A renewable energy park was established under the Centre for Rural Energy and inaugurated by the Honourable Thiru M. KANNAPPAN, Minister of State for Non-Conventional Energy Sources (NCES)on 11.04.2000. The one acer establishment is to demonstrate the rural energy technologies and sustainable practices to the rural communities. The Park is visited by a swarm of people every year, ranging from school children, college students, faculties, industrialists, industrial experts, academicians, village panchayat leaders, NGOs, etc. The energy park comprises various renewable energy technologies like solar PV models, solar Thermal applications, Wind energy technologies, Biomass gasifiers, energy efficient cook stoves, and small-scale biogas plants, which are well equipped and established in the energy park for the detailed technical understanding of the various rural energy applications. In the solar energy domain, the Park comprises two solar water pumping systems of each 1 kWp capacity, a solar street lighting system, a solar PV test bed of 8.45 kWp capacity, Solar Car-port facility of 3 kWp capacity. Also, solar water heaters with different thermal collectors, such as flat plate collectors, evacuated tube collectors, and concentrated parabolic collectors are on display. Furthermore, solar cookers, such as box-type and concentric cookers, are an efficient alternative to conventional stoves in rural areas. In the wind energy domain, the Park comprises a 12 m altitude wind data logger, wind water pumping system, and other micro wind turbine technologies for smart hybrid grid demonstration. In biomass energy conversion technologies, gasifiers, energy-efficient cookstoves, and biogas reactors are used for everyday study purposes. The “Renewable Energy Park” is instrumental in serving the purpose of teaching, research, and extension of renewable energy technologies.
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