Renewable energy in Asia

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For solar power, South Asia has the ideal combination of both high solar insolation  and a high density of potential customers.

Cheap solar can bring electricity to a major chunk of subcontinent's people who still live off-grid, bypassing the need of installation of expensive grid lines. Also since the costs of energy consumed for temperature control squarely influences a regions energy intensity, and with cooling load requirements roughly in phase with the sun's intensity, cooling from intense solar radiation could make perfect energy-economic sense in the subcontinent.

Renewable energy by country

Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, biomass, hydro and solar are the main sources of renewable energy and altogether these sources contribute about 60% of the nation's primary energy supply. A number of domestic solar energy systems are in use in houses around the country. The use of solar energy on this scale is highly potential and advantageous as more than 60% of areas in the country do not have access to main grid electricity. The World Bank is backing a program of making solar energy available to wider population in Bangladesh, as part of the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Development Project (REREDP), which subsidizes solar energy systems. 

A typical 'solar home system' can power two to eight 'low energy' lights, plus a socket for TV, radio or battery recharging, and a mobile telephone charging unit, too. Each system consists of a solar photovoltaic panel, mounted on the house roof. Depending on its size, this provides between 40W and 135W of electricity in full sunlight (the most common being 50W).

Grameen Shakti is the largest organization installing rural based solar home system (SHS) in Bangladesh. Other companies working on similar solar energy based SHS are Rural Services Foundation (RSF), Brac, Hilfulfujal and so on. The model of micro finance based SHS is now being copied in other parts of the world as a successful business model.

Rahimafrooz is a major supplier of high quality solar batteries and other solar components for the program. Rahimafrooz Renewable Energy Ltd (RRE) has been the pioneer in installing solar powered centralized systems, water pumps for irrigation and pure drinking water, water heaters, street lights, and solar-powered telecom solutions to various organizations. They are working closely with pertinent government organizations in installing solar powered medical refrigerator that provides emergency live saving medicines in the off-grid rural areas.

A company named Digital Technology is doing research and development of solar PV products like solar billboard lighting, mini grid system for irrigation etc.

China

Rooftop solar water heaters are ubiquitous in modern China

 

Wind farm in Xinjiang, China

 

In China there now are six factories producing at least 2 GW/year each of monocrystalline, poly-crystalline and non-crystalline Photovoltaic cells. These factories include the LDK Solar Co, Wuxi Suntech Solar Energy Co., Ltd., which produces approximately 50 MW/year of solar cells and photovoltaic modules; the Yunnan Semi-conductor Parts Plant, which manufactures approximately 2 MW/year of mono-crystalline cells; the Baoding Yingli Solar Energy Modules Plant, which manufactures approximately 6 MW/year of polycrystalline cells and modules; the Shanghai Jiaoda Guofei Solar Energy Battery Factory, which produces approximately 1 MW/year of modules; and the Shanghai PV Science and Technology Co., Ltd., which produces approximately 5 MW/year of modules.

China has become a world leader in the manufacture of solar photovoltaic technology, with its six biggest solar companies having a combined value of over $15 billion. Around 820 megawatts of solar PV were produced in China in 2007, second only to Japan. Suntech Power Holdings Co based in Jiangsu, is the world's third- biggest supplier of solar cells.

There are some obstacles to the further development of the Chinese solar energy sector that China faces. These obstacles include the lack of a nationwide comprehensive photovoltaic (PV) plan, the lack of updated facilities and sufficient financial resources to support PV research at research institutes, the lack of sufficient facilities and resources at companies manufacturing PV products, the failure of companies to be able to produce high quality, reliable and low cost PV products and the relatively weak educational and training opportunities in China for PV science and technology.

About 50 MW of installed solar capacity was added in 2008, more than double the 20 MW in 2007, but still a relatively small amount. According to some studies, the demand in China for new solar modules could be as high as 232 MW each year from now on until 2012. The government has announced plans to expand the installed capacity to 1,800 MW by 2020. If Chinese companies manage to develop low cost, reliable solar modules, then the sky is the limit for a country that is desperate to reduce its dependence on coal and oil imports as well as the pressure on its environment by using renewable energy.

In 2009 centre to the PRC Government’s plans is the recently announced "Golden Sun" stimulus program. Under this program the Ministry of Finance will subsidize half of the total construction costs of an on-grid solar power plant, including transmission expenses. The Ministry of Finance will also pay subsidies of up to 70% to develop independent photovoltaic power generating systems in remote regions. The strong handed move by the Government is meant to encourage more solar projects to increase the current solar power capacity, which at 2008 stood at a paltry 40MW. As the Government targets to increase China’s solar power capacity up to 20GW by 2020, this will provide significant opportunities for solar cell and module manufacturers. Many of the solar industry players therefore will expect for chances to be benefited from the government programs especially the solar cell manufacturers. With the hope of increase in local demand, some of the new developments have been going on with this region, like Anwell Technologies Limited, a Singapore listed company having its solar cell manufacturing plant in China, has produced its first thin film solar panel with its own developed production lines in September 2009.

According to the speech given by the Chinese President Hu Jintao's at the UN climate summit held on September 22, 2009 in New York, China will intensify effort and adopt ambitious plans to plant enough forest to cover an area the size of Norway and use 15 percent of its energy from renewable sources within a decade.

India

Global Horizontal Irradiation in India.

 

India is both densely populated and has high solar insolation, providing an ideal combination for solar power in India. Much of the country does not have an electrical grid, so one of the first applications of solar power has been for water pumping, to begin replacing India's four to five million diesel powered water pumps, each consuming about 3.5 kilowatts, and off-grid lighting. Some large projects have been proposed, and a 35,000 km² area of the Thar Desert has been set aside for solar power projects, sufficient to generate 700 to 2,100 gigawatts.

The Indian Solar Loan Programme, supported by the United Nations Environment Programme has won the prestigious Energy Globe World award for Sustainability for helping to establish a consumer financing program for solar home power systems. Over the span of three years more than 16,000 solar home systems have been financed through 2,000 bank branches, particularly in rural areas of South India where the electricity grid does not yet extend.

Launched in 2003, the Indian Solar Loan Programme was a four-year partnership between UNEP, the UNEP Risoe Centre, and two of India's largest banks, the Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank.

According to Development Counsellors International (DCI), a United States marketing company, India is the second best country, after China, for business investment. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has reported that India has seen a 12% increase in investment in the renewable energy sector with an investment of $3.7 billion in 2008. The largest share was asset finance at $3.2 billion which grew by 25%. The clean renewable energy includes wind, solar, biomass and small-hydro projects. The major portion of investment has been made in wind energy sector. The investment in wind energy sector grew at 17% from $2.2 billion to $2.6 billion.

Japan

Japan currently produces about 10% of its electricity from renewable sources. The renewable share goal is 20% by 2020.

