A study of China–India cooperation in renewable energy field

This paper analyses the present situation of renewables international cooperation in China and India and the reasons, basis and conditions of China-India cooperation for renewable energy and explores China-India cooperation strategies for renewable energy. This study indicates that (1) the two countries have made a lot of progress in the international cooperation of renewable energy, but China-India cooperation for renewable energy is still in its primary stage; (2) there are not only the common benefits but also the solid basis and good conditions for China-India cooperation in the field of renewable energy; (3) there is need to explore and design the cooperation strategies for renewable energy of China and India in order to strengthen renewables cooperation between two countries.     

Renewable energy in India: Current status and future potentials

Renewable energy sources and technologies have potential to provide solutions to the long-standing energy problems being faced by the developing countries. The renewable energy sources like wind energy, solar energy, geothermal energy, ocean energy, biomass energy and fuel cell technology can be used to overcome energy shortage in India. To meet the energy requirement for such a fast growing economy, India will require an assured supply of 3–4 times more energy than the total energy consumed today. The renewable energy is one of the options to meet this requirement. Today, renewable account for about 33% of India's primary energy consumptions. India is increasingly adopting responsible renewable energy techniques and taking positive steps towards carbon emissions, cleaning the air and ensuring a more sustainable future. In India, from the last two and half decades there has been a vigorous pursuit of activities relating to research, development, demonstration, production and application of a variety of renewable energy technologies for use in different sectors. In this paper, efforts have been made to summarize the availability, current status, major achievements and future potentials of renewable energy options in India. This paper also assesses specific policy interventions for overcoming the barriers and enhancing deployment of renewables for the future.     

Asian renewables: Asia targets RE expansion - regional overview

Since the mid-1990s many countries in Asia have reviewed their energy development programmes and have given greater emphasis to the use of renewable energy. For some countries developing renewable energy is simply an extension of their existing energy policy. For others, however, particularly Asia's more economically developed countries that lack indigenous energy reserves, the decision to promote renewable energy is a costly choice and forms part of their Kyoto protocol pledges. In the first part of a two-part feature, David Hayes Refocus correspondent takes a look at renewable energy development and potential in Asian countries starting with China, India, South Korea and Japan.     

Solar energy in India: Strategies, policies, perspectives and future potential

Renewable energy sources and technologies have potential to provide solutions to the longstanding energy problems being faced by the developing countries like India. Solar energy can be an important part of India's plan not only to add new capacity but also to increase energy security, address environmental concerns, and lead the massive market for renewable energy. Solar thermal electricity (STE) also known as concentrating solar power (CSP) are emerging renewable energy technologies and can be developed as future potential option for electricity generation in India. In this paper, efforts have been made to summarize the availability, current status, strategies, perspectives, promotion policies, major achievements and future potential of solar energy options in India.     

Renewable energy in India: Historical developments and prospects

Promoting renewable energy in India has assumed great importance in recent years in view of high growth rate of energy consumption, high share of coal in domestic energy demand, heavy dependence on imports for meeting demands for petroleum fuels and volatility of world oil market. A number of renewable energy technologies (RETs) are now well established in the country. The technology that has achieved the most dramatic growth rate and success is wind energy; India ranks fourth in the world in terms of total installed capacity. India hosts the world's largest small gasifier programme and second largest biogas programme. After many years of slow growth, demand for solar water heaters appears to be gaining momentum. Small hydro has been growing in India at a slow but steady pace. Installation of some of the technologies appears to have slowed down in recent years; these include improved cooking stoves (ICSs) and solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. In spite of many successes, the overall growth of renewable energy in India has remained rather slow. A number of factors are likely to boost the future prospects of renewable energy in the country; these include global pressure and voluntary targets for greenhouse gas emission reduction, a possible future oil crisis, intensification of rural electrification program, and import of hydropower from neighbouring countries.     

