India's Sustainable Green Growth - Rural Sector Thru Renewable - YP Chawla

8/8/2019 India's Sustainable Green Growth - Rural Sector Thru Renewable - YP Chawla

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Indias Sustainable Green Growth Rural Sector thru RenewablesYP Chawla CEO Zoom Developers P Ltd.

[email protected]; 98107-08707

Preamble: Integrating the Rural Economy with main stream is the majorchallenge that India is facing today. Government has embarked upon number ofScheme for the purpose. Rural Electrification, Decentralised Power Generation,

Prime Minister Rural Roads Scheme, Increased Irrigations, Telephoneconnection, Drinking Water Supply, Sanitation, all lead to Power requirements for

development of the Rural Sector. Renwable Energy thru Solar(Alternative options compared &Challenges facing these technologies presented), Biomass based power generation, Biodiesel,Micro Hydel , other Renewable Energy Technologies all havea great exploration potential can well integrated in thedevelopment of Rural economy & for leap froging Indiasdevelopment using green path.

Key words: Renewable Energy Technologies, RuralDevelopment, Rural Electricity Supply, Green Energy,Sustainable Growth,

Energy Development - a must for Development of CountrysEconomy

India is currently experiencing a rapid growth in energy demand and has to match its neibouring

China, accompanying with economic growth and industrialization for its huge population base ( Fig

1). Expanding its current base of energy development (Table 1) & supply is therefore, a major

challenge, which offers immense opportunities for tapping the renewable energy potential. Thespeed of Economic Growth is not to be impeded under the pressure of Developed Worlds

Cimate Control regime. The Energy development is always an integral part of the economic policy,

& the efficient use of resources and long-term sustainability remains a core objective of economic

planning. Sustainability also encompasses efficient harnessing of available natural resources &

issues related to ecological balance in addition to an established delivery mechanism, prevalent

systemic technological constraints and pressing compulsions to meet the priority needs of the

economy, economic equity and self-reliance. Thus, as a basic need of the economy, security of

energy supply becomes an imperative.

Indias Power Infrastructure- Availability & Requirements

Unit Value Unit Value

Installed capacity MW 145,554.978th WorldRank

Renewables % 5

Addnl. Gen. CapacityReqd.

MW 100,000immdtly

Addnl. Reqmt MW 90,000 by 2019

Electricity production Bn

kwh

590 ElectricityconsumptionPer capita

Kwh 612 ( less than

50% of China)

R & D Expenditureon Infrastructure

% toGDP

0.85 PowerTransmn Ckt

MnKms

5.7 Worlds3rd Largest

Average EnergyShortfall

% ofGen.

7 All IndiaAvg.

PeakDemandShortfall

% ofGen

12 (1100-1700Hrs)

Fig1

Table1

Fig1


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India has embarked upon for promoting Renewable Energy technologies (RET) to meet the EnergySecurity being in harmony with Nature & exempt from harmful emissions, and servicing the largerural population. Rising oil prices and climate change issues are shaping global energy agenda.Renewable energy has become a viable commercial option for power generation and fuelswitching in industry, transport (including railways) in many places.

Though India has taken some steps towards developing the Renewable Energy sector, which are

at various levels of effectiveness, a firm RE motivating policy with integrating targets, fresh impetusand visions of various departments and with an effective mechanism based on PPP will provide amore Comprehensive and sustainable solution.

Why Rural An essential requirement for accelerating the Countries economic growth is byconnecting Villages to the main Stream. Energy such required is to cater for small & microenterprises, Agriculture, Cold Chain, education & ICT

Renewable Energy: Amogst many options, this paper limits its scope to Solar & Bio mass.

Hydro & Wind have proven

already. Big Hydro is sore to someof the environmentalists. MicroHydels are to be explored at KiloWatt Scale .Land use for Bio fuelvs. Food is to be delicatelyhandled. Renewable Energy hasa huge potential and remainsunexploited to a large extent (Fig2).

