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Shri Villas Muttemwar, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Non-Conventional Energy Sources announced here today that 50% of the subsidy will henceforth be given to energy projects based on Municipal solid waste immediately after disbursement of the first loan installment as contribution towards equity. This is for the first time that subsidy is being used for reducing equity burden of the investor. He was speaking while inaugurating the national level brainstorming session on “Mainstreaming of Renewable Energy in the Country and Attaining Global Leadership”. This will help the cause of larger public good as the disposal of Municipal solid waste remains a major problem in every city. The decision is subject to the outcome of the Supreme Court’s ruling in a pending matter on the subject.
The Minister also announced a plan to priorities the deployment of renewable energy devices in the country to supplement and eventually replace fossil fuels like liquid, gaseous and coal in that order. He informed that the top priority is to focus on market penetration of alternate fuel systems/devices for stationery, portable and transport applications. The second priority is augmenting rural energy needs through bio-energy route. Deployment of new and renewable energy systems/devices of industrial, commercial and urban applications has been identified as the third priority. And the fourth priority is grid interactive renewable electricity, which is essentially a replacement of coal.
To convert the country from net importer to the net exporter of renewable energy products and services, Shri Muttemwar has set an outer time limit of 2022. To achieve this, he said efforts will be made in close concert with corporate and scientific and technical institutions in order to make the domestic new renewable energy industry globally competitive. The Bureau of Indian Standards would be assisted in reviewing and updating existing standards as also to develop and notify standards for new and renewable energy systems and devices for which standards have not yet been laid at par or even higher than international levels. Guidelines for product specifications and performance parameters will be developed and institutionalized.
Shri Muttemwar further informed that 25,000 remote villages, which are not likely to be connected to electricity grid, will be provided grid quality electricity by 2009 through renewable energy sources. In achieving this daunting task, he called for public-private partnership so that not only the systems are put in place but also the operations and maintenance is carried out in viable and sustainable manner. Through this effort around 25 lakh households are likely to benefit.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri A.M. Gokhale, Secretary, MNES told that another area of concern is conventional energy conservation in cities through renewable energy interventions. By installing solar water heating systems 10,000 MW of conventional power can be saved and thus used for other productive purposes. He also informed that out of about 600 districts in the country, District Advisory Committees (DACs) have been formed in 450 districts and remaining will be covered soon for promotion of renewable energy. Shri A.K. Chopra, Senior Adviser, MNES, made a presentation on renewable energy road map for 2020. In the proposed road map 10% replacement of fossil fuels and 10% of the total power generation capacity through renewable energy sources has been proposed by 2020.
The one-day brainstorming session is expected to throw up an action plan which will assist in developing/shaping future policies and programmes in utilizing the renewable sources in the country and to obtain global leadership position in manufacturing systems/devices. This is for the first time that such an interaction was organized between the planners, entrepreneurs and other stake holders. Presently India stands 5th in the world in wind energy after Germany, USA, Spain and Denmark, with 3600 MW installed capacity. It ranks 4th after Japan, USA and Germany in photovoltaic annual production capacity of 36 MW and ranks 2nd after China with 3.7 million family size biogas plants.
RCJ/RL
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