Renewable Energy : Energy for Future

“India is the Saudi Arabia of renewable energy sources and, if properly utilised, India can realise its place in the world as a great power.”
— Jeremy Rifkin, an American economist and social theorist

Aniket Raja
India has tremendous energy needs and is facing an increasing difficulty in meeting those needs through conventional means of power generation.  Electricity consumption in India has been increasing at one of the fastest rates in the world due to population growth and economic development.  India’s economy faces challenges because energy supply is struggling to keep pace with demand, and there are energy shortages (as much as 15 per cent daily) almost everywhere in the country.  Such a shortage may threaten India’s economic growth.
What should be done?
Renewable forms of energy which come in the form of sun, wind and water could enhance India’s energy security and represent a bright spot in its economic and environmental future. The Indian subcontinent is blessed with abundant renewable energy resources. If India switches from coal, oil and natural gas, it is possible that 70 per cent of the electricity and 35 per cent of its total energy could be derived from renewable resources by 2030.  For economic as well as environmental reasons, India needs to shift to non-polluting renewable sources of energy to meet future demand for electricity. Renewable energy is the most attractive investment because it will provide long-term economic growth for India. It also has the advantage of allowing decentralised distribution of energy – particularly for meeting rural energy needs, and thereby empowering people at the grass roots level. Renewable energy has the potential to re-energise India”s economy by creating millions of new jobs, allowing the country to achieve energy independence, reduce its trade deficits and propel it forward as a “Green Nation.”  

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Solar energy is the prime free source of inexhaustible energy available to all. And, India is one of the sun”s most favoured nations, blessed with about 5,000 TW-h of solar power every year.  Even if a tenth of this potential is utilised, it could mark the end of India”s power problems – Using the country’s deserts and farm land, India can easily install around 1,000 GW of solar generation capacity – equivalent to around four times the current peak power demand (India’s present generation capacity is about 210 GW). India should take full advantage of this golden opportunity because renewable energy is highly vital in remote and rural areas, where there are around 289 million people who don”t have access to renewable sources of energy. It is the most cost-effective option for India to reduce energy shortage without having to extend national grid services to provide power for individual homes and buildings.   Solar power, a clean renewable resource with zero emission, has got tremendous potential of energy which can be harnessed using a variety of devices. With recent developments, solar energy systems are easily available for industrial and domestic use with the added advantage of minimum maintenance. Solar energy could be made financially viable with Government tax incentives and rebates.     The Government of India has been able to revise projects based on National Solar Mission target of grid connected solar power from 20,000 MW to 1,00,000 MW by the year 2022. Further, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has sanctioned plans for developing 50 solar cities of the proposed 60 cities which is inclusive of cities in National Capital Region. The Rajasthan Government has cleared Rs. 1,56,000 crore investments in solar energy sector in the State. In fact India’s biggest solar power plant in Bhadla , Rajastan is set to generate 10,000 MW of solar power by 2022. The Government is also planning to use marketing platforms such as Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon for promoting solar energy in India. With regard to solar power, the country in the next seven years would be able to provide 110 terawatt-hours or nearly 22 per cent incremental power demand, as per Institute for Energy, Economics and Financial Analysis. Companies from global arena including SunEdison Inc, SoftBank Corp, Foxconn Technology as well as Trina Solar Ltd have announced multi-billion dollar investments in solar energy projects whereas at home Adani Power Ltd, NTPC Ltd and Reliance Power Ltd are already making inroads into solar energy projects. States like Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu have policies to promote solar energy generation from rooftops of residential, commercial and industrial buildings. The response to these policies has been highly encouraging. India has become a global leader in solar energy through the International Solar Alliance (ISA), launched on November 30, 2015 at Paris jointly by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and President of France, Francois Hollande. This is an alliance of 121 tropical countries with maximum potential to harness solar energy.

