The RE-Invest summit displayed the NDA regime’s resolve to scale up renewable energy generation capabilities. This will help meet the national energy requirement in a socially and an economically and ecologically sustainable manner
The recent report by the Centre for Science and Environment confirmed the long known fact of how thermal power plants are wreaking havoc on the environment. CSE’s two-year long Green Rating Study is quite comprehensive, as it covers nearly half of the thermal energy generation sector. As many as 47 plants spread over 16 States have been included in the study.
The study has concluded that Indian coal-based thermal power plants are some of the most inefficient in the world. This can be largely attributed to the inept use of principal inputs at the power plant, such as coal and water.
As per the report, India’s thermal power plants are estimated to draw around 22 billion cubic metres of water, which is over half of India’s domestic water need.
In addition the mismanagement fly ash as the by-product has compounded the problem. Only about 50 to 60 per cent of the 170 million odd tonnes of fly ash generated by the sector is being utilised. The remaining is dumped into poorly designed and maintained ash ponds.
Currently, a billion tonnes of these toxic and polluting ashes exist in these ponds. By 2021-2022, the sector will produce 300 million tonnes of fly ash every year.
These alarming pollution levels have already started to take their toll. According to a recent report by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, India’s air pollution burden is cutting short 660 million lives by about three years, as people live in pollution levels that are well above the World Health Organisation standards for safe air quality.
A vicious cycle of sorts has developed. Polluting power plants strive to keep up with increasing demand for power, and more power is translating to more pollution. Unless checked, this undesirable cycle has the potential to render irreversible damages to community health and environment.
The RE-Invest 2015 event, organised recently by the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, may provide the first breakthrough needed to end the vicious cycle. RE-Invest is the first Renewable Energy Global Investors Meet and Expo.
It displayed the resolve of the NDA Government to scale up renewable energy potential and generation capabilities, in a determined manner. This will help meet the national energy requirement in a socially and an economically and ecologically sustainable manner.
With the apt theme ‘megawatt to gigawatt’, the RE-Invest summit re-affirmed the resolve of the Government to generate 160 gigawatts of solar and wind power by 2022. India, on its part, presents a compelling business prospect in the off-grid renewable energy sector.
This sector is poised to touch $150 billion by 2018 and has the potential to draw the best of technology, manpower and corporations from the world over. Opening this sector to global investment will transform the renewable energy scenario overnight. It will help India realise the potential of this sector. Importantly, it will also help quell the ill-effects of non-renewable energy to a certain extent.
But for this to happen, India must walk a delicate balance. On the one hand, the Government has to allow the local and yet fledgling renewables industry to survive with fair opportunity. On the other hand, it will have to create a suitable environment for global companies that are engaged in renewable power generation to come and transact business in India in an effortless manner. For this, the Government has to alter current regulations.
Apart from encouraging the commerce and industry in this sector, the Government must also dwell upon changing the mindset of people regarding the use of renewable energy such as solar power.
Mr Anil Ambani, one of India’s major industrialists, laid out the case for solar energy by stating that India can solve the problem of its limited unused land area by putting a full 40 per cent of the country’s total solar generation on roof-tops. This is achievable, if aware and informed people participate as stakeholders and provide the crucial support to the renewable energy initiatives laid out by the Government.
The Government must ensure that swachh shakti must power every aspect of further economic growth and urban development. Switching to renewable, sustainable energy will also stimulate the economy, create jobs, save money and clean up the environment. The industry sentiment is strongly in favour of renewable energy too.
For instance, the global clean energy investment hit a record $260 billion in 2014 and it is only growing. As the shift to clean energy gets underway, India must ride the wave and hedge itself against the impacts of climate change and set global benchmarks in scaling up its renewable energy potential.