Pakistan

Solar power in Pakistan discusses the generation and development of electricity via solar thermal or photovoltaic technology in that country. The country has solar plants in Pakistani Kashmir, Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan. Initiatives are under development by the International Renewable Energy Agency, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, Chinese companies, and Pakistani private sector energy companies. The country aims to build the world's largest solar power park, the Quaid-e-Azam Solar Power Park (QASP) in the Cholistan Desert, Punjab, by 2017 with a 1 GW capacity. A plant of this size would be enough to power around 320,000 homes.

Projects

Introduction of Clean Energy by Solar Electricity Generation System

On May 29, 2012, Pakistan inaugurated its first solar power on-grid power plant in Islamabad. Introduction of Clean Energy by Solar Electricity Generation System is a special grant aid project by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) under the Coolio Earth Partnership. This project includes the installation of two 178 kW photovoltaic (PV) systems at the premises of the Planning Commission and Pakistan Engineering Council. 

This is the first on-grid solar PV project that employs net-metering, thereby allowing the beneficiaries to sell surplus electricity to the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO), the electricity distribution company of the Islamabad Division. The project was executed with grant assistance, worth 480 million Yen (approx. 553.63 million Pakistani Rupees) over three years commencing in 2010.

Other projects

Aviation Enclave Karachi installed the first high quality integrated solar energy system with a 15 kW power generation capacity capable of grid tie-in at, Aviation Enclave Karachi in Sep 2016. It was a pilot project for Central Facilitation Agency & Central Builders & Developers.

Beaconhouse installed the second high quality integrated solar energy system with a 10 kW power generation capacity capable of grid tie-in at Beaconhouse Canal Side Campus, Lahore. It was a pilot project for BSS designed by U.S. consultants, based upon feasibility by the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA). 

50 to 100 MW of photovoltaics is expected to be installed in 2013, and at least 300 MW in 2014. In May 2015, 100 MW of a planned 1,000 MW were installed in the Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park.

Annual solar irradiation

Solar irradiance in Pakistan is 5.3 kWh/m²/day. Pakistan set a target to add approximately 10 GW of renewable capacity by 2030 in addition to replacing 5% diesel with biodiesel by 2015 and 10% by 2025.

Photovoltaic installations

Year Installations in MWp Notes Cumulative Capacity Added Capacity 2014 400 Calculated back from 2015 added capacity data. 2015 1,000 600 Preliminary data.

Government policy

Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, former Federal Minister of Water & Power announced on July 2, 2009 that 7,000 villages would be electrified using solar energy by 2014. Senior adviser Sardar Zulfiqar Khosa stated that the Punjab government would begin new projects aimed at power production through coal, solar energy and wind power; this would generate additional resources. 

The Government of Pakistan allowed the provincial government of Sindh to conduct feasibility research. The government planned to install a desalination plant powered by solar energy.

Philippines

Bangui Wind Farm in Ilocos Norte, Philippines

 

The Philippine government sees the growth of the renewable energy sector essential for national energy security. The Philippines' fossil fuel sector is unsustainable, being dependent on the import of nonrenewable fuel, including petroleum, but has significant potential in the renewable energy sector. Based on a report of an Australian consulting firm, International Energy Consultants, the Philippines has the highest electricity rate in Asia, followed by Japan. Transmitting power and transporting fuel throughout the Philippine archipelago is problematic due to very high cost.

The Philippines could be considered a world leader in renewable energy, with 30 percent of its power generation being powered by the renewable energy sector. The Philippines is the world's second largest generator of geothermal energy and was the first Southeast Asian nation to invest in large-scale solar and wind technologies.

South Korea

In 2008, South Korea came 4th in the list of installed PV capacity according to EPIA statistics as a result of the favorable feed-in tariff system with a cap of 500MW in 2008. According to Displaybank, the new “PV Market Creation Plan” announced in 2009 is expected to boost the Korean PV installment market to increase to 200MW by 2012. The government further announced plans to increase more than double its financing for renewable R&D projects to 3.5 trillion won ($2.9/£1.9bn) by 2013. The government also plans to expand its system of tax breaks to cover new technologies in solar such as wind and thermal power, low-emission vehicles and rechargeable batteries etc.

Taiwan

Solar power

In recent years, Taiwan is also catching up on promoting renewable energy throughout the country. According to SciTech Reports, 20% of the solar panels in the world are exported from Taiwan, making the country the second largest solar panel provider globally. Moreover, the current government has been planning on employing solar energy to public amenities and incorporate the green energy to people’s daily lives. For instance, the Taipei city government has constructed 3216 solar panels to turn a former wasteland into a power house. In the southern city Tainan where there is sufficient sunshine, 5288 buildings are equipped with solar panels that can generate 7 MW each year, which is roughly 3.2 times the amount of the hydropower produced by the local dam annually. Besides mainland Taiwan, there are solar panels even on the Penghu islands that can generate 83,000 kWh/year with the newly purchased inverter.

Wind power

In addition, Taiwan’s island geographic provides ideal wind power locations. Since 2000, there have been 347 wind power systems constructed, yielding a total of 684.4 MW of storage nationwide. The offshore wind power development has also been lately invested by world-renown companies such as Ørsted, Northland Power Inc., and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners etc. and it is anticipated that the offshore wind power would be generating 5.5 GW by 2025. 

Thermal energy

Besides wind power, the volcanic formation of Taiwan also provides the country with geothermal resources. In 2015, the Bureau of Energy and the Industrial Technology Research Institute signed a MOU contract with the New Taipei City Government in order to promote 金山四磺子坪 (Kim San Xi Huang Zi Ping)’s 10 MW thermal energy. Researchers at Taitung University are also working on utilizing the hot spring in the area to produce geothermal energy. What’s more, the Taiwan Power Company has initiated 綠島地熱發電機組試驗性計畫 (Geothermal Generator Experimental Plan in Green Island) by digging two experimental geothermal wells at 朝日溫泉 (Jhaorih Hot Springs) and establishing a 200 kWe generator. The goal is to achieve 2000 kWe by 2020, and by 2025, 11 thermal wells will be finished in 宜蘭利澤 (Yilan Lizuh), providing 8 billion kWh per year.

Hydropower

Hydropower is another crucial renewable energy in Taiwan and it is estimated that the current hydropower can provide 4500 MW per year. The system running is a combination of predominantly cascade, diversion and large accumulation types in order to handle the unpredictable typhoons and droughts. The mountainous landscape of Taiwan has gifted the country a better foundation for hydropower development.

Other power sources

Beyond natural resources, some tech companies invented alternative energies such as transforming pig dung into biogas power and excess wax apple wood sticks to biomass energy. The former can produce around 25 kW of energy and the technology was introduced in the Discovery Channel. Furthermore, an applied physics research team at Ching Hua University also came up with extracting DNA from fish roe to obtain certain material for DNA biopolymer photonics, which can be used to as a kind of sustainable energy.