India has a Compelling case forusing renewable energy as the

most viable option for sustainabledevelopment. Confronted with a global economic slowdown Indian Economy must seize theopportunity to restructure economic activities as well as production processes and systems bywhich emissions of greenhouse gases can be reduced.

Harnessing SolarPower in India:India comes under

a high solarInsolation band andhas a lot of WasteLand like Deserts of

Rajasthan,Gujarat and wastelands in otherStates ofIndiaKeeping thePressures ofClimate Change,Energy Security,Fluctuating CrudeOil Prices, Rising

demands of Energy in India, & Indias Potential in Harnessing Solar Power the National Action


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Plan for Climate Change (NAPCC) has been launched by the Prime Minister includes NationalSolar Mission as one of important & first of the Eight National Missions for the Way forward underthe said NAPCC Indias Solar Insolation parameters are as per those well established inCalifornia ( Fig 3). Caliifornia is now moving towards Grid Parity.

The approach has been comprehensive by integrating National Semiconductor Policy & NationalIntegrated Energy Policy.

Solar Photovoltaic (PV) vs Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST) - Utility Scale Projects

Alternatives under Solar PV & SolarThermal are under competition. ( Fig 4.)The cost of energy is not the only criteriafor utilities seeking renewable energy. Theability to generate during periods of highdemand, including into the evening, makesany renewable technology much morevaluable. Additionally, minute-to-minuteoperating characteristics on the grid, such

as the potential for rapid changes inoutput, are also important, especially at theutility scale.

CST projects can offer both better peak capacity characteristics, with 6-8 hour thermal storage(Thermal Storages are still being made economical & being proven), as well as a smoother short-term fluctuations. While selecting an option for Rural Energy the issues that will vary withwhether we wre looking in for lighting individual houses or a cluster or power for Cottage Industryalso. The solution for Individual Rural House or a hut has problems with capacity to pay for theSolar Lighting and Microfiancing for all those who live on day to day earning, who otherwise live onbuying Kerosene for daily ligh and live under those conditions. This paper deals with a moderatesize of the Renewable Energy Power Plant for a cluster of houses and may be a Cottage Industry

and day time Power for the Agriculture.

The Solar technology have acostly solution for Storage ofPower as of now.Intermittentclouds going over a PV systemmay cause output to spike widelyunless it also works on thediffused light. With a CST plant,which has thermal inertia in theheat transfer fluids, an operatorcan have some warning of the

clouds, slow the fluid flow rate,which increases the fluidtemperatures, and ride throughshort-term cloud events. (Forreference, a wind turbine probably

falls somewhere between the two technologies-there is kinetic inertia in the wind and the turbineblades, which provides a somewhat better short-term profile than PV.) While selecting SolarThermal Vs Solar PV , Fig 5 will act as a guide. Both are driving the efficiencies .

Utility scale storage technologies for PV are also being developed, and in some cases alsodemonstrated. Initially these will provide similar ride-through capabilities during short-term cloud


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events, but as the storage technologies -up, they could potentially offer hourly storage into theevening. As of now, CST has the cost and storage advantage at some geograhic locations, but PVessentially has a geographic monopoly everywhere else.

PV has also proven in terms of GWs installed.

Various Companies are Developing and Commercializing thin film technologies for photovoltaics

and batteries. Photovoltaic technologies covered include CIGS, CdTe, DSSC, a-Si and organicphotovoltaics. Learn how these technologies (each at a different stage of development andadoption) are driven forward by both government and leading companies in the field.

Photovoltaic Panels are now in advanced stge of development by various high-speed printing (orprinting-like) technologies employed & are gradually being adopted (Nanosolar, G24 Innovations inthe PV sector, Power Paper, Solicore and Thin Battery technology in the batteries sector), as theycan be considered to be some of the fastest, least expensive and highest volume manufacturingtechniques. With printed electronics becoming more prevalent, there is an increasing need forpower to supply them; printing is amenable to a large number of different types of devices with thepossibility of integration (e.g. to provide onboard power etc.) This is making Energy Pay backfaster.

