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Solar Water Heaters in Indian Himalayan Region
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The Indian Himalayan region (IHR) with 250-300 km across stretches over 2,500 km from Jammu & Kashmir in the west to Arunachal Pradesh in the east. This great chain of mountains in Indian territory covering partially/fully twelve states of India, viz., Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya and hills of Assam & West Bengal. The region has a total geographical area of about 5,33,000 km2 being inhabited by 40 million people [2001 census], representing about 16.2% of total area and 3.86% of total population of India, respectively.
In the Himalayan region, the climate varies with the altitude, starting from warm sub-tropical (Altitude< 800m) to arctic zone (Altitude> 3,600m). It also varies as one travels from west to east.
Hot Water Demand
The cold and harsh weather prevailing almost round the year makes hot water a necessity in the region. The hot water demand varies with altitude and the user segment. The table below provides hot water requirement for various user segments.
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| User Segment |
Hot Water Requirement |
| High end residential (4-5 persons) |
200-400 LPD |
| Low end residential (4-5 persons) |
150-200 LPD |
| >3-5 star hotel (with bath tubs) |
300 LPD/room |
| 1-2 star hotels (with showers) |
100-150 LPD/room |
| Budget hotels |
50-100 LPD/room |
| Low end Hospitals |
30 LPD/bed |
| High end hospitals |
50 LPD/bed |
| Hostels (common bathroom) |
25 LPD/student |
| Hostels (separate bathroom) |
50 LPD/Student |
| Cleaning Utensils (manual) |
1 liter/meal |
| Laundry (Washing machine) |
3 liter/kg clothes |
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Total hot water requirement in Himalayan region is more than 7001 million LPD. Most of the rural hot water demand is either unmet or being met by using freely available biomass. However, the tourist destinations and urban agglomeration uses conventional fuels like electricity, diesel, furnace oil etc to generate hot water. |
Solar Resource Availability
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The amount of solar radiation varies significantly over the Himalayan region. As can be seen in the figures below, in January the global solar radiation is higher in the eastern part, in the month of July the situation is reversed.
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Global Solar Radiation-January (MJ/m2) Global Solar Radiation-July (MJ/m2)
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Solar Water Heaters in Indian Himalayan Region |
Even after having good solar resource availability in large parts of the Himalayan region, the use of solar water heater is rather limited and scattered.
Most of the existing systems are in commercial and institutional buildings (hotels, resorts, hospitals, defense establishments, etc); in general the use of solar water heaters in the domestic sector is very limited. Western Himalayan region has more SWH systems compared to the eastern region.
Under the UNDP/GEF Global Solar Water Heating Project, Greentech Knowledge solution carried out the Market Assessment of Solar Water Heating systems in Himalayan region2. The main objective was to assess the real potential of SWH in Indian Himalayan region and to investigate key barriers of the SWH
market. In the study certain segments/clusters have emerged as very high potential areas for SWH market. The segments are listed below
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Hospitality Sector:
Indian Himalayan region consists of large of tourist and religious destinations and experience high tourist footfall. The hotel segment as well as ancillary establishments to the hotel sector is acting as a low hanging fruits of the SWH market. The SWH markets have already started picking up and the awareness level of the segment about the SWH technology have increased.
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Residential Schools & Institutions:
There are large numbers of residential schools & institutes in the Himalayan belt. SWH provides most cost effective and environment friendly option for generating hot water used for bathing purposes in hostels.
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Upcoming Residential townships near industrial & urban areas:
Due to massive industrialization happening in the foothills of Himalayas, many large residential townships are in pipeline for construction. These townships possess immediate potential for SWH market.
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The study identified the main factors acting as a barrier for the mass scale deployment of solar water heating systems in Indian Himalayan Region. The table below summarizes the barriers
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Table 2: Main Barriers for SWH market in Himalayan states
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States |
Solar Resource
Availability |
Awareness |
Mandatory provisions |
Subsidy
Disbursement |
Supply chain |
Electricity
Tarriff |
Access to credit |
J&K |
Ladakh (Excellent)
Jammu (Good)
Kashmir (Low) |
Poor |
No |
Poor |
Poor |
Low |
Poor |
Uttarakhand |
Good |
Fair |
Yes |
Fair |
Fair |
Domestic (Low) Commercial (Medium) |
Poor |
Himachal
Pradesh |
Good |
Good |
Yes |
Fair |
Good |
Commercial (High)
Residential (Low) |
Fair
(Good example at Manali and Dharmshala) |
West Bengal
(Hilly part) |
Low |
Poor |
No |
Poor |
Poor |
High |
Poor |
Sikkim |
Low |
Poor |
No |
Poor |
Poor |
Medium |
Poor |
Assam |
Low |
Poor |
No |
Poor |
Poor |
High |
Poor |
Arunachal
Pradesh |
Low |
Poor |
No |
Poor |
Poor |
Domestic (High) Commercial (Medium) |
Poor |
Tripura |
Low |
Poor |
No |
Poor |
Poor |
Low |
Poor |
Nagaland |
Low |
Poor |
No |
Poor |
Poor |
Medium |
Poor |
Manipur |
Low |
Poor |
No |
Poor |
Poor |
Domestic (Medium) Commercial (Low) |
Poor |
Mizoram |
Low |
Poor |
No |
Poor |
Poor |
Medium |
Poor |
Meghalaya |
Low |
Poor |
No |
Poor |
Poor |
Low |
Poor |
Download Full Report on "Market Assessment of Solar Water Heating Systems in the Himalayan Region"
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