Renewable energy in India

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Solar Power Plant Telangana II in state of Telangana, India

 

India is one of the countries with the largest production of energy from renewable sources. In the electricity sector, renewable energy account for 34.6% of the total installed power capacity. Large hydro installed capacity was 45.399 GW as of 31 March 2019, contributing to 13% of the total power capacity. The remaining renewable energy sources accounted for 22% of the total installed power capacity (77.641 GW) as of 31 March 2019.

Wind power capacity was 36,625 MW as of 31 March 2019, making India the fourth-largest wind power producer in the world. The country has a strong manufacturing base in wind power with 20 manufactures of 53 different wind turbine models of international quality up to 3 MW in size with exports to Europe, the United States and other countries. Wind or Solar PV paired with four-hour battery storage systems is already cost competitive, without subsidy, as a source of dispatchable generation compared with new coal and new gas plants in India.

The government target of installing 20 GW of solar power by 2022 was achieved four years ahead of schedule in January 2018, through both solar parks as well as roof-top solar panels. India has set a new target of achieving 100 GW of solar power by 2022. Four of the top seven largest solar parks worldwide are in India including the second largest solar park in the world at Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, with a capacity of 1000 MW. The world's largest solar power plant, Bhadla Solar Park is being constructed in Rajasthan with a capacity of 2255 MW and is expected to be completed by the end of 2018. 

Biomass power from biomass combustion, biomass gasification and bagasse cogeneration reached 9.1 GW installed capacity as of 31 March 2019. Family type biogas plants reached 3.98 million.

Renewable energy in India comes under the purview of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). India was the first country in the world to set up a ministry of non-conventional energy resources, in the early 1980s. Solar Energy Corporation of India is responsible for the development of solar energy industry in India. Hydroelectricity is administered separately by the Ministry of Power and not included in MNRE targets. 

India is running one of the largest and most ambitious renewable capacity expansion programs in the world. Newer renewable electricity sources are projected to grow massively by nearer term 2022 targets, including a more than doubling of India's large wind power capacity and an almost 15 fold increase in solar power from April 2016 levels. These targets would place India among the world leaders in renewable energy use and place India at the centre of its "Sunshine Countries" International Solar Alliance project promoting the growth and development of solar power internationally to over 120 countries. India set a target of achieving 40% of its total electricity generation from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030, as stated in its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions statement in the Paris Agreement. A blueprint draft published by Central Electricity Authority projects that 57% of the total electricity capacity will be from renewable sources by 2027. In the 2027 forecasts, India aims to have a renewable energy installed capacity of 275 GW, in addition to 72 GW of hydro-energy, 15 GW of nuclear energy and nearly 100 GW from “other zero emission” sources.

Renewable energy overview and targets

Installed grid interactive renewable power capacity in India as of 31 May 2018 (excluding large hydro)

•   Wind Power: 34,046 MW (49.3%)
•   Solar Power: 21,651 MW (31.4%)
•   Biomass Power: 8,701 MW (12.6%)
•   Small Hydro Power: 4,486 MW (6.5%)
•   Waste-to-Power: 138 MW (0.2%)

The 2022 electrical power targets include achieving 227GW (earlier 175 GW) of energy from renewable sources - nearly 113 GW through solar power, 66 GW from wind power, 10 GW from biomass power, 5GW from small hydro and 31GW from floating solar and offshore wind power. The bidding process for the further additional 115 GW or thereabouts to meet these targets of installed capacity from January 2018 levels will be completed by the end of 2019-2020. The government has announced that no new coal-based capacity addition is required beyond the 50 GW under different stages of construction likely to come online between 2017 and 2022. 

Unlike most countries, until 2019 India did not count large hydro power towards renewable energy targets as hydropwer was under the older Ministry of Power instead of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. This system was changed in 2019 and the power from large hydropower plants is since also accounted for. This was done to help the sale of the power from the large Hydropower plants, as this reclassification has made such plants able to sell their power under the Renewable Energy Purchase Obligation. Under the Renewable Energy Purchase Obligation, the DISCOMs (Distribution Company) of the various states have to source a certain percentage of their power from Renewable Energy Sources under two categories Solar and Non-Solar. The power from the large Hydropower plants now classifies under the Non-Solar Renewable Energy Category.

Grid connected renewable electricity

Installed grid interactive renewable power capacity (excluding large hydropower) as of 31 March 2019 (RES MNRE)

Source	Total Installed Capacity (MW)	2022 target (MW)
Wind power	36,625	60,000
Solar power	28,181	100,000
Biomass power (Biomass & Gasification and Bagasse Cogeneration)	9,103	*10,000
Waste-to-Power	138
Small hydropower	4,593	5,000
TOTAL	77,641	175,000

* The target is given for "bio-power" which includes biomass power and waste to power generation.

•   Coal: 196,957.5 MW (57.3%)
•   Renewable, except large Hydroelectric: 69,022.39 MW (20.1%)
•   Large Hydro: 45,403.42 MW (13.2%)
•   Gas: 24,897.46 MW (7.2%)
•   Nuclear: 6,780 MW (2.0%)
•   Diesel: 837.63 MW (0.2%)

The figures above refer to newer and fast developing renewable energy sources and are managed by the Ministry for New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). In addition as of 31 March 2018 India had 45.4 GW of installed large hydro capacity which comes under the ambit of Ministry of Power.

In terms of meeting its ambitious 2022 targets, as of 31 March 2017, wind power was more than halfway towards its goal, whilst solar power was below 13% of its highly ambitious target, although expansion is expected to be dramatic in the near future. Bio energy was at just above 80% mark whilst small hydro power was already 85% of the way to meet its target. Overall India was at 33% towards meeting its 2022 renewable installed power capacity target of 175 GW. The total breakdown of installed grid connected capacity from all sources including large hydro was as follows: 

Grid connected installed capacity from all sources as of 31 May 2018

Source	Installed Capacity (MW)	Share
Coal	196,957.50	57.27%
Large hydro	45,403.42	13.20%
Other renewables	69,022.39	20.07%
Gas	24,897.46	7.23%
Diesel	837.63	0.24%
Nuclear	6,780.00	1.97%
Total	343,898.39	100.00%

The fast growing renewable energy sources under the responsibility of the Ministry for New and Renewable Energy exceeded the installed capacity of large hydro installations. This figure is targeted to reach 175 GW by 2022. Coal power currently represents the largest share of installed capacity at just under 197 GW. Total installed capacity as of 31 May 2016, for grid connected power in India stood at a little under 344 GW.