Wind energy is one of the most efficient energy sources. There has been a good deal of development in wind turbine technology over the last decade with many new companies joining the fray. Wind turbines of high efficiencies and availabilities have improved and wind farm concept has become popular.  The economics of wind energy is already strong, despite the relative immaturity of the industry. The downward trend in wind energy costs is predicted to continue. India now ranks as a “wind superpower” having a net potential of about 45,000 MW  from 13 identified states. India can develop massive commercial wind farms to harness the strong onshore costal area and offshore wind to boost the country”s supply of clean renewable energy. India is the world’s fourth largest wind power producer and these wind energy facilities are installed in eight major states across India, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. Recently the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi  has approved the National Offshore Wind Energy Policy. This approval now gives a path for offshore wind energy development which also includes setting up of offshore wind power projects, along with activities such as research and development. Under National Wind Resource Assessment programme, Ministry through National Institute of Wind Energy, Chennai (erstwhile Centre for Wind Energy Technology (C-WET)) and State Nodal Agencies have installed and monitored 794 dedicated Wind Monitoring Stations (WMS) of height ranging from 20 m to 120 m (20m, 25m, 50m, 80m, 100m & 120m) throughout the country . Initially the wind monitoring was carried out only in known windy areas. Now it is extended to new areas which were not explored in earlier projects to complete the Indian Wind resource mapping.

Hydro Electric Power : Hydro power is considered as one of the most economical and non-polluting sources of energy. Power generated from water is termed as Hydro electricity. Hydro electricity means electricity generated by hydropower or from the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. This form of energy neither produces any direct waste matter nor is subjected to exhaustion.

The potential for hydro-electric power in terms of installed capacity in India is estimated to be about 148,700 MW out of which a capacity of 42,783 MW (28.77 per cent) has been developed so far and 13,616 MW (9.2 per cent) of capacity is under construction.  India is the 7th largest producer of hydro electric power in the world. As of 30 April 2017, India”s installed utility-scale hydro electric capacity was 44,594 MW, or 13.5per cent of its total utility power generation capacity. The Koyna hydro-electric project is the largest completed hydropower project in India. The dam is constructed across Koyna River in Maharashtra. India has a huge hydro power potential, out of which around 20 per cent has been realised so far.  However new hydro projects are facing serious resistance from environmentalists. Hydropower can generate an estimated 148 GW, Geothermal around 10.7 GW and Tidal power about 15 GW.  
Biomass energy can play a major role in reducing India’s reliability on fossil fuels by making use of thermo-chemical conversion technologies. In addition, the increased utilisation of biomass-based fuels will be instrumental in safeguarding the environment, creating new job opportunities, sustainable development and health improvements in rural areas. Biomass energy could also aid in modernising the agricultural economy.
Waste-to-energy plants offer two important benefits of environmentally sound waste management and disposal, as well as the generation of clean electric power. Waste-to-energy facilities produce clean, renewable energy through thermochemical and biochemical methods. Moreover, waste-to-energy plants are highly efficient in harnessing the untapped sources of energy from a variety of wastes.
Recently Venkaiah Naidu, Union Minister for Urban Development inaugurated the waste-to-energy project at Narela—Bawana. It will use 2,000 metric tonnes of waste every day to generate 24 mega watt of energy.
Benefits of Renewable Energy
1.Environmental friendly : Renewable energy technologies are clean sources of energy that have a much lower environmental impact than conventional energy technologies. It has low or zero carbon and greenhouse emission. Fossil fuels emit high levels of greenhouse gas and carbon dioxide, which are greatly responsible for global warming, climate change, and degradation of air quality. Fossil fuels also contribute to emission of sulphur oxides and oxides of nitrogen to the atmosphere leading to acid rains which can cause damage to buildings.
2. Inexhaustible:  Renewable energy never runs out.  This implies that they do not deplete over a lifetime and there is zero possibility that they will run out (sustainable source of energy). Sources of energy like fossil fuels (oil, gas, and coal) are considered limited resources and there is strong possibility that they will run out in the future. Powerful winds, heat emanating from beneath the earth, sunshine and moving water can guarantee a huge and steady energy supply to a nation for many years.
3. Jobs and the Economy : Most renewable energy investments are spent on materials and workmanship to develop and maintain the resources, rather than on costly energy imports. Since the inception of renewable energy, new and stable jobs have been added to most world economies.
4. Stabilise energy prices has stabilised global energy prices. A shift to renewable sources of energy means stability of energy prices across the globe. This is because the cost of renewable energy depends on the initial cost of installation of renewable energy technologies as opposed to fossil fuels, which increase and decrease depending on the current inflation and availability of the resource.
5. Less maintenance of facilities: Once infrastructure for the harnessing of the renewable resource is laid down, there is low maintenance required.
6.     Empowering of people in the countryside: Renewable energy generation mainly takes place in remote settings. This means that local towns would get a fair share of power generated, ultimately, catalysing the regeneration of those depressed areas both socially and economically.
Providing 100 per cent renewable energy is not a fantasy for some day, but a reality today.  But it must act soon.  India can no longer afford to delay renewable energy deployment to meet its future energy needs.