Introduction of Renewable Energy Certificate in the Indian scenario

Generation deficit in India is in the range of 9% and the scenario is expected to get grimmer in the context of high growth rate of the country. With peak power shortage as high as 15.2% (Source: Annual report FY08, MoP) the nation needs to harness all forms of generation including renewables, which currently has a meager share of 8% of the total generation in the country at present. Shooting price of crude oil reaching up to $135 (May 2008) per barrel along with increasing awareness and concerns about environment, the stage seems to be set for an increased mix of Renewable Energy (RE) into the overall energy requirement in the country. Keeping the concern for environment and energy security for the country in mind, government of India has been putting emphasis on promotion of renewable energy sources. Central and state government policies have always been instrumental in the propagation of capacity additions in renewable energy power. One of the main aims of these policies has been on increasing the private sector participation in this sector. In the pre-reform period, the state governments took policy decisions regarding financial incentives, buy-back tariff and other measures targeting investment in renewable energy. However, the State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERCs) are now responsible for many of these tasks. SERCs have come up with a host of initiatives, inline with their functions laid down in the Electricity Act 2003, to increase the share of renewable energy inside their respective States. Despite the efforts of SERCs, large potential of renewable energy generation remains untapped. There is lack of clarity on how to promote renewable energy generation inside states which are not having significant renewable energy generation potential.This paper explores the way in which SERCs can introduce measures to further promote renewable energy generation inside the country. We discuss in detail the framework to promote renewable energy through a framework which puts into place Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) mechanism. The framework includes setting of RPO targets, provisions for a surcharge levied upon non-compliance of RPO targets and also a mechanism to meet RPO through trading of certificates.     

A review of the potential of renewable energy sources for the State of Jammu and Kashmir (India)

The future economic development trajectory for India is likely to result in rapid and accelerated growth in energy demand, with expected shortages. Many of its current policies and strategies are aimed at the improvement and possible maximization of energy production from the renewable sector. It is also clear that while energy-conservation and energy-efficiency can make an important contribution in the national energy strategy, renewable energies will be essential to the solution and are likely to play an increasingly important role for the growth of grid power, providing energy access, reducing consumption of fossil fuels, and helping India pursue its low carbon progressive pathway. However, most of the states in India, like the northernmost State of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), have experienced an energy crisis over a sustained period of time. As India intends to be one of the emerging powers of the 21st century, it has to embark upon with these pressing issues in a more sustainable manner and accordingly initiate various renewable energy projects within these states. This paper will provide a broad-spectrum view about the energy situation within J&K and will highlight the current policies along with future strategies for the optimal utilization of renewable energy resources.     

Solar thermal power generation in India—a techno–economic analysis

Limited fossil resources and environmental problems require new sustainable energy supply options, that use renewable energies and are economic at the same time. Solar Thermal Electricity (STE) generating systems are proven renewable energy technologies and often a very cost effective way to produce electricity from solar radiation.In India, the electricity demand is drastically increasing. At the same time, solar resources and large wasteland areas are widely available. These factors together make India an ideal country for the implementation of STE-technologies.In this paper, we analyze the potential and the cost-effectiveness of centralized and decentralized STE-generation in India. Comparing the levelized electricity costs (LEC) for STE with the corresponding LEC for the electricity generating options used at present, we find that STE is an economically viable technology under favorable conditions, i.e. in areas with high insolation levels and provided that capital is available at low interest rates.     

Potential of the renewable energy development in Jammu and Kashmir,India

The future economic growth for India is likely to result in rapid and accelerated surge in energy demand, with expected shortages in terms of supply. Many of its current policies and strategies are aimed at the improvement and possible maximization of energy production from the renewable sector. It is also clear that while energy conservation and energy efficiency can make an important contribution, renewable energies will be essential to the solution and are likely to play an increasingly important role for providing enhanced energy access, reducing consumption of fossil fuels, and helping India pursue its low-carbon progressive pathway. However, most of the states in India, like the northernmost state of Jammu and Kashmir, have experienced an energy crisis over a sustained period of time and the government both at center and state level has to embark upon with these pressing issues in a more sustainable manner and accordingly initiate various renewable energy projects within these states. This paper will provide a broad-spectrum view about the energy situation within Jammu and Kashmir and will highlight the current policies along with future strategies for the optimal utilization of renewable energy resources.     