Off-grid renewable energy

Off-grid power as of 31 October 2017 (MNRE) Capacities in MW_(EQ)

Source	Total Installed Capacity (MW)
Biomass (non-bagasse) Cogeneration	661.40
SPV Systems	539.13
Biomass Gasifiers	163.37
Waste to Energy	175.45
Aero-Generators / Hybrid systems	3.29
TOTAL	1,542.65
Other Renewable Energy Systems
Family Biogas Plants (in Lakhs)	49.56
Water mills / micro hydel (Nos.)	2690/72

Renewable electricity generation

Total renewable energy which includes large hydro with pumped storage generation, is nearly 17.5% of total utility electricity generation in India during the year 2017-18. Solar, wind and run of the river hydro being must run power generation and environment friendly, base load coal fired power is transforming in to load following power generation. In addition, renewable peaking hydro power capacity also caters peak load demand on daily basis.

Year wise renewable energy generation (GWh)

Source	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19
Large Hydro	129,244	121,377	122,313	126,134	135,040
Small Hydro	8,060	8,355	7,673	5,056	8,703
Solar	4,600	7,450	12,086	25,871	39,268
Wind	28,214	28,604	46,011	52,666	62,036
Bio mass	14,944	16,681	14,159	15,252	16,325
Other	414	269	213	358	425
Total	191,025	187,158	204,182	227,973	261,797
Total utility power	1,105,446	1,168,359	1,236,392	1,302,904	1,371,517
% Renewable power	17.28%	16.02%	16.52%	17.50%	19.1%

Hydroelectric power

India is the 7th largest producer of hydroelectric power in the world. As of 30 April 2017, India's installed utility-scale hydroelectric capacity was 44,594 MW, or 13.5% of its total utility power generation capacity.

Additional smaller hydroelectric power units with a total capacity of 4,380 MW (1.3% of its total utility power generation capacity) have been installed. Small hydropower, defined to be generated at facilities with nameplate capacities up to 25 MW, comes under the ambit of the Ministry of New and Renewable energy (MNRE); whilst large hydro, defined as above 25 MW, comes under the ambit of Ministry of Power.

Wind power

The largest wind farm of India in Muppandal, Tamil Nadu.

 

Mean wind speed in India.

 

The development of wind power in India began in the 1990s, and has significantly increased in the last few years. Although a relative newcomer to the wind industry compared with Denmark or the US, domestic policy support for wind power has led India to become the country with the fourth largest installed wind power capacity in the world.

As of 30 June 2018 the installed capacity of wind power in India was 34,293 MW, mainly spread across Tamil Nadu (7,269.50 MW), Maharashtra (4,100.40 MW), Gujarat (3,454.30 MW), Rajasthan (2,784.90 MW), Karnataka (2,318.20 MW), Andhra Pradesh (746.20 MW) and Madhya Pradesh (423.40 MW) Wind power accounts for 10% of India's total installed power capacity. India has set an ambitious target to generate 60,000 MW of electricity from wind power by 2022.

The Indian Government's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy announced a new wind-solar hybrid policy in May 2018. This means that the same piece of land will be used to house both wind farms and solar panels.

Solar power

Global Horizontal Irradiance in India.

 

India is densely populated and has high solar insolation, an ideal combination for using solar power in India.

Announced in November 2009, the Government of India proposed to launch its Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission under the National Action Plan on Climate Change. The program was inaugurated by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 11 January 2010 with a target of 20GW grid capacity by 2022 as well as 2GW off-grid installations, this target was later increased to 100 GW by the same date under the Narendra Modi government in the 2015 Union budget of India. Achieving this National Solar Mission target would establish India in its ambition to be a global leader in solar power generation. The Mission aims to achieve grid parity (electricity delivered at the same cost and quality as that delivered on the grid) by 2022. The National Solar Mission is also promoted and known by its more colloquial name of "Solar India".The earlier objectives of the mission were to install 1,000 MW of power by 2013 and cover 20×10⁶ m² (220×10⁶ sq ft) with collectors by the end of the final phase of the mission in 2022.

On 30 November 2015 the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and the Prime Minister of France Francois Hollande launched the International Solar Alliance.The ISA is an alliance of 121 solar rich countries lying partially or fully between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, a number of countries outside of this area are also involved with the organisation. The ISA aims to promote and develop solar power amongst its members and has the objective of mobilising $1 trillion of investment by 2030.

Much of the country does not have an electrical grid, so one of the first applications of solar power was for water pumping, to begin replacing India's four to five million diesel powered water pumps, each consuming about 3.5 kilowatts, and off-grid lighting. Some large projects have been proposed, and a 35,000 km² (14,000 sq mi) area of the Thar Desert has been set aside for solar power projects, sufficient to generate 700 to 2,100 gigawatts. Solar power in India has been growing at a rate of 113% yoy and now dropped to around ₹4.34 (6.3¢ US) per kWh, which is around 18% lower than the average price for electricity generated by coal-fired plants.

As part of India's ambitious solar programme the central government has set up a US$350 million fund and the Yes Bank will loan US$5 billion to finance solar projects (c. January 2018). India is also the home to the world's first and only 100% solar powered airport, located at Cochin, Kerala. India also has a wholly 100% solar powered railway station in Guwhati, Assam. India's first and the largest floating solar power plant was constructed at Banasura Sagar reservoir in Wayanad, Kerala.

The Indian Solar Loan Programme, supported by the United Nations Environment Programme has won the prestigious Energy Globe World award for Sustainability for helping to establish a consumer financing program for solar home power systems. Over the span of three years more than 16,000 solar home systems have been financed through 2,000 bank branches, particularly in rural areas of South India where the electricity grid does not yet extend.

Launched in 2003, the Indian Solar Loan Programme was a four-year partnership between UNEP, the UNEP Risoe Centre, and two of India's largest banks, the Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank.

Biomass

India is an ideal environment for Biomass production given its tropical location and abundant sunshine and rains. The countries vast agricultural potential provides huge agro-residues which can be used to meet energy needs, both in heat and power applications..According to IREDA "Biomass is capable of supplementing the coal to the tune of about 260 million tonnes", "saving of about Rs. 250 billion, every year." It is estimated that the potential for biomass energy in India includes 16,000 MW from biomass energy and a further 3,500 MW from bagasse cogeneration. Biomass materials that can be used for power generation include bagasse, rice husk, straw, cotton stalk, coconut shells, soya husk, de-oiled cakes, coffee waste, jute wastes, groundnut shells and saw dust. 

Various Types of Agro field / Industrial Residues

Type of Agro residues	Quantity(Million Tonnes / annum)
Straws of various pulses & cereals	225.50
Bagasse	31.00
Rice Husk	10.00
Groundnut shell	11.10
Stalks	2.00
Various Oil Stalks	4.50
Others	65.90
Total	350.00

Biogas

In 2018, India has set target to produce 15 million tons (62 mmcmd) of biogas/bio-CNG by installing 5,000 large scale commercial type biogas plants which can produce daily 12.5 tons of bio-CNG by each plant. The rejected organic solids from biogas plants can be used after Torrefaction in the existing coal fired plants to reduce coal consumption.