Efficiency of Photovoltaic Cells is also being improved (Table -2).

No apprehensions of Short Supply of Poly Silicon: Total PolySilicon Supply Table 2

Year 2006 2007 2008 2009E 2010E 2011E 2012ECurrent producers 33,400 36,988 49,862 64,060 79,074 88,512 96,939New Entrants-Current Tech 440 1,865 11,487 37,812 66,195 77,565 81,105New Entrants-Alternate tech 500 2,150 8,625 23,925 48,150 65,500 68,100Plus:60/50/40% of likely newEntrants

34,340 41,023 61,929 94,929 124,812 145,738 145,621

Plus Excess Production 2,338 3,699 3,740 3,203 1,977Less Semi Conductor Demand -

21,500-

22,150-

24,808-

27,785-31,119 -34,853 -39,036

Plus Recycling 22%of IC 4,730 4,873 5,458 6,113 6,846 7,668 8,508Plus Inventory Effects 3,258 2,625 234 5,440 2,958 1,674 871Polysilicon for Solar 23,166 30,070 46,084 71,019 99,558 116,878 125,302Grams /Watt 10.0 9.1 8.7 8.2 7.8 7.6 7.5MWP Equivalent Supply(cell) 2,317 3,304 5,297 8,661 12,764 15,379 16,707

Large-scale solar power plants are now paving the way (Fig6)

A nearly-finished solar tower in Seville, Spain, tower stands

forty stories tall and will be capable of powering six thousandhomes when finished in 2013.

With all these developments in Non-convetional & RenewableEnegy Technologies, We are moving towards a futuristic Griddepicted in the Fig 7. These provide the solutions that we arelooking for Powering our Rural Sector.

The writer of the paper was involved with Mathania an Integrated Solar Thermal & Combinedcycle project. The technology & thermodynamic challenges; and the work have now been initiated


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by a few companies in India. The projects should be fully supported to make these viable in Indiato have large scale Solar Thermal.

Rural Electrification the Key Issues Itis now even 61 years after independence,56% of all rural households in India do nothave electricity and use kerosene for

lighting. Even for those electrified ruralareas, there is a tremendous shortage ofpower supply. Thus it is not uncommon tohave 10-15 hours of blackouts andbrownouts every day in the Rural Sectorwhich is the first &worst hit. Out ofIndias TotalPopulation of 10.6billion, Rural

Population is 7.0 billion with total Villages 610,000 with around 125,000 Un-electrified Villages & 45% Un-electrified Households, out of a total of

56% rural houses. The Primary Source of Cooking in Rural in India is stillmore than 80%.This is the scale of problem that we are confronted with. ThePower Crises is talked about only when the house hold in New Delhi,Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore or other big cities fail to light. No one talks ofRural Sector and a such Rural economy has not grown beyond certain level.Renewable Energy Technologies are the solution and can help reach theIndia target of Worlds second economy by 2050 only by integrating the RuralEconomy with Nations main stream.

India needs Sustainable Rural Development

After Global meltdown, Indias economy is growing presently at the rate of 5-6% per annum. At

present growth rate we will double up all the inputs in 14 years or earlier when economy heats up.Thus by 2023 we will double the consumption of petroleum products, electricity, food and othercommodities to keep this growth rate. Last year we imported about Rs. 95,000 Crores worth ofpetroleum products and India will also require about 140,000 MW of installed electricity capacity by2010 at an estimated outlay of Rs. 5.5 trillion (Rs. 5.5 X 1012). Thus financial outlay needed for theenergy sector alone is staggering and to maintain "India shining" it is necessary that we produceas much as possible, energy and liquid fuels internally. There are about 60% of rural households,which do not have electricity, and without the basic amenities in rural India the progress of thecountry will be hampered. A sustainable energy development program can create an all rounddevelopment. One of the possible ways to do it is the increased use of land based renewableenergy resource like biomass. This will help the rural development and create tremendous wealthin these areas. With rural India shining, India will automatically shine!

