The Odisha state government on Wednesday urged experts in the field of electricity generation to speed up technological research so that natural and renewable resources could be used for generation of clean energy.
“The emergence of innovative micro-grid and smart-grid technologies has provided a perspective to the modern power and energy system operations. There is tremendous need to examine the new applications and advanced technology,” energy minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak said at the inaugural session of the three-day IEEE International Conference on Energy, Automation and Signal, organised by Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan Deemed to be University.
Odisha has of late been reeling under power shortages and load shedding. Experts at the seminar said Odisha was presently experiencing a nine per cent energy deficit, compared to between 13 and 20 per cent across the country. In such a scenario, experts should advise the state as to what were the alternatives available, Nayak said. The concern today was about the quality of power even as the gap between demand and supply was increasing, forcing authorities to go for power rationing, he added.
“Odisha’s transmission and distribution loss, which stood at an unacceptable 51 per cent a few years ago, has been reduced to 38 per cent. We have to adopt new technology to overcome this problem,” he said, adding the government had prepared a Vision Plan for the state and was prepared to invest in areas of transmission and distribution. Nayak said the state was aiming to add another 700 to 800 MW by 2013.
Noted energy expert Saifur Rahman from Viriginia Tech Advanced Research Institute in the USA and a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), said the challenge lay in managing the power demand scenario better. “We have demand driven supply but I am not happy with this concept. My philosophy is supply driven demand. The idea should be supply variability so that demand can be managed,” he said.
Prof. Rahman said, apart from coal, there was a need to look at the availability of other resources for power generation. Earlier, talking to TOI, Rahman said Odisha had good potential in wind and solar energy, but lacks state-level policy support. “Gujarat and Tamil Nadu have given tariff support for renewable sources of energy. Odisha certainly can do the same and tap its potential in wind and solar energy,” he said, adding, “Wind and solar energy are manpower-intensive as opposed to nuclear energy. Though the initial investment is more, one has to look at the big picture and support clean, renewable energy.”
Vice-Chancellor of SOA University R P Mohanty presided over the proceedings held at the Institute of Technical Education and Research (ITER), while the varsity’s director (research and consultancy) P K Dash spoke about emerging technology in the energy sector.
