Newsletters - February 2015

Dear Reader, Renewable energy has gained a lot of momentum in the month of February. The RE-INVEST Expo that held was on February 15-17, 2015, garnered 27 banks and financial institutions, 24 public sector undertakings and 319 private sector companies to commit to developing 270 Giga-watt (GW) of renewable energy in the next 7 years. Moreover, the rapid growth in renewable energy deployment would lead to enormous jobs creation, investments resulting in profitability, competitiveness between various sectors, filling up the gaps in power supply, enhancement of manufacturing sector, and yet not hurting the environment.

Workshop on Renewable Energy
Roundtable on ‘German Energiewende - Lessons for India's Solar Rooftop Programme’ CSE organised a roundtable to understand the German's experience of Energiewendie specifically in the solar rooftop sector. Uwe Beckmeyer, Parliamentary State Secretary, German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy shared his thoughts on the energy transformation - how Germany is making rapid progress in solar and wind power after the decision to phase out nuclear power. He was accompanied by other senior officials and experts from Germany. Gerhard Stryi-Hipp, Head of Energy Policy from Fraunhofer Institute of Solar energy gave presentation on ‘Lessons Learned from the Photovoltaic Market Development in Germany - with a Focus on the Rooftop’. The roundtable meeting discussed on the present issues and solutions concerning solar rooftop development in India. For more details click here

Upcoming Events
Anil Agarwal Dialogue: March 11-12, 2015 Around 2.7 billion people in the world rely on biomass for meeting their cooking energy needs which has an adverse impact both on human health due to indoor air pollution and also on climate change due to emission of greenhouse gases and black carbon aerosol. In Anil Agarwal Dialogue (AAD), an annual event of Centre for Science and Environment, experts in the sector gather to discuss the state of cooking fuels, global cook stove intervention programs, experience of individual countries, grass roots workers, and the way forward. More information is available on CSE website. For participation please contact – Shekhar Chandra (shekhar@cseindia.org)

REPORTERS DESK

February 27, 2015
India needs to invest in clean energy to meet targets
Most nations are betting on clean energy options to reduce their dependence on fossil fuel. India is no different. The country has set an ambitious target of adding 100 GW installed capacity of solar power and 60 GW of wind energy by 2017


February 11, 2015
World’s largest solar plant opens in California
The world’s largest solar power plant has opened in California, US, on February 9. The 550 megawatt (MW) plant is situated in the desert region of California’s Riverside county.


February 10, 2015
Biggest solar plant in Northeast begins power generation
Northeast India’s biggest solar power plant has generated optimum power on February 8, after five days of commissioning. The plant at is situated at Monarchakin Tripura and is run by the Northeast Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO).


February 10, 2015
Breakthrough in thermal storage technology
Brenmiller Energy, an Israeli firm, announced that it will build a 10 mega-watt (MW) concentrated solar power plant in Israel. The plant that will be constructed in Negev desert near the town of Dimona would be spread across 45 hectares. The plant will use a technology that will be able to produce electricity for about 20 hours a day.


February 5, 2015
Another batch of solar projects up for grabs in India
Energy sector could be the new bridge to the relationship between India and Russia—two countries which have decided to complete the construction and commissioning of at least 12 nuclear units in next two decades. The decision was taken during talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir V Putin, in New Delhi.


January 30, 2015
Zimbabwe struggles with energy poverty
Zimbabwe can save up to 300MW of power per day through energy efficiency, says a national energy audit. The audit, conducted by consulting firm Sustainable Africa Energy Consortium (SAEC) in partnership with the Scientific and Industrial Research and Development Centre (SIRDC), also revealed that out of the country's slightly more than three million households, only 44 per cent are electrified.


January 27, 2015
Obama boosts Modi’s green energy ambitions
Visiting US president promised finance to speed up India’s green energy mission, but it has to be remembered that the US had complained to WTO twice about India’s solar mission.


January 27, 2015
Is India set for big shift in its energy mix?
If recent plans of India’s energy minister, Piyush Goyal, were to materialise, India is set to witness a paradigm shift in its energy policy. Speaking at the sidelines of the World Economic Forum last week, Goyal announced plans for $250 billion investment in India’s power sector to meet the prime minister’s goal of 24/7 electricity for all by 2019.


January 25, 2015
Obama and Modi discuss climate change; make no commitments
US President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed climate change and clean and renewable energy, among other things, on the day the US president arrived.


January 21, 2015
Poor site choices for green energy plants led to EU losing $100 billion,
says Davos report
The European Union (EU) could have saved $100 billion if each country in the bloc had invested in the most efficient way to generate renewable energy. This is an assessment presented in the World Economic Forum's "Future of Electricity" report, which was released at the World Economic Forum annual meeting being held at Davos-Klosters, Switzerland.


January 15, 2015
India’s climate strategy needs revision
Climate change negotiations are by now predictable. The already-industrialised come to each conference of the parties (COP) with a clear game plan, that is, to erase their contribution to the emissions already present in the atmosphere, thereby effectively remove the differentiation between their responsibility and that of the rest of the world to act


January 15, 2015
It's nice but not sunny
It will take more than ambitious targets for the government to increase India's solar capacity. The government should make sure that the supporting institutions, both financial and regulatory, are also developed to meet the target. Low-cost financing, along with payment guarantees for the developers, is essential to increase investment in the sector for solar power to achieve grid parity.


January 15, 2015
Solar light is new lifeline for sea erosion-hit Odisha village
At least 3,500 people in Satabhaya village of Kendrapada district in Odisha have lived without electricity for years. It was only last year that Satabhaya, along with two other villages Rabindrapalli and Barahapur, under Satabhaya gram panchayat started receiving uninterrupted power supply, thanks to solar energy.


January 14, 2015
Wave energy could prove to be more steady, cheaper renewable energy
source
Power generated by waves can be can be forecast with a high degree of accuracy without much variability for hours at a time, which is a huge advantage for any renewable source, says study


January 13, 2015
Sunny Gujarat builds solar plant atop Sardar Sarovar canal
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon inaugurated a 10 MW Canal Top Solar Power Plant in Vadodara on Sunday, on the sidelines of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit.


January 9, 2015
Draft guidelines released for 3,000 MW solar PV projects
The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has released draft guidelines for selection of project developers for the 3,000 megawatt (MW) grid-connected solar PV power projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM). Public and interested parties can send their comments and suggestions on the guidelines.


January 9, 2015
Solar rooftop subsidy likely to be halved
The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is adopting measures to reduce government’s burden of subsidies from solar rooftop power. This follows falling prices of solar photo voltaic (PV) and rising conventional power price.


January 5, 2015
Target $100 billion investment in solar energy, says Prime Minister
Modi
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for investments to the tune of $100 billion in the solar sector by 2022. This follows a projection made by Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal that $100 billion would be invested in the renewable energy sector, with wind being two-thirds of that investment.


January 2, 2015
Renewable energy share in Germany crosses 25% in 2014
Germany has been making rapid progress in renewable energy and has set a new record in 2014. According to preliminary surveys by the German Association of Energy and Water (BDEW), renewable energy-based electricity generation in the country has crossed 25 per cent of the gross electricity produced.



Renewable Energy unit Centre for Science & Environment New Delhi

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