The Hindu Business Line : New Renewable Energy Law proposed

Bangalore, July 19 The Government is keen to encourage investment to enable solar energy to be integrated with grid power supply to mitigate the concerns of depletion of fossil fuels and ensure cost effective power supply to both industry and domestic consumers.

A new Renewable Energy Law that envisages several incentives to give an impetus to this intent has been proposed by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).

Incentives

Indicating this at a two-day conference of ‘Solar India 2007’, organised by the World Institute of Sustainable Energy here on Thursday, Mr V. Subramanian, Union Secretary, MNRE, told presspersons that the Government was contemplating incentives to encourage private investment for solar grid power system.

“We would like independent power producers to feed to the distribution network like the thermal power units,” said Mr Subramnaian.

Solar energy’s potential is yet to be tapped, Mr Subramanian said adding that “the existing policies are not effective enough to promote the renewable energy sector. It is high time that we focus on a Renewable Energy Law and a suitable feed-in-tariff model. Another key concern for us is the availability of cutting edge technology in the public domain.” Dr Hermann Scheer, German Member of Parliament and President of Eurosolar (European Association for Renewable Energy), made a plea for making solar energy as a primary source to mitigate energy security threat arising out of expendable fossil fuels and the limitations of technology transfer due to geo-political reasons.

In an indirect reference to the current international interest in controlling natural resources through military solutions, Mr Scheer said solar or wind energy will obviate complex issues because of their abundant availability to even countries that could ill afford technologies for conversion of fossil fuels.

Renewable energies had their own eco-systems that were rid of adverse impacts such as social, economic and political, he said adding that energy crisis was the most important challenge for developing countries.

“It was imperative that we convert the macro economic benefits to micro economic incentives through a favourable policy,” he said.

“In the last 40 years, our energy consumption has increased twice compared with the consumption that occurred in the entire history of civilisation. The amount of energy we receive from the sun in 15 minutes equals the annual fossil and nuclear fuel consumption globally. Scientists all over the world are developing more efficient technology to harness solar energy. However, only a strong policy for this sector can enable us to leverage this technology in the right direction,” Mr Scheer said.

Energy Projects

Mr G.M. Pillai, Director General, World Institute of Sustainable Energy (WISE), Pune, outlined WISE’s recommendations for a policy road map for Solar Power Development and said “we must pursue grid-connected strategy for solar energy”.

Mr Pillai added that WISE wanted installation of at least ten one MW solar photovoltaic plants in the country during the 11th Five year Plan, apart from a few grid-connected power plants using solar technology during the period.

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