YP Chawla 1 of 14

India’s Sustainable Green Growth – Rural Sector thru Renewables

YP Chawla – CEO Zoom Developers P Ltd.
ypchawla@gmail.com ; 98107-08707

Preamble: Integrating the Rural Economy with main stream is the major
challenge that India is facing today. Government has embarked upon number of
Scheme for the purpose. Rural Electrification, Decentralised Power Generation,
Prime Minister Rural Roads Scheme, Increased Irrigations, Telephone
connection, 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 have
a great exploration potential can well integrated in the
development of Rural economy & for leap froging India’s Fig 1
development using green path.

Key words: Renewable Energy Technologies, Rural

Development, Rural Electricity Supply, Green Energy,
Sustainable Growth,

Energy Development - a must for Development of Country’s

Economy

India’s Power Infrastructure- Availability & Requirements Table 1

Unit Value Unit Value
Installed capacity MW 145,554.97 Renewables % 5
8th World
Rank
Addnl. Gen. Capacity MW 100,000 Addnl. Reqmt MW 90,000 by 2019
Reqd. immdtly
Electricity production Bn 590 Electricity Kwh 612 ( less than
kwh consumption 50% of China)
Per capita
R & D Expenditure % to 0.85 Power Mn 5.7 – World’s
on Infrastructure GDP Transmn Ckt Kms 3rd Largest
Average Energy % of 7 All India Peak % of 12 (1100-1700
Shortfall Gen. Avg. Demand Gen Hrs)
Shortfall
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. The
speed of Economic Growth is not to be impeded under the pressure of Developed World’s –
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.
YP Chawla 2 of 14

India has embarked upon for promoting Renewable Energy technologies (RET) to meet the Energy
Security being in harmony with Nature & exempt from harmful emissions, and servicing the large
rural 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 fuel
switching 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 impetus
and visions of various departments and with an effective mechanism based on PPP will provide a
more Comprehensive and sustainable solution.

Why Rural… An essential requirement for accelerating the Countries economic growth is by
connecting Villages to the main Stream. Energy such required is to cater for small & micro
enterprises, 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 some
of the environmentalists. Micro
Hydels are to be explored at Kilo
Watt Scale .Land use for Bio fuel
vs. Food is to be delicately
handled. Renewable Energy has
a huge potential and remains
unexploited to a large extent (Fig
2).

India has a Compelling case for

using renewable energy as the
most viable option for sustainable
development. Confronted with a global economic slowdown Indian Economy must seize the
opportunity to restructure economic activities as well as production processes and systems by
which emissions of greenhouse gases can be reduced.

Harnessing Solar
Power in India:
India comes under
a high solar
Insolation band and
has a lot of Waste
Land like Deserts of
Rajasthan,
Gujarat and waste
lands in other
States of
IndiaKeeping the
Pressures of
Climate Change,
Energy Security,
Fluctuating Crude
Oil Prices, Rising
demands of Energy in India, & India’s Potential in Harnessing Solar Power the National Action
YP Chawla 3 of 14

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

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

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

Alternatives under Solar PV & Solar

Thermal are under competition. ( Fig 4.)
The cost of energy is not the only criteria
for utilities seeking renewable energy. The
ability to generate during periods of high
demand, including into the evening, makes
any renewable technology much more
valuable. Additionally, minute-to-minute
operating characteristics on the grid, such
as the potential for rapid changes in
output, are also important, especially at the
utility 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 with
whether we wre looking in for lighting individual houses or a cluster or power for Cottage Industry
also. The solution for Individual Rural House or a hut has problems with capacity to pay for the
Solar Lighting and Microfiancing for all those who live on day to day earning, who otherwise live on
buying Kerosene for daily ligh and live under those conditions. This paper deals with a moderate
size 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 a

costly solution for Storage of
Power as of now.Intermittent
clouds going over a PV system
may cause output to spike widely
unless it also works on the
diffused light. With a CST plant,
which has thermal inertia in the
heat transfer fluids, an operator
can have some warning of the
clouds, slow the fluid flow rate,
which increases the fluid
temperatures, and ride through
short-term cloud events. (For
reference, a wind turbine probably
falls somewhere between the two technologies-there is kinetic inertia in the wind and the turbine
blades, which provides a somewhat better short-term profile than PV.) While selecting Solar
Thermal 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 also
demonstrated. Initially these will provide similar ride-through capabilities during short-term cloud
 YP Chawla 4 of 14

