Energy Production gets 3rd Priority of Bihar Govt:

Addressing the Bihar Growth Conference, organized by International Growth Centre (IGC) India-Bihar, Sushil Modi, Bihar Dy. CM said that Bihar’s  high growth rate of 11%-plus was based on societal needs. "The biggest issue is to ensure the reach of government projects to every section of the society."   

Growth Areas:

1)Bihar has great potential for small investments. "We would like to concentrate on micro and medium enterprises as well as food-processing industries," he said and added that improvement of public delivery systems would be the government's priority. 

2)Agriculture has emerged as a major growth propeller as illustrated by China's example. It can play a decisive role in poverty alleviation. " Our aim is to double the farm output through scientific interventions," Modi said.

3)Another major area that warrants government attention, Modi agreed, is energy production. "We are on the job, looking for coal linkages and power purchase agreements," he said and added one such agreement is through for a 450-MW power plant to start generation by 2014. 

4)Roads have been constructed, but their maintenance is another challenge facing the government. Vocational education and skill development for generating quality human resource are also on the government's radar, the deputy CM said and stressed the need to check migration of Biharis to Gulf countries. 

Arunish Chawla, secretary to Planing Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, predicted that Bihar would be a developed state by 2015. "The Central government has accelerated the development expenditure for Bihar," he said but cautioned that the quality of expenditure is equally important to sustain a double-digit growth. Central allocations have been increasing as the Planning Commission also realizes that Bihar is growing very fast, the Bihar-cadre IAS official said. 

JNU's economics teacher Satish Jain pleaded for increased private investments in education sector and stress on skill enhancement if Bihar has to grow. The charitable contributions towards education have almost dried up and too much emphasis is being put on award of degrees than attainment of knowledge and skill," the professor pointed out. 

IGC India-Bihar's Anjan Mukherji said their two major areas of research have been structural transformation and resource mobilization. "We will provide all logistical and research support needed by policy makers and other stake holders for the state's growth," IGC's advisory board chairman Shaibal Gupta said as he advocated for result-oriented governance for the simple reason of people having very high expectations. 

Progress on -- carbon emissions and managing ecosystems as the price of solar cells continues to come down: Carl Pope

There has been some progress in the past one year on carbon emissions and managing ecosystemas, as  the price of solar cells continues to come down.

Any rational projection of likely carbon emissions for the next decade is smaller, much smaller, than it would have been a year ago. Economics, not climate concern, is the reason. Coal is no longer the obvious low-cost electricity source. Coal power plant fleet all over the world  will be retired  sooner than later, because the plants are old, outmoded, and in need of billions of dollars in upgrades. With natural gas prices down and coal prices up, they're not worth the investment.

There is no price on carbon yet, but markets are acting as if there will be.   Globally, coal is looking less like the obvious choice for two reasons. There's not enough of it at the price people expected because coal reserves are not as easy to mine as once estimated.  And meanwhile, the price of solar cells continues to come down so that in many uses and locations solar is already competitive with new coal because it doesn't require the same transmission investments -- and complete grid parity seems likely in the next decade. 

And now let's look at ecosystems. Deforestation is responsible for 20 percent of CO2 emissions globally. And while global dialogue on fossil fuels has bogged down, truly hopeful progress has been made -- and may continue to be made -- on collective action to protect forests. There's considerable doubt that the current UN architecture for saving forests, called REDD, is the real answer, but Norway and Indonesia are well along the way toward a billion dollar deal that would set a model for the rest of us. If, of course, logging interests don't sabotage it. 

Brazil, historically the center of concern for deforestation, has been making major progress without any global partner. Deforestation rates are down almost half in the past year, and down 90 percent from the 2004 peak. Brazil is not alone. Indeed, seven major tropical forest countries (China, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, India and Vietnam) have made a transition from net deforestation to net reforestation. But here again there is a caveat. In six of the seven (India being the exception) the countries substituted imported wood, often illegally sourced, for the domestic logging they had halted.  

The facts on the ground are a good deal brighter than they were a year ago. 

Access to power is a basic human right

 India hopes to become the world’s third largest economy in less than three decades. The country has been witness to phenomenal growth in a relatively short span of time. The progress is clearly reflected in hundreds of millions of Indians rising out of abject poverty, and the country’s ever-burgeoning middle class. The largest in the world, the Indian middle class is expected to grow by over ten times to nearly 583 million by 2025. The economic surge will also make the rich richer; in less than two decades, 23 million Indians will number among the country’s wealthiest citizens.

The flip-side of this growth story is that most of this new wealth will be created in urban areas. Over the past two decades, annual real rural income per household in India has achieved  a  a slow growth rate of 2.8%. In the next two decades, this growth is likely  to change by a mere 1%. Almost 70% of the Indian population will have little benefit from India’s expected rapid GDP growth of  above 8%.

Mahatma Gandhi once said “poverty is the worst form of violence”. Approximately 30% of rural India lives below the poverty line. The Government and people need to join together to help bring the disadvantaged into the mainstream, and ensure that no one is denied their basic rights.

