Green Energy : Initiatives and Obstacles

Green Energy : Initiatives and Obstacles

Question: Green energy is the key to sustainable economic development. Discuss the recent initiatives in the field of green energy by GoI.

• Global warming, air pollution and climate change are indications all is not well with the ecology

• Major green initiatives have been taken for sustainable energy development in the past one year

• Solar energy which once accounted for just one percent of the 2 lakh MW energy generated is being pursued with vigour

• Target of 20,000 MW of solar power will be installed in the country to achieve 5 times more at 1 lakh MW of solar power by 2022

• There has been a revolution in solar rooftop energy generation in recent times due to policies and initiatives taken by the government

• Overall share of renewable energy is around 6%

• Thermal power dominated accounts for nearly 60% of the power generation while wind energy is proposed to be stepped up to 60,000 MW of power generation by the year 2022

• GoI has embarked upon a programme to attract USD 200 billion investment in renewable energy in the span of the next 5 to 10 years to scale up solar and wind power generation

• Share of renewable sources of power is expected to nearly double to 15% in the country’s overall energy basket

Main Obstacles

• China has a massive capacity for manufacture of photovoltaic cells and has created adequate manpower to install 20,000 MW of solar power on an annual basis. By comparison India lacks manpower to scale up solar power generation

• Retraining is needed for the manpower to be skilled in generating green energy, moreover

• Existing trained manpower in the country can only install up to 2000 MW of solar power each year

• Concentrated effort is needed to attain one lakh MW of solar power generation by 2022

• Funding is also a crucial issue which needs to be resolved. German Development kFW has committed 1 billion euro for free transmission grid in TN and Rajasthan. Though such funding initiatives will help, financing needs of this industry are of paramount concern
• There are also problems associated with line losses, evacuation problem, massive investment in transmission lines and transmission and distribution losses

Milestones

• At a recent global renewable energy investor’s meet, around 293 companies including NTPC, RPower and Suzlon committed to setting up 26,600 MW of renewable energy in 5 years

• SBI committed INR 75,000 crore for generating 15,000 MW of clean energy over the span of half a decade

• India is also building a consortium of 50 nations with more than plenty solar radiation to pool research and technological advancements for improving accessibility for the poor in remote areas, especially

• Solar pump sets have been introduced in farming and fruits of green energy initiated sustainable development are reaching the common man

• Telecom towers are also switching over to solar power on account of high cost of diesel power

• Hybrid energy parks will also be set up with plenty of solar radiation and wind potential

• TN has constructed close to 3 lakh rural houses for poor with rooftop solar power generation-this will soon be replicated in the entire country

• Solar power will also bring down the cost of low price housing

Facts and Stats

• Solar power photo voltaic generated electricity is coming down in price from as high as INR 20 per unit some time ago

• Coal’s cost is increasing each year and solar photo voltaic cells which can convert 40% of the solar light falling on it to generate electricity as against present ones which generate only around 25% conversion are being developed

• New transparent solar photo voltaic cells have developed unlike traditional opaque ones; this can be used as window panes and rooftops in buildings

• India receives around 500 trillion kWh per year which is enough to meet the needs of the country

• One MW of solar power generation covers 4 to 5 acres of land

• Gujarat is the leader in solar power generation with close to 600 MW followed by Rajasthan with 500 MW. MP and AP generate huge amounts of solar power as well.