events, but as the storage technologies -up, they could potentially offer hourly storage into the
evening. As of now, CST has the cost and storage advantage at some geograhic locations, but PV
essentially 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 organic
photovoltaics. Learn how these technologies (each at a different stage of development and
adoption) 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 (or
printing-like) technologies employed & are gradually being adopted (Nanosolar, G24 Innovations in
the PV sector, Power Paper, Solicore and Thin Battery technology in the batteries sector), as they
can be considered to be some of the fastest, least expensive and highest volume manufacturing
techniques. With printed electronics becoming more prevalent, there is an increasing need for
power to supply them; printing is amenable to a large number of different types of devices with the
possibility of integration (e.g. to provide onboard power etc.) This is making Energy Pay back
faster.

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 2012E
Current producers 33,400 36,988 49,862 64,060 79,074 88,512 96,939
New Entrants-Current Tech 440 1,865 11,487 37,812 66,195 77,565 81,105
New Entrants-Alternate tech 500 2,150 8,625 23,925 48,150 65,500 68,100
Plus:60/50/40% of likely new 34,340 41,023 61,929 94,929 124,812 145,738 145,621
Entrants
Plus Excess Production 2,338 3,699 3,740 3,203 1,977
Less Semi Conductor Demand - - - - -31,119 -34,853 -39,036
21,500 22,150 24,808 27,785
Plus Recycling 22%of IC 4,730 4,873 5,458 6,113 6,846 7,668 8,508
Plus Inventory Effects 3,258 2,625 234 5,440 2,958 1,674 871
Polysilicon for Solar 23,166 30,070 46,084 71,019 99,558 116,878 125,302
Grams /Watt 10.0 9.1 8.7 8.2 7.8 7.6 7.5
MWP 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 (Fig
6)

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

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

With all these developments in Non-convetional & Renewable

Enegy Technologies, We are moving towards a futuristic Grid
depicted in the Fig 7. These provide the solutions that we are
looking for Powering our Rural Sector.

The writer of the paper was involved with Mathania – an Integrated Solar Thermal & Combined
cycle project. The technology & thermodynamic challenges; and the work have now been initiated
YP Chawla 5 of 14

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

Rural Electrification… the Key Issues It

is now even 61 years after independence,
56% of all rural households in India do not
have electricity and use kerosene for
lighting. Even for those electrified rural
areas, there is a tremendous shortage of
power supply. Thus it is not uncommon to
have 10-15 hours of blackouts and
brownouts every day in the Rural Sector
which is the first &
worst hit. Out of
India’s Total
Population of 10.6
billion, 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 still
more than 80%.This is the scale of problem that we are confronted with. The
Power 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 of
Rural Sector and a such Rural economy has not grown beyond certain level.
Renewable Energy Technologies are the solution and can help reach the
India target of World’s second economy by 2050 only by integrating the Rural
Economy with Nation’s main stream.

India needs Sustainable Rural Development

After Global meltdown, India’s 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 other
commodities to keep this growth rate. Last year we imported about Rs. 95,000 Crores worth of
petroleum products and India will also require about 140,000 MW of installed electricity capacity by
2010 at an estimated outlay of Rs. 5.5 trillion (Rs. 5.5 X 1012). Thus financial outlay needed for the
energy sector alone is staggering and to maintain "India shining" it is necessary that we produce
as 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 the
country will be hampered. A sustainable energy development program can create an all round
development. One of the possible ways to do it is the increased use of land based renewable
energy resource like biomass. This will help the rural development and create tremendous wealth
in these areas. With rural India shining, India will automatically shine!