Three ways for Power Generation from land based renewables can be effected for our RuralSector & can be easily implemented and sustained there:

a. Generation of Electricity from Biomass and Agricultural residues.b. Liquid fuel production from biomass grown in arid regions and on wastelands and saline

soils helping in land reclamation also.c. Synergy between corporate sector, national government labs and institutions and NGOs for

developing Power Producing technologies and disseminated in rural.


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Rural Electrification has been considered to be on Decenteralised basis or connected to the Grid.The Ground Water Pumping is done in the dark hours of the night by villagers when they getPower. The Solar Power can be connected for Rural needs during the day. Similarly the Bio Massfueled Power Projects can help economic growth as under as one of the option:

Renewable Energy for Rural Sector Decentralised or Grid Connected- a few suggestions onBiomass.

Cultivation of a variety of Salt Cedar tree that produce huge quantity of biomass perhectare, every year for many years, on poor land, while being irrigated with high salinitywater.

NW India has hundreds of thousands of hectares of unused or poorly used land in areaswith at least 10 billion M3 of saline, or other low quality water, is available every year.

Such Bio Mass will not compete on resources against food related crops on Saline WaterLand.

the availability in Rajasthan alone has more than 3.0 Billion M3 of net annual saline water :(Ref. the last survey -2004), enough for cultivation of 150,000 hectares of biomassplantations, using the full potential will result in production of more than 8.0 M. MT ofbiomass per year.

Electricity Production: Based on a caloric value of 4800 Kcal/ Kg and annual production of65 MT per hectare a 1000 hectare plantation can provide fuel for a 12-15 MW power plantyear around.

State governments can plan for the establishing of a 100 hectares of Salt Cedar plantationfor a pilot project and as a source of further planting material.

According to Punjab government officials the land and water available for biomasscultivation is around 100,000 hectares.

In Haryana and Gujarat the estimation is that saline water and land availability in each stateis at least 100,000 hectares & Punjab may have about approx. as much. MP and UP mayhave 200,000 hectares in both states together.

Renewable Energy for Rural Sector Decentralised Power Generation Vs Grid Supply.

As per Anil K. Rajvanshi of Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), ; Each Taluka inthe country produces enough agricultural residues so that all its electricity demands can be metby using them in 10-20 MW biomass-based power plants.

Taluka energy self-sufficiency plan could also generate 30,000 jobs/year. With the newElectricity Act, complemented with NREGA (National Rural Employment Gurantee) canbecome a reality since the utility can produce and supply power to its customers without theneed to go through SEBs. Taluka energy program can produce Rs. 100-crores/year wealth forthe locals in terms of biomass production and setting up of new electricity-based industries.With about 3350 talukas in the country it is therefore possible to produce about Rs. 3,50,000crores/year extra wealth through the Taluka program. With availability of assured electricity

supply the growth in rural industrialization can be exponential.

Rural Electricity Supply Technology (REST) mission in the Ministry of Power (MOP) was set upin Sept 2002. Though it has been slow till now, it is hoped through this mission to electrifyvillages by 2012.

REST has been set up for providing affordable and reliable power supply to rural areas throughconventional grid connection method or vides the Distributed Generation system utilizing:

Available technology options


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Innovative financing

Grass root Institutional arrangements

According to MOP officials funds of about Rs. 10-15,000 crores will be made available to therural power utilities at 2-2.5% p.a. interest rate. Thus it is envisaged that a small rural powercooperative can be set up to produce 200-500 KWe from locally produced Bio Diesel to run theGenerator for power and supply all the electricity demands of one or two villages.

This will make these microutilities green and will create wealth in rural areas in producingvalue-added item. Thus there is a need to do sophisticated R & D in producing biofuels fromrenewable energy sources like agriculture residues and crops specifically grown for theseprojects.

