Feature Article

The US Commerce Department will begin imposing duties on wind tower imports from China, after finding that producers receive unfair government support. The move is expected to ratchet up tensions between the two trading partners, which have escalated quickly over the past few months over competing claims from both sides of illegal support and dumping of renewable energy products.

Trade ministers from the 21 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries hope to have a list of environmental goods for tariff liberalisation by September, officials announced after meeting in Kazan, Russia earlier this week. The two-day gathering also saw ministers address issues such as food security and trade facilitation, while continuing discussions on liberalising trade in services and information technology products in the WTO context.

A growing number of renewables based off-grid solution providers in Bihar area working with villagers who have inadequate grid access and with commercial and industrial consumers facing poor grid reliability. Some of these consumers, who resorted to the use of expensive diesel generator (DG) sets, now report that renewable-based-off-grid solutions have reduced operational costs and environmental emissions.

Bihar has an estimated renewable energy potential of 12 GW to 18 GW. To harness this potential , the state government announced the Bihar Policy for Promotion of New and Renewable Energy Sources, 2011 in June 2011, which will remain in effect till June 2016.

In a bid to improve energy access and quality, Bihar, which is currently the fastest growing Indian state, has shifted its focus to renewable energy as an effective solution, especially for areas that do not have grid access or where the grid is unreliable.

Grid-connected concentrating solar power (CSP) plants face the operational limitation of not being functional at night. In addition, unpredictable weather conditions and intermittent sunlight availability impact such projects' generation output and, therefore, their cost effectiveness. In this context, the installation of grid-scale storage solutions at CSP plants becomes important to ensure that electricity supply is not impacted by variations in sunlight availability and the plant is able to supply power throughout the day based on grid demand as well as meet base load requirements.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has played a significant role in helping the private sector achieve a low-carbon growth path through key investments in the renewable energy and sustainability segments. In the past four years, IFC has made over $700 million climate friendly investments in South Asia, which is expected to increase significantly in the next few years. Excerpts from an interview with Soumya Banerjee, senior investment officer, IFC, South Asia.

Catering to the increasing energy needs of the telecom industry while keeping energy costs low is a huge challenge. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI) recommendations on green telecom are aimed at promoting and encouraging telecom companies to use renewable energy sources for operating their infrastructure. Renewable Watch talks to key tower companies in India to discuss the green initiatives taken by them as well as the challenges involved.

The Rio+20 conference (20–22 June 2012) will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It will focus on two main themes — development of a green economy while fostering sustainable development and poverty eradication, and the institutional frameworks necessary to achieve these goals, including the strengthening of international environmental governance. Areas identified for 'priority attention' are employment, energy, sustainable cities, food security, and sustainable agriculture, water, oceans and disaster readiness.