Three ways for Power Generation from land based renewables can be effected for our Rural
Sector & 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.
YP Chawla 6 of 14

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 get
Power. The Solar Power can be connected for Rural needs during the day. Similarly the Bio Mass
fueled 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 on
Biomass.

z Cultivation of a variety of Salt Cedar tree that produce huge quantity of biomass per
hectare, every year for many years, on poor land, while being irrigated with high salinity
water.
z NW India has hundreds of thousands of hectares of unused or poorly used land in areas
with at least 10 billion M3 of saline, or other low quality water, is available every year.
z Such Bio Mass will not compete on resources against food related crops on Saline Water
Land.
z 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 biomass
plantations, using the full potential will result in production of more than 8.0 M. MT of
biomass per year.
z Electricity Production: Based on a caloric value of 4800 Kcal/ Kg and annual production of
65 MT per hectare a 1000 hectare plantation can provide fuel for a 12-15 MW power plant
year around.
z State governments can plan for the establishing of a 100 hectares of Salt Cedar plantation
for a pilot project and as a source of further planting material.
z According to Punjab government officials the land and water available for biomass
cultivation is around 100,000 hectares.
z In Haryana and Gujarat the estimation is that saline water and land availability in each state
is at least 100,000 hectares & Punjab may have about approx. as much. MP and UP may
have 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 in
the country produces enough agricultural residues so that all its electricity demands can be met
by using them in 10-20 MW biomass-based power plants.

Taluka energy self-sufficiency plan could also generate 30,000 jobs/year. With the new
Electricity Act, complemented with NREGA (National Rural Employment Gurantee) can
become a reality since the utility can produce and supply power to its customers without the
need to go through SEBs. Taluka energy program can produce Rs. 100-crores/year wealth for
the 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. 3,50,000
crores/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 up
in Sept 2002. Though it has been slow till now, it is hoped through this mission to electrify
villages by 2012.

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

• Available technology options

YP Chawla 7 of 14

• Innovative financing
• Grass root Institutional arrangements

According to MOP officials funds of about Rs. 10-15,000 crores will be made available to the
rural power utilities at 2-2.5% p.a. interest rate. Thus it is envisaged that a small rural power
cooperative can be set up to produce 200-500 KWe from locally produced Bio Diesel to run the
Generator 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 producing
value-added item. Thus there is a need to do sophisticated R & D in producing biofuels from
renewable energy sources like agriculture residues and crops specifically grown for these
projects.

These biofuels can easily power the existing diesel gensets & has been experimented in
Chhattisgarh. Development of liquid fuels like ethanol and biodiesel from multipurpose crops
should 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 piece
of land and requires much less water than sugarcane. Thus the Government should consider
funding 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 necessary
technological and managerial support, NGOs can create the necessary trust in such utilities
and Government of India can help provide soft financing through its many rural development
programs. An energy self sufficient and hence prosperous rural India will be the first step in
making 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 can
be 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 Bio
Diesel.

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

For empowering the Rural Economy & The Power Sector in General, our Commercial
Energy Compsumption is already over stretched ( Table 3) and Renewables is the answer
to these woes.
YP Chawla 8 of 14

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

BAU Business As 285 391 527 749 1046 1497 2123

Usual

REN Aggressive 285 391 524 740 1033 1479 2097

Renewable
Energy

NUC High Nuclear 285 391 527 749 1030 1455 2061
Capacity

EFF High 285 379 479 623 838 1131 1542

Efficiency

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 - 285 405 544 760 1087 1576 2320
Hybrid

Source : Teri

Powering India

* Oil Consumption is measured in Mn.

Tonnes : Other Fuels in Oil Equivalent Mn
Tons

Source: BP Statistical Review of World

Energy -2008

Whether we provide Power to Rural or Urban or our Industrial & Transport Sector , we have
at one end compulsions of Commercial Energy for Generating power , & at the other end we
are faced with the Climatic Change pressures.
YP Chawla 9 of 14

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

Solutions for Rural Power will also meet the Compulsions of Climate Change: Concern
about 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 the
sale of bottled water over concerns about its environmental impact.-may be the first community in
the world to have such a ban. Water travelling to Sydney for botteling and brought back to
Bundanoon, in New South Wales is consumption of Energy & hence has impact on Carbon
generation.