Reliability based socio economic optimal renewable energy model for India

Renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and biomass have to play a vital role in the developing countries like India in order to meet the growing energy demand. In the last five years, some renewable energy sources had emerged as technically and economically viable alternatives in the energy sector, as a result, more ambitious plans for their dissemination were being launched. In this situation, development of an energy model exclusively for renewables will help in the allocation of appropriate renewable energy systems for different end-uses in the future. An attempt has been made to develop a reliability based socio economic optimal renewable energy model for India in the year 2020–2021. The effect of social acceptance variation in OREM model was analysed. The lighting end-use would be met by solar PV and biogas system to an extent of 0.5198×10¹⁵ kJ and 0.75×10¹⁵ kJ, respectively. Similarly, the renewable energy utilisation is found for other end-uses.     

Model‐based approach for planning renewable energy transition in a resource‐constrained electricity system—A case study from India

Globally, electricity systems are going through transitions. The contributions from renewable energy‐based power generation, both in installed capacity and electricity generation, are moving from marginal to the mainstream. India is not an exception; it is aggressively pursuing this transition by fixing steep targets for renewable capacity additions. While the cost of renewable energy sources is expected to fast reach grid parity, the policy interventions play a critical role in ramping up the efforts to support the proposed investments in renewable capacity and renewable electricity generation. In this respect, this research attempts to analyze the effectiveness of renewable energy policies such as Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) and Renewable Energy Certificate mechanisms in tapping the renewable energy potential in India. We propose a mixed‐integer linear programming model‐based approach to evaluate the effectiveness of the above interventions in the Indian context. The model is developed and validated as a low carbon electricity planning tool to optimally meet the dynamic electricity demand and RPO targets as well as to manage the unmet total electricity demand and RPO targets. The Karnataka state electricity system (a state in south India) is chosen as a case study. The results suggest that Karnataka Electricity System is moving toward a sustainable renewable energy future even without any support from nonsolar Renewable Energy Certificate policy. However, policy interventions are critical for optimally utilizing the solar generation capacity.     

Sizing of integrated renewable energy system based on load profiles and reliability index for the state of Uttarakhand in India

In recent years the decentralized rural electrification is becoming cost effective and convenient for areas where grid extension is very difficult. The present paper deals with the electrification of dense forest areas of Uttarakhand state in India by Integrated Renewable Energy Optimization Model (IREOM). The IREOM consists of locally available renewable energy resources such as Micro-Hydropower (MHP), biomass, biogas, wind and solar photovoltaic (SPV) systems have been used to meet electrical energy and cooking energy needs of a cluster of villages. The paper includes the selection of different system components, sizing and development of a general model to find out optimal combination of energy subsystems for the selected study area in order to minimize the cost of energy (COE) generation for a required reliability values. The sizing of different renewable energy system components has been carried out so that they are suitable for four different seasonal load profiles. The two reliability values are considered for the selection of optimum solution of year round application. The model developed for this purpose, has been found to be quite useful in optimizing the renewable energy system sizes that are available in market. The proposed model totally depends on the renewable energy systems and eliminates the use of conventional energy systems.     

India and renwable energy : A future challenge

India is endowed with a very vast renewable energy potential. Significant progress has been made in development, field trials and commercialisation of several renewable energy technologies. The Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources is responsible for formulation of policies, support to R&D and industries and large scale applications. The present paper gives a brief outline of Indian National programme on renewable energy, potential of renewables, achievements, related Government policies and discusses various issues related to financing, large scale dissemination, after sales service etc.     

Renewable energy planning for India in 21st century

Energy is a vital input for economic and social development of any country. With increasing industrial and agricultural activities in the country, the demand for energy is also rising. Solar, wind and biomass are accepted as dependable and widely available renewable sources of energy. Development of an energy model will help in the proper allocation of these renewables in meeting the future demand of energy in India. The present work deals with the development of an Optimal Renewable Energy Model (OREM) for the effective utilisation of renewable energy sources in India for the year-2020-21. The objective of the Optimal Renewable Energy Model (OREM) was minimising cost/efficiency ratio based on social acceptance, reliability, demand and potential constraints. The OREM model allocated renewable energy sources for different end-uses such as lighting, cooking, pumping, heating, cooling and transportation for the year 2020-21.     