Bio protein

Synthetic methane (SNG) generated using electricity from carbon neutral renewable power or Bio CNG can be used to produce protein rich feed for cattle, poultry and fish economically by cultivating Methylococcus capsulatus bacteria culture with tiny land and water foot print. The carbon dioxide gas produced as by product from these bio protein plants can be recycled in the generation of SNG. Similarly, oxygen gas produced as by product from the electrolysis of water and the methanation process can be consumed in the cultivation of bacteria culture. With these integrated plants, the abundant renewable power potential in India can be converted in to high value food products with out any water pollution or green house gas (GHG) emissions for achieving food security at a faster pace with lesser people deployment in agriculture / animal husbandry sector.

Biofuel

Ethanol

Ethanol market penetration reached its highest figure of a 3.3% blend rate in India in 2016. It is produced from sugarcane molasses and partly from grains and can be blended with gasoline. Sugarcane or sugarcane juice may not be used for the production of ethanol in India.

Biodiesel

The market for biodiesel remains at an early stage in India with the country achieving a minimal blend rate with diesel of 0.001% in 2016. Initially development was focussed on the jatropha (jatropha curcas) plant as the most suitable inedible oilseed for biodiesel production. Development of biodiesel from jatropha has met a number of agronomic and economic restraints and attention is now moving towards other feedstock technologies which utilize used cooking oils, other unusable oil fractions, animal fat and inedible oils.

Waste to energy

Every year, about 55 million tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) and 38 billion litres of sewage are generated in the urban areas of India. In addition, large quantities of solid and liquid wastes are generated by industries. Waste generation in India is expected to increase rapidly in the future. As more people migrate to urban areas and as incomes increase, consumption levels are likely to rise, as are rates of waste generation. It is estimated that the amount of waste generated in India will increase at a per capita rate of approximately 1-1.33% annually. This has significant impacts on the amount of land that is and will be needed for disposal, economic costs of collecting and transporting waste, and the environmental consequences of increased MSW generation levels.

India has had a long involvement with anaerobic digestion and biogas technologies. Waste water treatment plants in the country have been established which produce renewable energy from sewage gas. However, there is still significant untapped potential. Also wastes from the distillery sector are on some sites converted into biogas to run in a gas engine to generate onsite power. Prominent companies in the waste to energy sector include:

• A2Z Group of companies
• Hanjer Biotech Energies
• Ramky Enviro Engineers Ltd
• Arka BRENStech Pvt Ltd
• Hitachi Zosen India Pvt Limited
• Clarke Energy
• ORS Group

Common land

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Poohsticks Bridge in Ashdown Forest, an area of common land.

 

Common land is land owned collectively by a number of persons, or by one person, but over which other people have certain traditional rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel.

A person who has a right in, or over, common land jointly with another or others is called a commoner.

This article deals mainly with common land in Great Britain. Although the extent there is much reduced due to enclosure of common land from the millions of acres that existed until the 17th century, a considerable amount of common land still exists, particularly in upland areas, and there are over 7,000 registered commons in England alone.

Common land or former common land is usually referred to as a common; for instance, Clapham Common or Mungrisdale Common.

Origins

Modern-day pannage, or common of mast, in the New Forest

 

Conjectural map of a mediaeval English manor. The part allocated to "common pasture" is shown in the north-east section, shaded green.

 

Originally in medieval England the common was an integral part of the manor, and was thus part of the estate held by the lord of the manor under a feudal grant from the Crown or a superior peer, who in turn held his land from the Crown which owned all land. This manorial system, founded on feudalism, granted rights of land use to different classes. These would be appurtenant rights, that is the ownership of rights belonged to tenancies of particular plots of land held within a manor. A commoner would be the person who, for the time being, was the occupier of a particular plot of land. Some rights of common were said to be in gross, that is, they were unconnected with tenure of land. This was more usual in regions where commons are more extensive, such as in the high ground of Northern England or on the Fens, but also included many village greens across England and Wales. Most land with appurtenant commons rights is adjacent to the common or even surrounded by it, but in a few cases it may be some considerable distance away. 

Historically Manorial courts defined the details of many of the rights of common allowed to manorial tenants, and such rights formed part of the copyhold tenancy whose terms were defined in the manorial court roll.

Example rights of common are:

• Pasture. Right to pasture cattle, horses, sheep or other animals on the common land. The most widespread right.
• Piscary. Right to fish.
• Turbary. Right to take sods of turf for fuel.
• Common in the Soil. This is a general term used for rights to extract minerals such as sands, gravels, marl, walling stone and lime from common land.
• Mast or pannage. Right to turn out pigs for a period in autumn to eat mast (beech mast, acorns and other nuts).
• Estovers. Right to take sufficient wood for the commoner's house or holding; usually limited to smaller trees, bushes (such as gorse) and fallen branches.

On most commons, rights of pasture and pannage for each commoner are tightly defined by number and type of animal, and by the time of year when certain rights could be exercised. For example, the occupier of a particular cottage might be allowed to graze fifteen cattle, four horses, ponies or donkeys, and fifty geese, whilst the numbers allowed for their neighbours would probably be different. On some commons (such as the New Forest and adjoining commons), the rights are not limited by numbers, and instead a marking fee is paid each year for each animal turned out. However, if excessive use was made of the common, for example, in overgrazing, a common would be stinted, that is, a limit would be put on the number of animals each commoner was allowed to graze. These regulations were responsive to demographic and economic pressure. Thus rather than let a common become degraded, access was restricted even further. 

The Lord of the Manor must only exercise his rights so far as to leave a "sufficiency" of resource for commoners. This was at Issue in 1889 when the Lord of the Manor and owner of Banstead Downs and Heath, a Mr Hartopp, excavated gravel and threatened to reduce the available pasture. The meaning of sufficiency was challenged in court, Expert winesses stated that the grazing capacity was 1200 animals, the commoners rights totalled 1440 animals, and 600 animals were normally turned out. It was decided sufficiency was whether enough grazing would be available for all the animals that could be turned out. The judgement was that "The Lord is bound to leave pasture enough to satisfy the commoners rights whether such rights are to be exercised or not". Commoners also have the right to "peaceful enjoyment" of their rights, so that they cannot be hindered by the Lord of the Manor. This was first proposed in 1500 and became case law in 1827.

Types of common

Snake's head fritillary, North Meadow, Cricklade. This is grazed as Lammas common land.

 

View of the Scafell massif from Yewbarrow, Wasdale, Cumbria. In the valley are older enclosures and higher up on the fell-side are the parliamentary enclosures following straight lines regardless of terrain.

Pasture commons

Pasture commons are those where the primary right is to pasture livestock. In the uplands, they are largely moorland, on the coast they may be salt marsh, sand dunes or cliffs, and on inland lowlands they may be downland, grassland, heathland or wood pasture, depending on the soil and history. These habitats are often of very high nature conservation value, because of their very long continuity of management extending in some cases over many hundreds of years. In the past, most pasture commons would have been grazed by mixtures of cattle, sheep and ponies (often also geese). The modern survival of grazing on pasture commons over the past century is uneven.