Access to power is a basic human right, and indeed the government has set laudable targets such as ‘Power for All’ by 2012, which aims at bringing light to the homes of 400 million Indians still living in the dark. The challenge here is to maintain the focus on providing for the 47% of the rural populace without electricity, and not just the middle class settled in the cities. This is a classic example of India’s urban-rural divide, and ensuring equitable access is critical to India’s growth story.

A democracy works best when the government and the private sector collaborate to achieve common goals. So, while the government develops the infrastructure and provides supportive policies, the private sector needs to innovate to make  business models more inclusive.

In India, the major cities are crowded and the infrastructure is stretched to the limits. But thousands flock to the cities everyday in search of work and this, in turn, increases the pressure on our cities, threatens our rural way of life and breaks up family units. Solar Power, however, comes up in the remotest parts of the country and it can empower the rural population to create better lives for themselves. This means they can have secure, decent, sustainable livelihoods and don’t add to the migration.

Challenges ahead in the coming decade

India  has achieved 9% growth rate during this decade, but that has not helped  hundreds of millions of Indians to come above poverty line.  India is actively lobbying the powers around the world to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council to secure Peace and Security among countries in the world, but security is not guaranteed on the streets of India's towns and villages. Our Pharmaceutical and Medical Industry is working wonders in healthcare around the world, but a huge percentage of Indians have no access to basic medical facilities. India is producing thousands of Megawatts of electricity, but 90% of Indians have no access to electricity  and there are large number of dark corners in India where kerosene lamps provide light for children's studies during evenings.

We need to meet these challenges in the coming decade.  The tasks are enormous, but the resources are scattered. Let's unite to meet these challenges.

The leadership challenge today is to broadbase success by rapidly transforming agriculture and rural sector.

The principal task before leaders in government, business and civil society in the next decade is to broadbase India's Success Story. It is my firm belief that India will begin to see miracle growth if we can rapidly transform agriculture and the rural sector with enabling policies, infrastructure and institutional support, and empowerment of local communities. As I peer into the next decade, I see exciting new opportunities and also major new responsibilities beckoning India.

Mukesh Ambani

Solar products growth picking up

http://chakauti-rkant.blogspot.com/
A brave new world of gadgets is coming up with a new potential in solar energy. The way growth is picking up and venture capital investments are pouring in, solar products are something you need to watch out for.

There are large number of solar products on offer: iPod chargers, emergency lights, rice cookers, lanterns, water heaters, garden lights, AM/FM radios, rechargeable fans, power fences, water pumps, etc.

Though these gadgets cost more than their conventional counterparts.  But  the upfront price can be compensated in the money saved on electricity bills. Solar products will help you survive power cuts and also have low operating costs. On customary products one needs to pay a regular amount of electricity bill (electronic water heater is usually blamed for yielding soaring bills) whereas solar products involve a one-time installation cost, leading to the cost recovery in the near future.

"The costs are falling  due to plummeting price of solar modules,"  Solar experts and producers say.  Solar modules typically accounts for 50 per cent of a product cost and its price. Further due to increasing competition, prices have dipped to R80 to 100 per watt from R200 to 230 per watt in the past year.

Solar Power in India to increase from 5 MW to 1000 MW by 2013

India is prepared to generate 1,000 Megawatts (MW) of solar power by 2013, in the first phase of the new solar power projects under Jawaharlal Nehru  National Solar Mission. This programme will place India amongst the solar power harnessing nations,  like Germany, Spain and Japan. The project is being financed by Indian Renewable Energy  Development  Agency,Power  Finance Corp. & Rural Electrification Corp. 1300 MW  solar power production is planned, out of  which 500 MW will be photovoltaic energy, 500 MW  will  be solar thermal, 100 MW individual and 200 MW will be off-grid. Under this project, 50 percent of the power  will be generated through solar photovoltaic cells and the other half will by solar thermal power. Because of the amalgamation of technologies the overall cost of the generated electricity would be less in the future.  This  will reduce the rate if both are amalgamated and when you find out after amalgamation,  the price will come just you see about  four to five rupees. India  currently  produces less than 5 MW  of solar power every year.

Solar Energy: The remote possibility for relief in Power starved Bihar

http://saurshakti.blogspot.com/

Suffering in  Bihar 

As the mercury soars high, hand fan is the only way out  in the power-starved Bihar.   People   live in the lantern age there. Electricity in towns fails regularly. In villages, it is not there at all.

All towns districts and villages are hit badly due to  lack of power. If there is power at night, it is considered a gift for the very few who have electricity connections for a few hours. Protests  against power shortage are marked by attacks on Electricity offices resulting in more power cuts.

Bihar faces a deficit of more than 1,000-1,200 MW of power a day. Bihar faces a serious power crisis due to shortage of supply from the central grid.  Bihar produces 100-120 MW a day from its two thermal power units at Barauni in Begusarai and Kanti in Muzaffarpur district. The state is dependent on central grid for power. By conservative estimates, Bihar needs 2,200-2,500 MW of power a day but gets less than 900 MW from the central  pool despite a daily allocation of 1,646 MW.


