Feature Article

At first glance, geothermal energy seems almost too good to be true. It's clean, inexhaustible, provides predictable 24-hour power and you can get it just about anywhere. There is a snag, however. Outside of geologically blessed places like Iceland, Japan and New Zealand, where volcanically active rocks are close to the surface, the Earth's heat is locked away under several kilometres of rock.

The developing world community is struggling with scarcity of power. Most of its power is derived from non-renewable conventional energy resources which are decreasing day by day. Therefore, presently renewable energy resource utilization is the best solution to combat this problem. Geothermal energy is one such renewable energy resource which is still unexplored.

Historically, technology development for rural areas has followed tinkering approach or use of rudimentary technology. It is shown that very sophisticated science and technology is needed for producing devices for rural applications. This process can also result in fundamental research.

With the world economies painting a gloomy financial scenario, time couldn't have been more opportune to take stock of financing in the renewable energy sector in India. The 3rd Renewable Energy Finance Forum, which kicked off to a good start in Mumbai proved to be more than just an eye opener.

Mr Debashish Majumdar's experience spans over 30 years in the field of renewable energy and energy efficiency. An engineer from IIT Delhi, he has been with the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) for over eleven years. Inwind Chronicle interviewed Mr Debashish Majumdar for his views on financing in the wind sector.

The author looks at financing of wind power projects from the perspective of a financial institution in India.

When the European Parliament

Wave power generation cum shore protection project envisages tapping the energy of ocean waves and wind for the generation of electricity and integrating it with the national power grid. A number of impellors are arranged parallel to the shore for a span of 500 m at a distance of about 100 m from the seashore. Impellers are designed to tap the trienergies of ocean waves.

With the average price of a gallon of gasoline hovering somewhere around $4 in the U.S. and oil prices continuing to rise the whole world is refocusing their attention on the viability of alternative energy sources. A window seems to be opening for genuine progress in lessening our dependence on fossil fuels.

The Ladakh Ecological Development Group or LEDeG for short is an NGO (non-governmental organization), which came into being in 1983, and has been actively involved in awareness generation programmes related to the environment and sustainable development. LEDeG is a firm believer in being a real practitioner of alternate energy technologies like solar PV (photovoltaic).