Arable and haymeadow commons

Surviving commons are almost all pasture, but in earlier times, arable farming and haymaking were significant, with strips of land in the common arable fields and common haymeadows assigned annually by lot. When not in use for those purposes, such commons were grazed. Examples include the common arable fields around the village of Laxton in Nottinghamshire, and a common meadow at North Meadow, Cricklade.

Lammas rights

Lammas rights entitled commoners to pasture following the harvest, between Lammas day, 12 August (N.S.), to 6 April, even if they did not have other rights to the land. Such rights sometimes had the effect of preventing enclosure and building development on agricultural land.

Enclosure and decline

Most of the medieval common land of England was lost due to enclosure. In English social and economic history, enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land formerly held in the open field system. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be land for the use of commoners. In England and Wales the term is also used for the process that ended the ancient system of arable farming in open fields. Under enclosure, such land is fenced (enclosed) and deeded or entitled to one or more owners. The process of enclosure began to be a widespread feature of the English agricultural landscape during the 16th century. By the 19th century, unenclosed commons had become largely restricted to large areas of rough pasture in mountainous areas and to relatively small residual parcels of land in the lowlands. 

Enclosure could be accomplished by buying the ground rights and all common rights to accomplish exclusive rights of use, which increased the value of the land. The other method was by passing laws causing or forcing enclosure, such as Parliamentary enclosure. The latter process of enclosure was sometimes accompanied by force, resistance, and bloodshed, and remains among the most controversial areas of agricultural and economic history in England.

Enclosure is considered one of the causes of the British Agricultural Revolution. Enclosed land was under control of the farmer who was free to adopt better farming practices. There was widespread agreement in contemporary accounts that profit making opportunities were better with enclosed land. Following enclosure, crop yields and livestock output increased while at the same time productivity increased enough to create a surplus of labour. The increased labour supply is considered one of the factors facilitating the Industrial Revolution.

Following the era of enclosure, there was relatively little common land remaining of value. Some residual commoners remained, until such as after the Second World War, lowland commons became neglected because commoners could find better-paid work in other sectors of the economy. As a result, they largely stopped exercising their rights, and relatively few commoners exist today.

Modern use

Much common land is still used for its original purpose. The right to graze domestic stock is by far the most extensive commoners right registered, and its ongoing use contributes significantly to agricultural and rural economies. Rights to graze sheep are registered on 53% of the Welsh and 16% of the English commons. Cattle are registered on 35% of Welsh and 20% of English commons, whilst horses and ponies are registered on 27% of Welsh and 13% of English commons. In some cases rights to graze goats, geese and ducks are registered, whilst in others the type of livestock is not specified. These figures relate to the number of common land units, and due to discrepancies in the registers and large numbers of small commons with no rights in England, the apparent distinction between Wales and England may be exaggerated.

Today, despite the diverse legal and historical origins of commons, they are managed through a community of users, comprising those who hold rights together with the owner(s) of the soil. Such communities generally require joint working to integrate all interests, with formal or informal controls and collaborative understandings, often coupled with strong social traditions and local identity.

However, 26% of commons in Wales, and as many as 65% in England, have no common rights shown on the registers. Such areas are derived from wastes of manors, where rights probably existed formerly. When such open habitats are no longer grazed they revert to scrub and then dense woodland, losing the grassy or heathland vegetation which may have occupied the land continuously for many centuries. In 2007 Ashdown Forest, the Sussex heathland which was the setting for the Winnie-the-Pooh stories, became the centre of a dispute between some local residents and the Forest's governing body, the Board of Conservators, which is responsible for administering the Forest's 2,400 hectares (5,900 acres) of common land. The Conservators wished to restore the Forest's landscape to one that predominantly consisted of heathland—its defining characteristic until the mid-twentieth century, but something that was in danger of being lost after the Second World War as a result of the advance of woodland into traditional heathland areas when, as one commentator stated..

...returning soldiers gave up trying to scratch a living out of the forest. Whereas once hundreds of commoners used the wood and heath—their livestock obliging by chewing down young tree shoots—today there is only one commercial grazer.

The Conservators were forced to intervene to stem the invasion of trees, scrub and bracken that threatened the ecologicially precious heathlands, cutting down saplings, removing scrub and mowing the bracken. Some residents complained that the results looked like a First World War battle field. This is not a problem restricted to this common, but according to Jonathan Brown writing in the Independent on 21 April 2007 "similar debates are raging between locals and the authorities at other heathland areas in the New Forest and Surrey".

In 2008 the Foundation for Common Land was created in the UK to try to enhance the understanding and protection of commons.

Governing law in England and Wales

The legal position concerning common land has been confused, but recent legislation has sought to remedy this and remove the legal uncertainties so that commons can be better used and protected. 

Most commons are based on ancient rights under British common law, which pre-date statutes passed by the Parliament of England. The exact usufruct rights which apply to individual commons were in some cases documented, but more often were based on long-held traditions. A major reform began in 1965, with a national register of common land which recorded the land ownership and the rights of any commoners, and two other important statutes have followed. 

Owners of land in general have all the rights of exclusive ownership, to use the land as they wish. However, for common land the owner's rights are restricted, and other people known as commoners have certain rights over the land. The landowner may retain other rights to the land, such as rights to minerals and large timber, and to any common rights left unexercised by the commoners. The commoners will continue to exercise their rights, or have a document which describes their rights, which may be part of the deeds of another property. A number of commoners still exercise rights, for example, there are 500 practising commoners in the New Forest, and there is a federation of commoners in Cumbria. In many cases commons have no existing commoners, the rights having been neglected.

Erection of Cottages Act 1588

There was a belief that if an Englishman or woman could—between sunrise and sunset in a single day—build a house on common land, raise the roof over their head and light a fire in the hearth, then they would have the right of undisturbed possession. The belief—sometimes called "keyhole tenure", and which persisted as recently as the early 20th century—was actually a fallacy, but to stop landless peasants unlawfully squatting on commons, an act known as the Erection of Cottages Act 1588 (31 Eliz c. 7, long title "An Act against the erecting and maintaining of Cottages"), was introduced.

Commons Act 1876

Under the Commons Act 1876 some 36 commons in England and Wales were regulated. The act also enabled the confirmation of Orders providing for the inclosure of common land or common fields.

Commons Act 1899

The Commons Act 1899 provides a mechanism of enabling district councils and National Park authorities to manage commons where their use for exercise and recreation is the prime consideration and where the owner and commoners do not require a direct voice in the management, or where the owner cannot be found. There are at least 200 schemes of management made under the 1899 act.

