800 Biomass Gasifier based minigrids. 4-5Rs/unit
-Microprivatization of distribution in Orissa: Village electricity comitees, act as as consumer care center, billing, metering, cash collection center. Almost like a bulk consumer!
-Chile: subsidies are available for companies for rural electrification projects on competetive basis. Need to meet social objectives & investment criterion. Program based on decentralized decision making & involvement of local community: rural access has increased from 53% in 1992 to 76% in 1999.

Paper addressing factors affecting rural poverty

SuperCap battery study
Supercap battery which can charge in 10 sec, and run for 3hrs under light load.
Comments on the website:
"I Think that this is a wonderful thing, I mean you could have a flashlight that needed to charge for like no time, and could run for a couple hours"
You guys are greatly overestimating the power of these caps. A 10f 2.3v super cap stores about 25 joules; it could raise 1g of water by ~50F. That is also about the amount of energy used in the flash of a disposable camera.
That 10f cap would power only a single LED for a few minutes, almost useless for a flashlight.

Power Flow
Production:
>>Pedal Generator with big flywheel & friction coupling
-Burst output=425W (17V 25A),average human output=150W reference
1/2 Hr energy=30*60*150=270kJ, can be built for 220$ from basic bike parts
>>Pedal gen with bike mount
-charged 12V battery at 4-6A (72W)
>>Pedal gen with axial flux gen
>>Pedal gen on Chair
>>MIT rowing ped gen
>>Solar Generator
-4ftx4ft (10% efficiency) 130W peak. Daily: 700WHr=7 Hr of pedal generator
(Power Calculator)
(Power Board)
>>Hybrid Optibike
>>Deam Kamen's portable generator & water purifier: Runs on even Cow dung, can output 1kW of energy continuously (enough to light 70 tubelights), water purifier accepts 'any' water even sewage! can generate 1000 liters of clean water per day, can run on waste heat by generator(instruction manual says just one line: add water, any water), almost 0 maintainance, might cost $1000-2000 if mass produced. In collaboration with Grameen bank to be deployed via rural entrepreneurs.

Storage:
-UltraCap: maxwell 15V 58F pack (made out of 350F caps)
enormous instant current capacity, very efficient, good capacity, 0 maintainence, lightweight.
-Batteries: small no of charge cycles, cant accept/produce large currents, Charging voltage needs to be regulated. less efficient. (70-90%)
-Flywheel
-wound spring: the famous windup radio 

Use:
-fluorescent twin tube light: 40W (ratio=4) video and pics of villages near narmada
-key chain white LED: 12Vx6mA=.072W (ratio~2000! 1 min charging=30 Hrs light!)
-Laptop:20-25W
-Pump: 3600 GPH Labawco Ptype pump.(1Gal/sec) clip, newsbyte
-Television: 60W
-Compressor video
-Vacuum Cleaner video
-Battery Charging
-Appliances using Universal series motors (fans, handmizers, grinders, drills, chainsaws etc.)
-Misc: coffe washer,
blender, knife grinder in Africa
50 diff tasks: polishing shoes, sanding wood, sawing wood
wireless network in LAOS
VOIP telephony in Uganda
Pedal powered Helicopter!

Efficiency
of powertrain:
of battery:

Cautions: direct connection can blow off certain device, as there is no voltage control
Water Pump: 3600 GPH Labawco type P pump instead of generator, output shot a stream of water about 25 feet across the street. A 5 gallon bucket was emptied using this pump in less than half the time it took a garden hose to fill it. I believe the pump was driven to capacity (1 gallon per second, emptying the bucket in five seconds) in sprints.

Conversion efficiency:
In reverse test, when batteries powered motor which turned the wheel, power loss was 1/2 amp 12 V=6W. So mechanical->Electrical conversion efficiency=150/156=96%