Review of augmentation of energy needs using renewable energy sources in India

Sustainable and equitable development is the most important challenge before mankind. After food, most pressing concern is energy for a decent living. The energy consumption has been recognized world wide as a parameter of development in a society. In the present paper an attempt has been made to review the demand of energy, the potential of renewable energy sources in India and its prospects for development in cost effective and sustainable manner.     

An opinion survey based assessment of renewable energy technology development in India

India has a very large potential for harnessing renewable energy sources. However, there is a large gap between the estimated potential and the cumulative achievements made so far. A variety of reasons are attributed to the current low levels of dissemination of renewable energy technologies in India as against their respective estimated potentials. Several of these attributes could, one way or the other, be related to the current status of development of the technology, its appropriateness and dissemination strategies adopted for their diffusion and deployment. Results of an attempt to assess the current status of some renewable energy technologies in India are briefly presented in this paper. The main findings of a structured questionnaire based survey undertaken for eliciting views of different categories of stakeholders on various issues affecting dissemination of renewable energy technologies in India are presented in this paper.     

RE policy in India: The need for local sensitivity

While at a local level renewable energy success stories abound in India, at the national level, the RE gains seem almost unnoticeable. That is because most of these success stories are due to adoption of renewable energy products - mainly solar systems - by individual households. When it comes to exploiting renewable potential for setting up distributed generation projects that can cater to masses, the country has not scored well. Refocus correspondent, Sunil Puri, India provides his perspective on the current RE situation in India.     

Wind energy status in India: A short review

Renewable energy represents an area of tremendous opportunity for India. Energy is considered a prime agent in the generation of wealth and a significant factor in economic development. Energy is also essential for improving the quality of life. Development of conventional forms of energy for meeting the growing energy needs of society at a reasonable cost is the responsibility of the Government. Limited fossil resources and associated environmental problems have emphasized the need for new sustainable energy supply options. India depends heavily on coal and oil for meeting its energy demand which contributes to smog, acid rain and greenhouse gases’ emission. Last 25 years has been a period of intense activities related to research, development, production and distribution of energy in India.Though major energy sources for electrical power are coal and natural gas, development and promotion of non-conventional sources of energy such as solar, wind and bio-energy, are also getting sustained attention. The use of electricity has grown since it can be used in variety of applications as well as it can be easily transmitted, the uses of renewable energy like wind and solar is rising. Wind energy is a clean, eco-friendly, renewable resource and is nonpolluting. The gross wind power potential is estimated at around 48,561 MW in the country; a capacity of 14,989.89 MW up to 31st August 2011 has so far been added through wind, which places India in the fifth position globally. This paper discusses the ways in which India has already supported the growth of renewable energy technologies i.e. wind energy and its potential to expand their contribution to world growth in a way that is consistent with world's developmental and environmental goals. The paper presents current status, major achievements and future aspects of wind energy in India.     

Demand analysis for solar photovoltaic cells—a case study of Gundlupet Taluk

The demand for energy in India has been growing steadily over the years. Since conventional energy options have failed to cope with this increase, there has been growing interest in non-conventional energy sources. Solar photovoltaic (SPV) cells could be one such alternative energy source since solar energy is available abundantly in India. It is also renewable and non-pollutant. In this paper, estimation of demand for SPV cells in a drought-prone area of Karnataka State, Gundlupet, is projected for four identified market segments for the year 1996. Comparison of the cost of generation by SPV with that of conventional hydroelectricity with present and future costs is also made. The demand projections are encouraging for use of SPV cells. The projected cost of SPV energy by AD 2000 for amorphous silicon cells would be Rs 7·01 per kilowatt hour for a module price of Rs 55 per peak watt of power and a distance from the rigid of 3 km.     

Growth and future trends of wind energy in India

In India, the wind power generation has gained a high level of attention and acceptability compared to other renewable energy technologies. New technological developments in wind power design have contributed for the significant advances in wind energy penetration and to get optimum power from available wind. The yearly percentage increase in wind energy installation is highest for India and now ranks fourth in the world with an installed capacity of 6018 MW. This paper reviews the development of wind energy in India and five potential Indian states. The future growth pattern and time period to achieve the technical wind potential are predicted and analysed.