These biofuels can easily power the existing diesel gensets & has been experimented inChhattisgarh. Development of liquid fuels like ethanol and biodiesel from multipurpose cropsshould be done so that the issue of food and fuel from the same piece of land is taken care of.Sweet Sorghum for ethanol production. can provide food, fuel and fodder from the same pieceof land and requires much less water than sugarcane. Thus the Government should considerfunding the R & D program on biofuels.

For Rural Energy Mission to succeed a very close cooperation between Corporate sector,Government and NGOs is needed. The corporate sector can provide the necessarytechnological and managerial support, NGOs can create the necessary trust in such utilitiesand Government of India can help provide soft financing through its many rural developmentprograms. An energy self sufficient and hence prosperous rural India will be the first step inmaking us a developed nation.

Similarly the technology mission for new crops for producing biodiesel also needs to be set up.Some of the crops like Jatropha and tree borne non-edible oilseeds like Neem and Karanja canbe grown on waste and degraded lands. This will also help the country in land reclamation.With very little processing required for biodiesel, the farmers can get substantial remunerations

by growing them.

Food vs Fuel Land use. Needs a through examination before embarking any scheme for BioDiesel.

For the technology missions to succeed, it is necessary that very intensive R & D is carried outin agriculture, materials and renewable energy technologies. Government of India shouldsubstantially increase the level of R & D funding in renewable energy and agricultural crops forliquid fuel production. Emerging areas of nanotechnology and biotechnology can play a vitalrole in creating novel renewable energy technologies. New materials for storing biogas in smallcylinders, increasing the efficiency of photovoltaic solar cells, producing new thermoelectricmaterials which can efficiently convert heat directly into electricity are being researched anddeveloped via nanotechnology all over the world. Similarly biotechnology can be used forincreasing the efficiency of crops for liquid fuel and biomass production. It can also helpdevelop organisms, which can increase the efficiency of ethanol fermentation and biogasproduction from their respective biomass.Rural India Development will get critical Mass fromTaluka or District based projects.

For empowering the Rural Economy & The Power Sector in General, our CommercialEnergy Compsumption is already over stretched ( Table 3) and Renewables is the answerto these woes.


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Whether we provide Power to Rural or Urban or our Industrial & Transport Sector , we haveat one end compulsions of Commercial Energy for Generating power , & at the other end weare faced with the Climatic Change pressures.

Scenarios- Commercial Energy Consumption Variation -Mn Tonnes of Eq. Oil (Mtoe)Table -3Scenario 2001/2 2006/7 2011/12 2016/17 2021/22 2026/27 2031/32

BAU Business As

Usual

285 391 527 749 1046 1497 2123

REN Aggressive

Renewable

Energy

285 391 524 740 1033 1479 2097

NUC High Nuclear

Capacity

285 391 527 749 1030 1455 2061

EFF High

Efficiency

285 379 479 623 838 1131 1542

HYB Hybrid 285 379 478 619 823 1101 1503

LG Low Growth 285 361 456 605 816 1134 1579

HG High Growth 285 435 638 962 1438 2186 3351

HHYB High Growth -Hybrid

285 405 544 760 1087 1576 2320

Source : Teri

Powering India

* Oil Consumption is measured in Mn.

Tonnes : Other Fuels in Oil Equivalent MnTons

Source: BP Statistical Review of World

Energy -2008


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The solutions depicted above are not for Ultra Mega Plants for supply of Power to thedistant Urban, Commercial or Industrial Clusters or the Railway Net work, but are wellsuited for Rural Sector. Though Solar Power on the Urban / Commercial Roof Tops is alsobecoming increasingly popular.

Solutions for Rural Power will also meet the Compulsions of Climate Change: Concernabout Climate Change has become so high that Austraila has banned Bottled Water

A Rural town Bundanoon, in New South Wales in Australia has voted overwhelmingly to ban thesale of bottled water over concerns about its environmental impact.-may be the first community inthe world to have such a ban. Water travelling to Sydney for botteling and brought back toBundanoon, in New South Wales is consumption of Energy & hence has impact on Carbongeneration.

