ENERGY That is Forever

Moving towards cleaner and greener initiatives, harnessing the potential of renewable energy is the need of the hour

With ample sunshine and surrounded by the sea on three sides, India has around 7,600 km of coastline. And this gives India an advantageous position to harness solar and wind power for renewable energy. Optimising this potential since the last four decades, India now stands at the 4th position in wind power, 5th in solar power and 5th in renewable power installed capacity as of 2018, according to the Renewable Indusrty in India report on ibef.org. It further states that in the 2018 Climatescope report, India ranked second among the emerging economies to lead to transition to clean energy.

But what is the need for renewable energy? In an article on indiary.org, Gautam Khurana explains, “Renewable energy is the energy collected from renewable resources, which are naturally replenished on human timescale such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves and geothermal heat. It is the cleanest source of energy with least carbon emissions or pollution. This helps in reducing reliance on coal and other fossil fuels. With the expansion of renewable energy, India can improve air quality, reduce global warming emissions, create new industries and jobs, and help to move world towards a cleaner, safer, and affordable energy.”

Pushing growth in the sector, India was the first country in the world to establish an exclusive ministry for this-Ministry of New And Renewable Energy (MNRE). As per the data given on mnre.gov.in, renewable energy has a share of 23.39% in the total installed generation capacity in the country, that is 368.98 GW (up to February, 29 2020).

The Mission

Renewable energy is the need of the hour for many reasons. Depletion of conventional resources means damage to the planet. Seeing the growth engine, by 2040, electricity consumption is expected to reach 15,280 Twh. And India’s renewable resources such as ample sunlight throughout the year and a large hydropower potential make renewable energy an attractive proposition. With many initiatives in place, the sector has attracted more than US$42 billion investment since 2014. As per the ibef.org report, around Rs 36,729.49 crore (US$ 5.26 billion) investment was made during April-December 2019 by private companies in renewable energy. The government has also listed renewable energy projects under priority sector for loans. In fact, the government launched the National Solar Mission in Janaury 2010. This was the first operationalised mission under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). The initial target was to deploy 20,000 MW of Grid- Connected Solar Power by 2022. But in June 2015, the target was revised to 100,000 MW by 2021-22.

The steps

In its annual report 2019-2020, MNRE clearly states that, “...In India, renewable energy has started playing an increasingly important role in the augmentation of grid power, providing energy access, reducing the consumption of fossil fuels and helping India pursue its low carbon development path. Ahead of COP 21,

India submitted its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) to the UNFCCC, outlining the country’s post-2020 climate actions. India’s INDC builds on its goal of installing 175 gigawatts (GW) of renewable power capacity by 2022 by setting a new target to increase the country’s share of non-fossil-based installed electric capacity to 40 percent by 2030.” To achieve its aims, the government has rolled out initiatives such as waiver of Inter-state transmission charges for sale of solar and wind power; Renewable Purchase Obligation trajectory, competitive bidding guidelines for procurement of solar and wind power; flexibility in generation and scheduling of thermal power stations; solar cookers programme; solar-wind hybrid policy; solar PV manufacturing linked with assured take- off; Atal Jyoti Yojana and standards for deployment of Solar PV systems; Grid Connected Rooftop Solar programmes, organising RE-Invest 2015—a global investors’ meet; solar pump scheme with a target of installing 100,000 solar pumps and programme to train 50,000 people for solar installations

under the Suryamitra scheme and more.

Initiatives in place:

Solar sector in India received investments of US$ 9.8 billion in CY2018.

Three solar parks Kurnool (1000 MW) in Andhra Pradesh and Bhadla-II (680 MW) in Rajasthan and Pavagada (2000 MW) in Karnataka are fully operational.

As of 2019, the solar power plant Bhadla Solar Park in Rajasthan will be the world’s largest solar plant with a capacity of 2,255 MW.

More than 74 lakh solar lanterns and study lamps; more than 17 lakh home lights have been distributed under the Off- Grid and Decentralised Solar Programme.

More than 6.80 lakh street lights have been set up in the villages of India.

More than 2.46 lakh Solar PV Pumps have been installed in the rural areas for irrigation and drinking water purposes.

Around 60.61 lakh solar study lamps were distributed to the students under 70 lakh solar study lamp scheme in the States of Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh.

Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) scheme, launched in March 2019, involves setting up of 10,000 MW of Decentralized Grid Connected Solar or other Renewable Energy Power Plants on barren / fallow land; Installation of 17.50 lakh standalone solar agriculture pumps; and solarisation of 10 lakh Grid Connected Agriculture Pumps.

The current annual manufacturing capacity of wind turbines in the country is about 10,000 MW. 12 biogas based projects have been commissioned with a power generation capacity of 212 kW and corresponding biogas generation capacity of 1805 m3 per day. With this, the cumulative total of 316 biogas based projects with a total power generation capacity of 7.166 MW with a cumulative total biogas generation of 69,500 m3 per day has been set up in the country, up to December 31, 2019.

Under the Green Energy Corridor project, approx. Rs 2,000 crore has been disbursed to the states.

Benefits

Seeing the massive scale on which the renewable energy projects are deployed, imore than 10 million man- days employment is created annually. There are investments in education, training and skill development, which open livelihood opportunities, esepcially in the rural belt. “Under the solar study lamp scheme, over 7,436 women were trained as solar lighting technicians, 1,769 repair and maintenance centers were established, around 1,896 people were trained in entrepreneurship development and 832 solar shops have been opened. Under the Suryamitra programme, around 40,441 Suryamitras have been trained cumulatively up to December 31, 2019,” states MNRE’s annual report. The ministry encourages internship and fellowships in clean energy for those who want to pursue further studies.

Clean energy has resulted in savings in all ways in many places. To give an example of Asian Paints, Khandala, Maharashtra. Here, a CPC-based pressurised solar hot water system having a collector area of 369.6 m2 was installed at a cost of Rs.77.89 lakh. It delivers pressurised hot water at rate of about 6 lakh kcal/day, which saves around 70 litres of HSD/day. The result is saving of about Rs 5,000/day.

Opportunities

Going by the government reports, India has a wind potential of more than 300 GW at a hub height of 100 metre, solar potential of ~750 GW, assuming 3% wasteland is made available, small hydro potential of ~ 20 GW, and bio- energy potential of 25 GW. Biogas can be the answer to meet rural cookign energy. Solar power can be used for decentralised distributed applications to meet the hot water requirement for residential, commercial and industrial sectors. Renewable energy can be a gamechanger in electrifying the un- electrified or power deficient villages and hamlets.

The Energy Efficient Solar/Green Buildings programme has also been promoted at various levels. To name some buildings which received certifcation under this: Power Grid Regional Headquarter Office Building, Bangalore, Madanjeet School of Renewable Energy, Pondicherry University, Puducherry, New Girls Hostel, IIT Madras.Around 60 cities/towns were indentified for development as ‘Solar/ Green Cities’. In this FY, Shimla, a Pilot Solar City, has completed 35 kWp SPV project and also supplied 1,300 Solar Home Lighting systems for slum areas.

Enormous potential and many policies, renewable energy in lieu of coal will save around Rs 54,000 crore (US$ 8.43 billion) annually. And keep the planet safe for future generations.