Odisha is likely to miss the proposed National Institute of New Energy and Innovation (NINEI), thanks to bureaucratic wrangle and political considerations.
As the State was found most suitable place for the proposed NINEI, the Union Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) had decided to set it up in Odisha. Almost all steps were taken for its establishment with the State administration’s proactive approach.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi offering 80 acres of land free of cost near the IIT Bhubaneswar. Chief Secretary AP Padhi held several rounds of discussion with former MNRE Secretary Upendranath Tripathy and it was decided to set up the institute at an early date.
However, the MNRE authorities are now reportedly trying to relocate the NINEI in another State, according to official sources here.
Minister Science & Technology Pradeep Panigrahi had conveyed to Union Minister for New & Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal at a Ministers’ conference in New Delhi in early April that the Odisha Government has already allocated land for the institute”.
Panigrahi said that energising lives is important in far-flung tribal areas rather than providing illumination only. In this regard, the capacity limit of 200 watts of solar panel per household to give one unit of power per day under DDG-DDUGJY needs to be up-scaled to cater to livelihood needs.
He said this would greatly improve the economic conditions of people, and from this point of view, mini rids with a capacity enhancement scope of 50 per cent should be preferred for all villages.