This Paper is restriced to Powering Rural

Sector through Renewable Energy whichitself provides Sustainabilty for Economicdevelopment & Growth through GreenEnergy which is thrust on us because ofour social Responsibilty but more due toDeveloped economies for the distorsion inthe Climat as per Figures 8, 9 &10indicating rise in temperatures due toCarbon Generating technologies.

Low Carbon Generation Technologies pathfor Sustainable Economic Growth:

Though there is a pressure all round for India & China for capping the Carbon Emissions and thepressure is coming from the biggest defaulters of Carbon Generations. India may circumvent thesepressures, but India on its own can take an early lead in adopting such technologies, which arecostly at this stage , but large scale work on these technologies will help reducing the Costs. A 2degrees celcius Cap above preindustrial levels at Major Economies Forum (MEF) at Italy July 09seem to be a political delusion. A 2 degree approach seems to have come from Nature Magazine

April 09, and looks to be general guide. The Low Carbon trap could lead to Low Per CapitaGrowth, but we have to initiate action for Low Carbon technologies to deliver a safer world to ournext generation. World Bank Development Report 2010 draft, considers2 degree approach asvery ambitious.


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Worlds Major Defaulters: Playing Double Standards (Fig 11) with Developing World (thissection might soon go in for a change, as the subject is currently under dynamic

discussions between India, USA & the developedWorld)

Indias Position: Indias current industrial efforts arehigh carbon-intensive (three times as much per unit of

GDP as the United States) but our domesticenvironment compliance levels are poor..

Global Warming: We are aware that due to ClimateChange a 2 degree Celcius increase in Globaltemprature , Maldives will disappear & a third ofBangaldesh will be under Water. Debates are on thatwhen India has to act, on reaching the threshhold orbefore. Will it effect Indias development? Etc.

For Renewable Enegy Technologies, CDMs are oftenltpropogated but cevaet is that CDM have a comburse some process as the process of establishingadditionality, then its monitoring & verification is tedious.

Two missions to combat climate change have been finalized in India As per recent pressreports (as at the time of writing this paper). These technologies go well with RETs for RuralPower.

New Delhi, July 16 (IANS) India has finalised two of the eight missions under its National ActionPlan on Climate Change (NAPCC), the Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Climate Change, saidShyam Saran. The missions are on solar energy and energy efficiency.

Details of both missions would be published soon, Saran said, adding that the solar mission is"very ambitious and has a lot of emphasis on R&D".

Saran said India's economic growth had already been decoupled from growth in energy use. "Forthe last few years, the economy has been growing at 8-9 percent per annum while energy use hasbeen growing at less than four percent.

India is not yet developed country with enough funds to embark upon the Costly Capital equipmentfor producing goods through low Carbon intensive processes.

Renewable Power has been accorded importance in Europe. Parliament in Europe has ratified

20:20 to be achived by the year 2020, that 20% Efficiency improvement in Economy & 20%

Power to be sourced from Renewables. These are covering the important parameters that Indias

two missions have adopted.

"We have asked them to reduce their emissions by at least 40 percent, because science tells usthat is the minimum required. And if we don't have commitments for the next 10 years, who willremember the commitments made for 2050?

CEVEAT: R& D in Renewable Energy& Papers: There is a reveling fact that the quality of Indianresearch on renewable and clean energy has been deteriorating, -a CSIR study has found


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This has serious implications for a rapidlydeveloping nation such as India because itmeans indigenous green technology would behard to come by. It also potentially ties thecountry down to imports, which are oftenexpensive and have severe technologyrestrictions, especially with respect to

intellectual property

Although the number of research papersrelating to coal, solar, hydrogen and fuel cellspublished by the countrys scientists hasalmost trebled between 1995 and 2007,citations of these, a key measure to gaugequality, have fallen precipitously

A highly cited paper, especially if it involves a broad subject area of research such as solar orhydrogen, usually means that its of good quality, said Sujit Bhattacharya, a professor atJawaharlal Nehru University and author of several studies on the quality of Indias research

papers. Conversely, a low citation count means its uninteresting on an international level.