This Paper is restriced to Powering Rural

Sector through Renewable Energy which
itself provides Sustainabilty for Economic
development & Growth through Green
Energy which is thrust on us because of
our social Responsibilty but more due to
Developed economies for the distorsion in
the Climat as per Figures 8, 9 &10
indicating rise in temperatures due to
Carbon Generating technologies.

Low Carbon Generation Technologies path

for Sustainable Economic Growth:

Though there is a pressure all round for India & China for capping the Carbon Emissions and the
pressure is coming from the biggest defaulters of Carbon Generations. India may circumvent these
pressures, but India on its own can take an early lead in adopting such technologies, which are
costly at this stage , but large scale work on these technologies will help reducing the Costs. A 2
degrees celcius Cap above preindustrial levels at Major Economies Forum (MEF) at Italy – July ‘09
seem 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 Capita
Growth, but we have to initiate action for Low Carbon technologies to deliver a safer world to our
next generation. World Bank Development Report 2010 – draft, considers2 degree approach as
very ambitious.
YP Chawla 10 of 14

World’s Major Defaulters: Playing Double Standards (Fig 11) with Developing World (this
section might soon go in for a change, as the subject is currently under dynamic
discussions between India, USA & the developed
World)

India’s Position: India’s current industrial efforts are

high carbon-intensive (three times as much per unit of
GDP as the United States’) but our domestic
environment compliance levels are poor..

Global Warming: We are aware that due to Climate

Change a 2 degree Celcius increase in Global
temprature , Maldives will disappear & a third of
Bangaldesh will be under Water. Debates are on that
when India has to act, on reaching the threshhold or
before. Will it effect India’s development? Etc.

For Renewable Enegy Technologies, CDMs are oftenlt

propogated but cevaet is that CDM have a comburse some process as the process of establishing
additionality, then its monitoring & verification is tedious.

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

New Delhi, July 16 (IANS) India has finalised two of the eight missions under its National Action
Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), the Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Climate Change, said
Shyam 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. "For
the last few years, the economy has been growing at 8-9 percent per annum while energy use has
been growing at less than four percent.

India is not yet developed country with enough funds to embark upon the Costly Capital equipment
for 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 India’s
two missions have adopted.

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

CEVEAT: R& D in Renewable Energy & Papers: There is a reveling fact that the quality of Indian
research on renewable and clean energy has been deteriorating, -a CSIR study has found
YP Chawla 11 of 14

This has serious implications for a rapidly

developing nation such as India because it
means indigenous green technology would be
hard to come by. It also potentially ties the
country down to imports, which are often
expensive and have severe technology
restrictions, especially with respect to
intellectual property

Although the number of re- search papers

relating to coal, solar, hydrogen and fuel cells
published by the country’s scientists has
almost trebled between 1995 and 2007,
citations of these, a key measure to gauge
quality, have fallen precipitously

“A highly cited paper, especially if it involves a broad subject area of research such as solar or
hydrogen, usually means that it’s of good quality,” said Sujit Bhattacharya, a professor at
Jawaharlal Nehru University and author of several studies on the quality of India’s research
papers. “Conversely, a low citation count means it’s uninteresting on an international level.”

Papers on Solar in 2007 : 730 Citations from these papers dipped from 200 in 1995 to less than
50 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 been
the sharpest—from 750 citations in 1995 to only 50 in 2007

Prodipto Ghosh, former environment secretary and an adviser at The Energy Research Institute,
said that India’s plans to establish a green technology fund as part of its national action plan on
climate change would help research. Ghosh also pointed out that high citations and good papers
doesn’t necessarily mean much. “You need a good industry base to use that research.”

Conclusions: To solve the Mega Watt Problems for Electrifyring Rural

India, India has to take up Renewable Power Generation Technologies
much more aggressively to meet its power needs and most of these
technologies get integrated with the Rural Development and the
Sustainable Growth of India using Green
Path so that pressure on Climate Control is
avoided while development of our Rural
economy continues & reducing our
dependence on Imported Fossil Fuels.

