The 10th edition of two-day Green Power Conference cum Exposition on Renewable Energy organized by CII in Bangalore today under the aegis of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India and Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd (KREDL) called for increasing the proportion of green power in our overall energy requirement.
The conference called upon the industry, which is the major consumer of the energy, to mark up some percentage of their total energy consumption to come from green power. This will not only decrease the over dependence on fossil fuels for energy needs, but also reduces carbon emissions, according to the distinguished speakers present at the conference.
Dr Pramod Deo, Chairperson, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, said, “5% of the total generation in the country actually comes from green power. India reached 5% level in 2010 and annually one percent is going to add up to take it to 10% by 2015. Promoting increased use of green power is for our own energy security”.
Dr Pramod Deo added, “There is a general apprehension that green power is costly. The costs are going to be flattened by in the next five years. Regarding tariffs, all State Regulatory Commissions should take CRC tariff as guiding tariff. From the point of view of sellers, operational issues risks like connectivity should be addressed”.
Ms Shamim Banu, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Energy Department, Government of Karnataka, said, “ Now people are looking at renewable energy as the energy of the future to slow down the global warming. Even though India cannot afford to discard other forms of energy, we can still focus more on renewable energy. 27% of the installed capacity in Karnataka is renewable energy. There are certain issues to be addressed to harness renewable energy. For example, many sites suitable to wind mills are located in forest areas of Western Ghats and it take very long time for clearances. There is a need to streamline procedural issues. To encourage solar energy production, R&D is needed to reduce costs and land need per MW, which is about five acres now”.
Mr Ramesh Kymal, Chairman, Renewable Energy Council, CII- Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre, said, “ Investment in clean energy has gone up by 230% globally in the past four years and India aims to become global leader by 2015. To encourage this trend, renewable energy law, which is under debate so far, must be implemented as early as possible. To address the cost, there is a need to increase generation based incentives to Rs 1.20 per unit”.
Mr C M Nimbannavar, Chairman, Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd, said, “Energy efficiency and green power are major aspects of energy conservation. Erratic rain falls, tsunami and other natural disasters necessitated increased focus on green energy management. Karnataka is one of the power starved states of India. There is an urgent need to focus on new generation technologies and minimize storage and distribution losses”.
Mr S Chandrasekhar, Chairman, CII- Karnataka State Council, said, “This is the 10th edition of the flagship event on renewable energy. Karnataka will add another 6,000 MW capacity in the next two years with the passing of new energy Policy last year. Renewable energy should constitute 25% of the total generation to make our energy sector sustainable. We need to establish a bridge between policy and market mechanism”.
Mr S. Raghupathy, Executive Director, CII- Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre, said, “CII -Green Business Centre has been advocating green always a business sense. The concept of green buildings is catching up in India and today with over 1,000 green buildings, India stands second in the world next only to US. India is also the first country in the world to introduce green company rating concept. Industry needs to ensure at least 5% of their energy consumption comes from green power”.