Papers on Solar in 2007 : 730 Citations from these papers dipped from 200 in 1995 to less than50 in 2007 for solar energy research; from50 to 10 in wind energy research; from 120 to 60 in bio-energy and from 175 to 50 in hydrogen research. The decline in coal-based technologies has beenthe sharpestfrom 750 citations in 1995 to only 50 in 2007

Prodipto Ghosh, former environment secretary and an adviser at The Energy Research Institute,said that Indias plans to establish a green technology fund as part of its national action plan onclimate change would help research. Ghosh also pointed out that high citations and good papersdoesnt necessarily mean much. You need a good industry base to use that research.

Conclusions: To solve the Mega Watt Problems for Electrifyring RuralIndia, India has to take up Renewable Power Generation Technologiesmuch more aggressively to meet its power needs and most of thesetechnologies get integrated with the Rural Development and theSustainable Growth of India using GreenPath so that pressure on Climate Control isavoided while development of our Ruraleconomy continues & reducing ourdependence on Imported Fossil Fuels.

Recommendations:

State Electricity Regulatory

Commissions had initially determinedtariff from various other non-conventional sources like wind power,co-generation power plant and biomass power on cost plus basis, SolarPV may also be considered on thesame basis & if the Power is fed atRural Sector fiscal benefits thatmay compensate for extra effortsof developing a Rural Sector maybe considered .


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No such tariff determination can be carried out in respect of Solar power as the Solarpower uses various technologies like Thin Film, Crystalline, Trackers etc., with wide varyingcost and efficiency level of each technology. Hence it would may not be practically possibleimmediately come out with one single tariff parameter for Solar like in case of wind orbiomass. Solar may thus be considered on Cost Plus basis initially. Preferential tariff basedon the cost-plus approach for non firm RE- based projects during loan repayment period

after which RE Project developers can be asked to compete.

Minimum level of Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) at 5% & to be increasedprogressively lines of National Action Plan on Climate Change; though the Indian EnergySector has defined Renewable Energy Procurement Obligations (Fig 13), but there seem tobe no deterent for its non fulfillment. Power Generation thru Renewable Energy for RuralSector can meet these obligations.

A part of RPO may be reserved for RE resources in the region, such as solar PV and solarthermal, which are in the nascent stage of exploitation and technology involved has risks ofstabalisation.

Facilitative framework for inter-State exchange of RE power and lower transmissionCharges.

The NAPCC also indicates that a lot of R& D has to be done in India to reduce the CapitalCosts in order to arrive at the reduced feed in tariff.

Generation Based Incentives (GBIs) may be considered as these are preferable to capitalsubsidies for promotion of RE technologies. (GBIs will be necessary if renewables,particularly Solar is to be promoted on the scale envisaged in NAPCC.)

GBIs should be announced upfront (re-lokked into whatever has been announced), whichcould be factored in the tariff to be set by ERCs. The Capital Cost, Cost of Funding, ReUSD parity has upset all the calculations.

Replicate the success models from existing Projects by various States & ProjectDevelopers and that have positive impact on Rural economy

Working on the untapped opportunities to promote renewable energy for power generationfor industrial applications.

Matching appropriate renewable energy technology with required energy services forspecific industry is a challenge with supporting training and capacity building formanufacturers, local assembly, and maintenance of renewable energytechnologies/systems.

National level REC mechanism to enable States to fulfill their RPOs fully or partly bypurchasing RECs from other States which procure renewable energy in excess of theirRPOs..

Promote renewable energy enterprise development by removing barriers impedingRenewable Energy use.

