India Turns To Renewable Power Sources Along Indian Coast
India goes green as it turns to wind and solar
power on the initiative of Prime Minister Modi. Need to understand the concept
of green energy has stalled many projects. Now India has become aware as one of
the leaders of progress and change are looking to implement green energy
sources for its energy requirements.
India has a coastline stretching 7,600 km and
renewable energy source is now beckoning. Renewable energy is becoming popular
mostly due to Prime Minister Modi’s efforts to pave the way for clean energy.
An estimated 420 million Indians still have no access to electricity. In this
direction, the ambitious 12 – year solar power project begun in 2010,
Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission is aiming to provide solar power to the
tune of 20,000 megawatts.
In the home state of the Prime Minister Gujarat,
offshore wind farms will be deployed to augment renewable energy source.
Gujarat is slated to have potential to produce 7, 214 megawatts of power. It
has a coastline stretching for 1, 600 km and had winds of sufficient velocity to
produce electricity.
Many projects begun in 1990s are running throughout
the country. These projects number 71 and are deployed in 7 states across the
country. They are now producing 22, 000 megawatts of power. The Government aims
to provide infrastructure support and subsidies to Gujarat to develop its
renewable energy resources and development in matters such as oceanography,
study of environmental impact and wind resource management.
India is one of the largest energy consumers. It is
topped only by three other nations – USA, Russia and China. About 92.83% of its
energy comes from fossil fuels and nuclear energy. This latest effort by the
Government will step up the reliance on renewable energy and reduce dependence
on fossil fuels. India has a power generation capacity of 249, 288 MW. The onus
of Government projects is on rural electrification.
Coal reserve in India is fourth largest in the
world. Coal contributes to the bulk of energy production accounting for 54.3%
of total energy produced. The Public Private partnership for hydrogen energy
which began in 2003, the International Partnership for Hydrogen Economy (IPHE)
has nineteen member countries including United Kingdom, Australia, Japan and
USA. The idea is to use hydrogen as a primary energy source.
In hydro electricity production, India ranks sixth
behind China, Canada, Brazil, USA and Russia. India has a capacity to produce
40, 729 MW of hydroelectric power. There is great potential for more
development in hydroelectric power in central India in the Godavari, Narmada
and Mahanadi river basins.
As far as wind power is concerned, India is fifth
with installed capacity of 20,864 MW. This is about 8.5% of the total energy
production capacity of the country. India has great potential to become a huge
solar energy consumer because the prevailing conditions are ideal. The consumer
base is very vast and the scope of deploying solar panels is also large.
Obviously, the disadvantage is that solar power cannot be deployed at nights
though it may be stored in cells for nighttime consumption.
Sustainable
energy is an essentiality in today’s world. If there were no
energy, the world would come to a standstill. Our very existence would suffer a
setback if not become impossible if the energy that we use were reduced by even
50%. Nations promoting clean energy are faced with this mammoth problem of
convincing others that conservation is the need of the hour. Going green does
not mean reducing your energy consumption. On the other hand, it could mean
people would have more energy without causing environmental destruction.
Green sources of energy include tidal energy,
hydropower, wind energy and solar energy. Technology required to harness tidal
energy is expensive and difficult to maintain given today’s technology. Solar
energy and wind power are relatively simple to install and inexpensive to
operate. They represent the best alternate energy source that could spruce up
the future of the world.
India has a history that reflects its rich culture.
Many festivals that
speak of glorious traditions and tourist
attractions India has, many energy projects run into political
opposition and are not able to progress because of the lack of understanding.
Knowledge must be spread both about the availability of resources and the
method of utilisation. There needs to be a drastic alteration in the mindset of
people used to gasoline and coal for supplying their energy needs. Once the
thinking changes, implementing them becomes easy. India has always led from the
front as in the case of BrahMos missile and
it is certainly doing well in green energy front too.
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