Distributed Renewable Energy
Also called: DRE · Topic: Energy Resources of India: Conventional and Non-conventional · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Distributed renewable energy (DRE) is clean power made in small units close to the people who use it. Instead of one huge plant sending power over long lines, many small systems work on their own. Examples are rooftop solar panels, solar water pumps and mini-grids, which are small local grids that serve one village or cluster. Some DRE systems link to the main grid, and others run fully off it. DRE matters because it can bring electricity to remote and off-grid places quickly. It also cuts the power lost on long transmission lines, and it lets farmers and households produce their own energy.
Example
Under India's PM-KUSUM scheme (2019), farmers install standalone solar pumps on their own fields and run irrigation without a grid connection. Abroad, the International Solar Alliance backs a USD 300 million Distributed Renewable Energy Fund in Nigeria to bring solar power to under-served communities.
Don't confuse with
- Utility-scale (centralised) renewable energy: very large plants such as Bhadla Solar Park (about 2,245 MW, Jodhpur district, Rajasthan). These sit far from users and send power to cities through the national grid. DRE is small and sits where the power is used.
- Off-grid power: this is only one kind of DRE. A rooftop solar unit on a city home is still DRE even when it is connected to the grid.