Contribution of Renewable Energy in terms of economic, social, ,environmental benefits &the Rural economy of Renewable Energy is to be monetised .


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Need to create a level playing field, through appropriate policies and regulatory enablingframework.(Although RET prices are decreasing through up scaling and technologicalevolution )

Renewable Energy Policy Framework to offer a level playing field for promoting renewableenergy for industrial applications including cogeneration which will add to to energy andclimate security.

Adopt Clusters approach for Rural Sectors to achieve economies of scale for RE projectsand provide for specific solutions to specific industry.

Though RET aspect not related to the Rural Economy, can be extended to Transportationsector being the major consumer of energy and railways as preferred mode of transportthere are significant scope for use of bio-fuels in the railways. Bio-diesel can be used inmedium speed diesel engines. Initial engine test bid and trails have shown promisingresults in use of biodiesel as alternative fuel for Diesel traction on Indian Railways.Optimization of the engine parameters are required for widespread use of Biodiesel ondiesel locomotives, however raw material availability and favourable policy initiative arecritical to success.

Biomass being the principal source of renewable energy in Rural Sector, there is an urgentneed for development of MW Scale Advance Biomass Gasification technology, microturbines etc by providing incentives to promoters and through soft loan grants

Proper policy framework to be in place which gives due consideration to all the inter-departmental issues for .Growing bio-fuels so that output would compete with food cropsfor water, land and capital and thereby increasing food prices

Solar energy for urban areas -Solar radiation, to be promoted agressively , for thermal aswell as photovoltaic applications. Among solar thermal applications solar water heatingsystems provide a good option to be used in homes and large capacity SWHS for hotels,

hospitals and industries. Similarly Solar Air Heating System can meet process heatrequirements in many industries. Solar photovoltaic can be used for lighting and poweringvarious electrical appliances.

New Solar technologies should be promoted Stand-alone (Off-grid) power plants: Electricityis used to charge a battery bank. This power is converted to AC for powering loads.

Grid-connected centralized systems for Rural Sector

Delivers electricity directly to the grid through inverter during sunshine hours.

Grid-connected distributed systems rovide power to grid-connected customers or directly to

the electricity network.

Adoption of Public Private and Community Partnership

Public private partnership arrangement like Community Energy Service Provider whichprovides energy service for stand-alone solar systems and other sources to the users(communicates/institutions) through a service agreement, against payment of a tax. Suchmechanism can work for decentralized village electrification based on diesel generatingsets running on straight run Jatropha oil . Such projects offer a lot of learning and can serveas a model for electrifying other remote villages.


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Considering the vast majority of rural population in this part of the world and the need forimproving the socio-economic condition of those areas, policy initiatives, and effectiveimplementation plans would result in easy & effective penetration of some of thetechnologies like bio-gas plants, improved chulas, Solar Photovoltaic based pump withcommunity level partnership.

Different policy measures to create an environmentally sustainable energy value chain in

the Rural Sector , & to take on Policy Initiatives Driving the Growth of the CarbonSequestration Market Opportunities for India in Carbon Market, through favourableinvestment climate, fiscal incentives, and creating a stable regulatory regime. TheGovernment of India has put its whole hearted effort in taking Carbon market incentivesand carbon financing can help in easy adoption of new and cleaner technologies, stimulateinvestors to invest in R&D to search for low carbon intensive opportunities. The VoluntaryCarbon Market is coming up in a big way and renewable energy projects top the preferencelist of VER buyers.

References:

National Energy Map for India: Technology Vision 2030- TERI

Update on Climate Control thru English Dailies.

Other References also zacknowledged appropriately

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Disclaimer While every effort has been to taken to ensure that the published information isauthentic & reliable; and has been used by the author very successfully, the author or the companyundertake no liability for any damage, accidents, financial loss or expenses arising from the thispaper or from a different behaviour of the Renewables or Economy so described.

Documents

India's Sustainable Green Growth - Rural Sector Thru Renewable - YP Chawla