Feature Article

Wind is still considered an area of growth by the government of India; however the situation on the ground is a different story.

Tariffs have given solar sector a much-needed boost in India, but the question is if they would help in bringing technological development.

In an interview well known consumer and environmental activist Dr Bhamy V Shenoy speaks at length about the status of the renewable energy industry in India and the self-sustainability that the country hopes to achieve in shifting focus from fossil fuel to renewable energy sources in the future.

Dr Bibek Bandyopadhyay is Senior Scientific Advisor in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and heads the Solar Energy Centre (SEC). He is an expert in the fields of hydrogen energy, fuel cells, solar, thermal, development of green buildings and solar cities. In conversation he discusses the research and development activities undertaken by the ministry, the present challenges faced by the solar sector, and the future opportunities in solar and hydrogen energy.

Accelerated Depreciation, an important driver of growth for Indian wind energy sector, was modified in April this year, forcing strong reactions from the industry. Along with this, the ambiguity on generation based scheme (GBI) has created confusion among independent power producers (IPPs). There is fear that the rapid advance in wind sector made till last year may suffer a big setback at least in the short run due to these two moves. However, the long term perspective is still healthy.

An outstanding effort to generate power from a Biogas Power Plant in a residential higher secondary school which has helped this sizeable institution meet its everyday needs from cooking to generating power for running various machines.

Bioelectric effects of ‘electric’ fish like the Nile Catfish and Electric Eel are well known since ancient times. Bioelectricity is the process that is produced by or occurs in a living organism which can be transformed chemically to produce bioenergy which is
both sustainable and renewable.

Delhi municipality constructs yet another waste-to-energy plant at Ghazipur. Waste-to-energy projects figured in the election manifesto of the Bharatiya Janata Party during the recent civic polls in Delhi. BJP hoardings across the city declared that “the citizens will not be charged to generate power”. It seems the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is obsessed with the idea of generating energy from garbage. Despite ample evidence that the technology is a failure and people’s oppositions to the projects, three waste-to-energy projects are under way in the capital city.

Report predicts forced displacement of poor people from their land to meet EU targets to grow fuel crops. The European Union’s biofuel policies are driving up global food prices and pushing people in poor countries off their land, says a recent report of ActionAid. EU has a target of 10 per cent renewable energy in transport by 2020, and 88 per cent of this is expected to come from biofuels. The report Fuel for Thought comes at a time when the European Commission is set to submit a report on Renewable Energy Directive to the European Parliament this year.

Faced with slow progress towards an international agreement to limit greenhousegas emissions, governments are taking
the initiative by passing their own climate laws. Mexico — plagued by a persistent drought but optimistic about its prospects for wind power — made one of the boldest commitments of any nation to limit climate change.
Although many countries have established domestic climate regulations, Mexico is only the second, after the United Kingdom, to make tough national targets legally binding.