The Law of Property Act 1925

The Law of Property Act 1925, which still forms the core of English property law, has two provisions for common land:

• Section 193 gave the right of the public to "air and exercise" on Metropolitan commons and those in pre-1974 urban districts and boroughs. This constituted about one fifth of the commons, but the 1925 Act did not give this right to commons in essentially rural areas (although some urban districts had remarkably rural extent, such as the Lakes Urban District), which had to wait for the 2000 CROW Act.
• Section 194 restricted the inclosure of commons, which would now require Ministerial consent.

Commons Registration Act 1965

The UK government regularised the definitions of common land with the Commons Registration Act 1965, which established a register of common land. 

Not all commons have owners, but all common land by definition is registered under 1965 Commons registration Act, along with the rights of any commoners if they still exist. The registration authorities are the County Councils, and when there is no ownership, a local council, such as a parish council is normally given guardianship by vesting the property under the Act (section 8). 

An online database of registered common land was compiled by DEFRA in 1992–93 as part of a survey of the condition and wildlife of commons. The official up to date Registers of common land are held by the Commons Registration Authorities.

The following registration information is held:

• Land Section

This includes a description of the land, who applied to register the land, and when the land became finally registered. There are also related plans which show the boundaries of the land.

• Rights Section

This includes a description of the rights of common (e.g. a right to graze a certain number of sheep), the area of common over which the right is exercisable, the name of the holder of the right and whether the right is attached to land in the ownership of the holder of the right (the commoner) or is a right held in gross i.e. unattached to land.

• Ownership Section

This includes details of the owner(s) of the common land. Entries in this section however, are not held to be conclusive. 

Unfortunately, numerous inconsistencies and irregularities remained, mainly because a period of only 3 years was given for registration submissions. However, there is there is now an opportunity to clear these up under the 2006 Act, and to add land omitted under the 1965 act.

Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (CROW)

Other than for those commons covered by the Law of Property Act 1925, the Commons Act 1899 and certain other statutes, the public did not have the right to use or enjoy common land if they were not a commoner. However, the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 gave the public the Freedom to roam freely on all registered common land in England and Wales. The new rights were introduced region by region through England and Wales, with completion in 2005. Maps showing accessible areas have been produced, and are available online as "open access maps" produced by Natural England. Commons are included in the public access land now shown on the Ordnance Survey Explorer Maps.

Commons Act 2006

The Commons Act 2006 is an important recent piece of legislation.

The Act:

• Enables commons to be managed more sustainably by commoners and landowners working together through commons councils with powers to regulate grazing and other agricultural activities
• Provides better protection for common land and greens – this includes reinforcing existing protections against abuse, encroachment and unauthorised development
• Recognises that the protection of common land has to be proportionate to the harm caused and that some specified works can be carried out without the need for consent
• Requires commons registration authorities to bring their registers up-to-date by recording past changes affecting the registers during a ‘transitional period’, and to keep the registers up-to-date by recording new changes affecting the registers – commons registration authorities will have new powers to correct many of the mistakes in the registers
• Sets out new, clearer criteria for the registration of town or village greens
• Prohibits the severance of rights of common grazing, preventing commoners from selling, leasing or letting their rights away from the property to which rights are attached, though temporary severance of such rights is permitted  for renewable terms of up to two years (in England) and five years (in Wales).

Several hundred square kilometres of ‘waste land’ that was provisionally registered under the Commons Registration Act 1965 was not, in fact, finally registered. As a consequence, it ceased to be recognised as common land. A partial remedy for this defect in the earlier legislation is provided by the Commons Act 2006. Under Schedule 2(4) to the Act, applications that failed to achieve final registration under the 1965 Act may, in certain circumstances, be reconsidered – offering, in effect, a second chance for the land to be confirmed (‘re-registered’) as common. Land that is re-registered in this way will enjoy the special legal protection afforded to common land. It will also become subject in due course to the public right of access introduced by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000; or depending on location, may qualify as a section 193 ‘urban’ common (in which case, it would also be subject to a right of access for horse-riders).

Fencing

The windmill on Wimbledon Common.

The act of transferring resources from the commons to purely private ownership is known as enclosure, or (especially in formal use, and in place names) Inclosure. The Inclosure Acts were a series of private Acts of Parliament, mainly from about 1750 to 1850, which enclosed large areas of common, especially the arable and haymeadow land and the better pasture land. 

The maintenance of fences around a common is the responsibility of the occupiers of the adjacent enclosed land, not (as it would be with enclosed land) the responsibility of the owners of the grazed livestock. This can lead to difficulties where not all adjacent occupiers maintain their fences properly. However the fencing of land within a registered common is not allowed, as this is a form of enclosure and denies use of the land to others. 

A celebrated landmark case of unauthorised fencing of a common was in 1866 by Lord Brownlow who illegally enclosed 434 acres of Berkhamsted Common to add to his Ashridge Estate. Brownlow had failed to buy out the commoners, so resorted to this action. A public outcry followed, and the Commons Preservation Society found a champion in Augustus Smith who had the inclination and the money to act, and himself held commons rights. Smith hired 120 navvies armed with hammers, chisels and crowbars, who on the night of 6 March 1866, under the aegis of the newly formed Commons Preservation Society (now the Open Spaces Society), felled to the ground two miles of iron railings. Soon after, local people flocked in. Lord Brownlow took action against Augustus Smith and the court case lasted until 1870 when it ended with the complete vindication of Smith.

Controls on development

Development of common land is strictly controlled. The government states that common land should be open and accessible to the public, and the law restricts the kind of works that can be carried out on commons. HM Planning Inspectorate is responsible for determining applications under the 2006 Act regarding common land in England, and several other pieces of legislation regarding commons and greens. All applications are determined on behalf of the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Under section 38 of the Commons Act 2006, you need consent to carry out any restricted works on land registered as common land under the Commons Registration Act 1965. Restricted works are any that prevent or impede access to or over the land. They include fencing, buildings, structures, ditches, trenches, embankments and other works, where the effect of those works is to prevent or impede access. They also include, in every case, new solid surfaces, such as for a new car park or access road.

Boards of Conservators and Commons Councils

Some commons are managed by Boards of Conservators for the wider public benefit. However, for areas where these are not established, or an improved system is required, the Commons Act 2006 provides for the establishment of Commons Councils to manage common land.

The Standard Constitution Regulations relating to commons councils were formally approved in April 2010, and Commons Councils are most likely to be useful where they can improve current management practices. This may be where commons are in agricultural use, but where it can be difficult to reach agreement on collective management. Commons Councils are voluntary and can be established only where there is substantial support among those with interests in the land, such as; the Commoners (especially those who actively exercise their rights); owners and other legal interests. 

Commons Councils enable decisions to be made by majority voting, so relieving the burden of trying to reach unanimous decisions. They will have the power to make rules about agricultural activities, the management of vegetation, and the exercise of common rights, which are binding on all those with interests on a common.

