India Turns To Renewable Power Sources Along Indian Coast

India goes green as it turns to wind and solar power on the initiative of Prime Minister Modi. Need to understand the concept of green energy has stalled

many projects. Now India has become aware as one of the leaders of progress and change are looking to implement green energy sources for its energy requirements.

Renewable energy to power India

India has a coastline stretching 7,600 km and renewable power source is now beckoning. Renewable energy is becoming popular mostly due to Prime Minister Modi’s efforts to pave the way for clean energy. An estimated 420 million Indians still have no access to electricity. In this direction, the ambitious 12 – year solar power project begun in 2010, Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission is aiming to provide solar power to the tune of 20,000 megawatts.

Personal effort of Prime Minister

In the home state of the Prime Minister Gujarat, offshore wind farms will be deployed to augment renewable energy source. Gujarat is slated to have potential to produce 7, 214 megawatts of power. It has a coastline stretching for 1, 600 km and had winds of sufficient velocity to produce electricity.

Help from the Government

Many projects begun in 1990s are running throughout the country. These projects number 71 and are deployed in 7 states across the country. They are now producing 22, 000 megawatts of power. The Government aims to provide infrastructure support and subsidies to Gujarat to develop its renewable energy resources and development in matters such as oceanography, study of environmental impact and wind resource management.

Big energy consumer

India is one of the largest energy consumers. It is topped only by three other nations – USA, Russia and China. About 92.83% of its energy comes from fossil fuels and nuclear energy. This latest effort by the Government will step up the reliance on renewable energy and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. India has a power generation capacity of 249, 288 MW. The onus of Government projects is on rural electrification.

Hydrogen energy

Coal reserve in India is fourth largest in the world. Coal contributes to the bulk of energy production accounting for 54.3% of total energy produced. The Public Private partnership for hydrogen energy which began in 2003, the International Partnership for Hydrogen Economy (IPHE) has nineteen member countries including United Kingdom, Australia, Japan and USA. The idea is to use hydrogen as a primary energy source.

Hydro electricity production

In hydro electricity production, India ranks sixth behind China, Canada, Brazil, USA and Russia. India has a capacity to produce 40, 729 MW of hydroelectric power. There is great potential for more development in hydroelectric power in central India in the Godavari, Narmada and Mahanadi river basins.

Wind power and solar power

As far as wind power is concerned, India is fifth with installed capacity of 20,864 MW. This is about 8.5% of the total energy production capacity of the country. India has great potential to become a huge solar energy consumer because the prevailing conditions are ideal. The consumer base is very vast and the scope of deploying solar panels is also large. Obviously, the disadvantage is that solar power cannot be deployed at nights though it may be stored in cells for nighttime consumption.

Necessity for energy

Sustainable energy is an essential  commodity in today’s world. If there were no energy, the world would come to a standstill. Our very existence would suffer a setback if not become impossible if the energy that we use were reduced by even 50%. Nations promoting clean energy are faced with this mammoth problem of convincing others that conservation is the need of the hour. Going green does not mean reducing your energy consumption. On the other hand, it could mean people would have more energy without causing environmental destruction.

Green energy source

Green sources of energy include tidal energy, hydro-power, wind energy and solar energy. Technology required to harness tidal energy is expensive and difficult to maintain given today’s technology. Solar energy and wind power are

relatively simple to install and inexpensive to operate. They represent the best alternate energy source that could spruce up the future of the world.

Need for understanding

Though India has a history that reflects its rich culture and has many festivals that speak of its glorious traditions and tourist attractions, many energy projects run into political opposition and are not able to progress because of the lack of understanding. Knowledge must be spread both about the availability of resources and the method of utilisation. There needs to be a drastic alteration in the mindset of people used to gasoline and coal for supplying their energy needs. Once the thinking changes, implementing them becomes easy. India has always led from the front as in the case of BrahMos missile and it is certainly doing well in green energy front too.