Recommendations:
• State Electricity Regulatory
Commissions had initially determined
tariff from various other non-
conventional sources like wind power,
co-generation power plant and bio
mass power on cost plus basis, Solar
PV may also be considered on the
same basis & if the Power is fed at
Rural Sector fiscal benefits that
may compensate for extra efforts
of developing a Rural Sector may
be considered .
YP Chawla 12 of 14

No such tariff determination can be carried out in respect of Solar power as the Solar
power uses various technologies like Thin Film, Crystalline, Trackers etc., with wide varying
cost and efficiency level of each technology. Hence it would may not be practically possible
immediately come out with one single tariff parameter for Solar like in case of wind or
biomass. Solar may thus be considered on Cost Plus basis initially. Preferential tariff based
on 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 increased

progressively lines of National Action Plan on Climate Change; though the Indian Energy
Sector has defined Renewable Energy Procurement Obligations (Fig 13), but there seem to
be no deterent for its non fulfillment. Power Generation thru Renewable Energy for Rural
Sector can meet these obligations.

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

• Facilitative framework for inter-State exchange of RE power and lower transmission

Charges.

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

• Generation Based Incentives (GBIs) may be considered as these are preferable to capital
subsidies 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), which
could be factored in the tariff to be set by ERCs. The Capital Cost, Cost of Funding, Re
USD parity has upset all the calculations.

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

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

• Matching appropriate renewable energy technology with required energy services for
specific industry is a challenge with supporting training and capacity building for
manufacturers, local assembly, and maintenance of renewable energy
technologies/systems.

• National level REC mechanism to enable States to fulfill their RPOs fully or partly by
purchasing RECs from other States which ‘procure’ renewable energy in excess of their
RPOs..

• Promote renewable energy enterprise development by removing barriers impeding

Renewable Energy use.

• Contribution of Renewable Energy in terms of economic, social, ,environmental benefits &

the Rural economy of Renewable Energy is to be monetised .
YP Chawla 13 of 14

• Need to create a level playing field, through appropriate policies and regulatory enabling
framework.(Although RET prices are decreasing through up scaling and technological
evolution )

• Renewable Energy Policy Framework to offer a level playing field for promoting renewable
energy for industrial applications including cogeneration which will add to to energy and
climate security.

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

• Though RET aspect not related to the Rural Economy, can be extended to Transportation
sector being the major consumer of energy and railways as preferred mode of transport
there are significant scope for use of bio-fuels in the railways. Bio-diesel can be used in
medium speed diesel engines. Initial engine test bid and trails have shown promising
results 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 on
diesel locomotives, however raw material availability and favourable policy initiative are
critical to success.

• Biomass being the principal source of renewable energy in Rural Sector, there is an urgent
need for development of MW Scale Advance Biomass Gasification technology, micro
turbines 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 crops
for water, land and capital and thereby increasing food prices

• Solar energy for urban areas -Solar radiation, to be promoted agressively , for thermal as
well as photovoltaic applications. Among solar thermal applications solar water heating
systems 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 heat
requirements in many industries. Solar photovoltaic can be used for lighting and powering
various electrical appliances.

• New Solar technologies should be promoted Stand-alone (Off-grid) power plants: Electricity
is 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 which
provides energy service for stand-alone solar systems and other sources to the users
(communicates/institutions) through a service agreement, against payment of a tax. Such
mechanism can work for decentralized village electrification based on diesel generating
sets running on straight run Jatropha oil . Such projects offer a lot of learning and can serve
as a model for electrifying other remote villages.
YP Chawla 14 of 14

• Considering the vast majority of rural population in this part of the world and the need for
improving the socio-economic condition of those areas, policy initiatives, and effective
implementation plans would result in easy & effective penetration of some of the
technologies like bio-gas plants, improved chulas, Solar Photovoltaic based pump with
community 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 Carbon
Sequestration Market Opportunities for India in Carbon Market, through favourable
investment climate, fiscal incentives, and creating a stable regulatory regime. The
Government of India has put its whole hearted effort in taking Carbon market incentives
and carbon financing can help in easy adoption of new and cleaner technologies, stimulate
investors to invest in R&D to search for low carbon intensive opportunities. The Voluntary
Carbon Market is coming up in a big way and renewable energy projects top the preference
list 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

  

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