Roadways

A parliamentary enclosure road near Lazonby in Cumbria. The roads were made as straight as possible, and the boundaries much wider than a cart width to reduce the ground damage of driving sheep and cattle.

 

Commons are often crossed by unfenced public roads, and this leads to another problem on modern pasture commons where grazing survives (or is to be reintroduced). Historically, the roads would have been cart-tracks, and there would have been no conflict between their horse-drawn (or ox-drawn) traffic and the pastured animals, and no great difficulty if pastured animals wandered off the common along the roads. However, these roads now have fast motorised traffic which does not mix safely with animals. To continue (or restore) grazing, such roads may need fencing or at least blocking at the edge of the common with cattle grids — however fencing a common is reminiscent of the process of enclosure, historically fatal to its survival, and permission for fencing on a common is a strictly controlled process within the UK planning system.

Public roads through enclosed common land were made to an accepted width between boundaries. In the late eighteenth century this was at least 60 feet (18 m), but from the 1790s this was decreased to 40 feet (12 m), and later 30 feet (9.1 m) as the normal maximum width. The reason for these wide roads to was to prevent excessive churning of the road bed, and allow easy movement of flocks and herds of animals.

Finland and Sweden

A partition unit is a corporation that owns common land. In this case, the land is not state-owned or in joint-ownership under a trust, but is owned by a definite partition unit, a legal partnership whose partners are the participating individual landowners. Common lands and waterways owned by a partition unit were created by an agreement where certain land was reserved for the common use of all adjacent landowners. For the most part, this was due to the Great Partition (Swedish: storskiftet, Finnish: isojako), which started in 1757 and was largely complete by the 1800s. Earlier, the land of a village was divided into narrow stripes of farmland for each to own, with the remainder commonly owned, and work on the land was collective. In the Great Partition, villages were organized as corporations termed partition units (Swedish: skifteslag, Finnish: jakokunta), and land was divided into large chunks that were divided among the households (commoners) for individual cultivation and habitation. Land or waterways that remained undivided was kept by the partition unit as commons, owned by the partition unit. Later, Gustaf III claimed the yet unclaimed forest for the Crown – this was the origin of the large forest holdings of the state in Sweden and Finland. Today, partition units are a common way of owning waterways.

Ireland

In Ireland, commonage (Irish: cimíneacht, cimín) is a holding held by two or more persons in specified shares or jointly and originally purchased from the Irish Land Commission under the Land Purchase Acts (1885 and 1903). Traditionally, tenants on large estates rented their land from the landlord. The farm consisted of an enclosed parcel of land and permission to use nearby unenclosed land belonging to the landlord. In many areas access unenclosed land (the “hill”) was vital as it allowed the tenant to keep livestock and gain a cash income.

There are over 4,500 commonages in Ireland, with 11,000–14,000 farmers having grazing rights. 4,260 square kilometres (1,640 sq mi; 1,050,000 acres) of commonage is currently grazed, mostly in counties Mayo, Galway, Sligo, Donegal, Kerry and Wicklow. It is generally used for grazing sheep in upland areas. Overgrazing in the 1980s and 1990s led to damage to hill areas and river banks; numbers are now limited.

In Gaelic Ireland, prior to the Norman-English conquest of Ireland (begun in the 12th century AD, not complete until the late 16th century), land was owned by tribes. A portion of the tribe's territory, known as the Fearan Fine ("tribe's quarter") was held in common by the entire tribe. This was generally low-quality land, used for grazing pigs and cattle, and was leased to tribe members for a year at a time.

Scotland

Commoning has probably existed in Scotland for over a millennium. However, there is no modern legislation relating to commons which formally identifies the extent of common land or clarifies the full range of rights. The right of turbary – the ability to cut peat as fuel – clearly exists in large parts of Scotland, whilst the scale of such rights, and the extent to which they are utilised, remain unknown. The main work undertaken on Scottish commons concerns grazing, using a pragmatic definition, where such commons were defined as pastures with multiple grazing rights and/or multiple graziers.

There are seven main historic types of common land in Scotland, some of which have similarities to common land in England and Wales.

Commonties

The overwhelming majority of areas of common land in lowland Scotland and the Highland fringes were commonties. A commonty is an area of land where the rights of property or use are shared by two or more neighbouring (though not necessarily adjacent) landowners. They are not therefore truly 'common' land in the sense that anyone can use them, and this distinction meant that it was often very easy for commonties to be divided between landowners after a series of Acts permitting this were passed by the Parliament of Scotland in the 17th century, most notably the 1695 Act for the Division of Commonties. As a result, the number of commonties declined very rapidly in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Common mosses

Common mosses were areas of bog where the right to dig peat for fuel were shared by neighbouring landowners. They are therefore similar to commonties and most commonties included a common moss. However the difficulties of dividing such wet areas meant that they were left out of many commonty divisions and many common mosses may still survive, un-noticed because of the decline of peat-cutting.

Run rig

Rig and furrow marks at Buchans Field, Wester Kittochside, an area of Scottish common land

 

Run rig is a system of agriculture involving the cultivation of adjacent, narrow strips of raised land (rigs). Traditionally adjacent rigs would be used by different farmers and the rigs were periodically re-allocated between them. The system was common throughout Scotland until the 18th century, but survived longer in the Western Highlands, where runrig was often associated with an adjacent area of common hill grazing which was also shared by the same farmers as the runrig.

Scattalds

Scattalds are unique to Shetland and are based on udal law, rather than the feudal law that predominated in the rest of Scotland. However, Scattalds are very similar to commonties and many were divided under the same 1695 Act that allowed for the division of commonties.

Crown Commons

Crown Commons were areas of land held directly by the crown and therefore the common rights that could be used were rights of use rather than rights of property. Unlike commonties, the rights to use crown commons (for example for grazing livestock) were available to anyone, not just the neighbouring landowners. There are no crown commons left in Scotland; those that survived into the 20th century were taken over by the Crown Estate.

Greens and loans

Greens were small areas of common land near a settlement where livestock could be kept overnight, markets held and other communal activities carried out. Sometimes they were adjacent to drovers' roads near river crossing points or overnight accommodation. Most were genuinely common land with only the Crown holding any title to them. A loan was a common route through private property allowing access to an area of common land or other public place. As the traditional uses of greens and loans declined, they were often absorbed by the neighbouring landowners.

Burgh commons

Burgh commons were areas of common land where property rights or privileges of use were held by the burgh for their inhabitants. They could include any of the other six types of common land and were sometimes shared with landowners outside the burgh. By the early 19th century, most burgh commons had been appropriated by the wealthy landowners who dominated burgh councils, and very few have survived.

United States

Common land, an English development, was used in many former British colonies, for example in Ireland and the United States. The North American colonies adopted the English laws in establishing their own commons. Famous examples include the Boston Common in Massachusetts and the New Haven Green in New Haven, Connecticut, some of the oldest commons in the United States.