Solar Energy
http://mnre.gov.in/pdf/jnnsm-g170610.pdf

Government's Jawaharlal Nehru Solar Mission announced in January 2010  aims at a quantum leap in solar power installation in the country targeting  20,000 megawatt (Mw) of solar power by 2022.  Investment proposals over Rs 1,00,000 crore have been received by the Government.  Huge incentives offered by the government are very attractive for  business houses as the opportunities coming up are  very  large.  Last year  the government received proposals worth over Rs 1.2 lakh crore under the Special Incentive Package Scheme from solar and photovoltaics (PV) manufacturers.

To make solar power attractive, project developers have been offered many fiscal incentives, including a 10-year tax holiday for photovoltaic (PV) and thermal solar plants set up by 2020, reduced customs duty and zero excise duty on specific capital equipment, critical materials and project imports, besides loans at cheap interest rates. As per the Generation Based Incentive (GBI) programme, the Government provides financial assistance of Rs 12 per unit in case of solar photovoltaic and Rs 10 per unit in case of solar thermal power fed to the electricity grid from a grid interactive solar power plant of a capacity of 1 MW and above for a period of 10 years.  Solar equipment makers also get incentives as per Special Incentive Package (SIP), for setting up integrated solar manufacturing plants.

There is enormous potential for off-grid PV deployment in India, based on real needs and benefits, in the areas of rural lighting and electrification, for powering irrigation pump sets, back up power generation for the expanding network of cellular towers across the country, captive power generation, urban applications and highway lighting,

Solar energy utilization has just started in India, with less than 10 MW of installed capacity, though the total generation capacity is huge, 1,60,000 MW and the Mission wants to tap 20,000 MW.  The hopes are high, but  questions behind these hopes are no less. 


The basic fundamental question remains:
lack of effectiveness and efficiency of the Mission at the hands of the greedy and profit mongering elements amongst the Governments, Contractors and Business Promoter communities which have so far kept Bihar inhabitable for the past 63 years.  The lack of effectiveness and efficiency of Governments and Contractors was conveyed by the Director(RE) in the Ministry of Power of the Government of India  on August 10, 2007 in the following words : 

" This has reference to your e-mail to Secretary, Ministry of Power regarding electrification of your home villages Chakauti in Sitamarhi district.
(http://chakauti-rkant.blogspot.com/)

The matter has been got checked up. GOI has launched Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana for electrification of un-electrfied villages, intensive electrification of electrified villages and to provide free connections to BPL families. A project under the scheme has been sanctioned for the district Sitamarhi also. Chakauti village was not included under the project by the state for electrification as it was declared as electrifed earlier. However, during detailed survey during implementation of the sanctioned project, it was found that the village has got de-electrified. A supplementary project has been prepared to cover the village.

The RGGVY was for X Plan only. The proposal for continuation of the Scheme for XI Plan is under consideration of the Govt. The supplementary project will be sanctioned after approval of the scheme.

Best regards.

Yours sincerly

Director (RE)
Ministry of Power" 

The fact is that the village was never electrified, and there was no question of its getting de-electrified; no home has been electrified in Chakauti so far. Whatever "done  or undone" was only in the government's records.

   

BRIC Summit Resolution on Energy April 15, 2010

Energy 

19. We recognize that energy is an essential resource for improving the standard of living of our peoples and that access to energy is of paramount importance to economic growth with equity and social inclusion. We will aim to develop cleaner, more affordable and sustainable energy systems, to promote access to energy and energy efficient technologies and practices in all sectors. We will aim to diversify our energy mix by increasing, where appropriate, the contribution of renewable energy sources, and will encourage the cleaner, more efficient use of fossil fuels and other fuels. In this regard, we reiterate our support to the international cooperation in the field of energy efficiency.

 

20. We recognize the potential of new, emerging, and environmentally friendly technologies for diversifying energy mix and the creation of jobs. In this regard we will encourage, as appropriate, the sustainable development, production and use of biofuels.  In accordance with national priorities, we will work together to facilitate the use of renewable energy, through international cooperation and the sharing of experiences on renewable energy, including biofuels technologies and policies.

 

Additional wind power in two years in India

India will add about 9000 MW of wind power generation capacity. The country today has an installed capacity of 4,907 MW. Power generated from wind costs about Rs 3.56 per unit.
 

9,000 MW to be added by PVT. Sector in next two years

The  government announced that  the private sector will generate 9000 MW in the next two years. Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde informed Rajya Sabha that the contribution of private sector in additional generation has gone up from 4 per cent to 18 per cent since 1999.  Seven more ultra mega power projects  will come up besides the five originally planned.  Two of these projects have already begun generation. The Govt. aims at synchronising the power grids of South India from North Indian grids in 18 months. Members demanded increase in electricity generation to meet the huge shortfall of 16,000 MW.

Solar Energy : Economic Necessity for Indian Villages

Solar Panels for Rural Use