Mereja

Author: Mridul Chadha

  • India to Launch Renewable Energy Certificates Program to Stimulate Clean Energy Growth

    New regulations announced by the Indian government reward the renewable energy producers not only for the generating power but also for preventing emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

    The new rules would allow the renewable energy power plants to increase their scope of revenue generation and thus reduce the payback period significantly. The renewable energy power plants can now either sell power to preferential tariff rates or sell the electricity generation and environmental benefits of the project separately.

    The renewable energy power producers would earn renewable energy certificates for every megawatt hour of electricity generated. A central authority would be established which would be responsible for distribution of these certificates. Any entity which has the obligation to purchase power generated from renewable energy sources can buy renewable energy certificates from these power producers to meet their targets. (more…)

  • British PM David Cameron Approves £200 million Green Energy Funding for Scotland

    Britain’s newly-appointed Prime Minister, David Cameron, has reportedly agreed to release £200 million worth of funds to Scotland to allow it to set up large scale renewable energy based power plants.

    Scotland had been demanding the release of these funds which were raised through the North Sea oil and gas industry and are being currently held by government regulator Ofgem (Office of Gas and Electricity Markets). These funds have been kept aside for investments in green energy projects but the Gordon Brown government had refused the Scottish demands to release the same in the past. Now, there seems to be a good understanding between the new British government and the First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, on this issue and the Treasury is said to be considering changing the rules pertaining to collection and distribution of these funds.

    Funding for large scale renewable energy power plants in Britain has been a roadblock in the recent past. British Petroleum has slowly withdrawn from its plans to invest in wind energy generation in the country while Royal Dutch Shell sold off its stake in one of the world’s largest wind farms, the London Array — the project was rescued when the Abu Dhabi-based Masdar group bought stake in the project. The economic uncertainty and attractive investments opportunities abroad certainly did not help. (more…)

  • Billboards in Florida to be Powered by Wind-Solar Energy, Will Form 1 MW Distributed Power Plant

    Lamar Advertising Co. will start retrofitting all billboards across Florida with wind and solar energy systems. The company intends to complete the operation by 2012 at the cost of about $12.5 million — the Department of Energy will provide $2.5 million while the remaining cost will be borne by Lamar.

    The project will cover 1,370 billboards across eight markets throughout Florida with most of the billboards located along interstates and at thoroughfares. Not only will the billboards be powered by wind and solar energy systems, they will also function as small power generating hubs feeding the surplus electricity to the grid. The combined capacity of the billboard energy systems will be about 1 MW. (more…)

  • India to Launch Climate Adaptation Fund for South Asia, Seeks to Increase Strategic Dominance

    India has announced to set up a fund to assist South Asian countries to adapt to the challenges of the changing climate. The 16th South Asian Association on Regional Cooperation (SAARC) held at Thimphu, Bhutan had the theme ‘Towards a Green and Happy South Asia’. Heads of governments of eight South Asian countries took part in this summit which focused on environmental issues.

    SAARC was established on December 8, 1985 by Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Pakistan. Sri Lanka, Nepal and Maldives; Afghanistan was later added as a member. In terms of population it is the largest regional cooperation forum in the world with a combined population of about 1.5 billion. In addition these eight members, there are nine observers to the forum including China, the European Union and the United States.

    India is the dominant member of the forum and it demonstrated its dominance by leading from the front on the issue of climate change. The Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh projected the adaptation fund as a ‘gift’ to the member nations as he announced the ‘India Endowment for Climate Change in South Asia’. He also proposed to set up regional climate innovation centres in South Asia in order to stimulate research and development in clean and sustainable energy technologies which the members nations can have easy access to. (more…)

  • 20 Universities to Compete in DoE-sponsored Solar Decathlon to Build Most Efficient Solar-Powered Home

    Department of Energy has announced the 20 teams from as many universities which will compete in the Solar Decathlon to design, build and operate the most affordable and energy-efficient solar-powered home. The event will be held at the National Mall in Washington D.C. in the Fall 2011.

    The DoE intends to a) educate students and public about the various energy-efficient technologies having application in home designing, b) introduce to the public the advantages of energy-efficient homes and use of renewable energy and c) train the students in energy efficiency technologies. The teams will be evaluated on their performance through a series of contests involving various aspects of designing, building and operating a solar-powered home. The students will be evaluated on parameters such as architectural, economical and engineering aspects.

    Universities selected for the 2011 Decathlon include Ghent University (Belgium), Purdue University (Indiana), Tonji University (Shanghai), University of Calgary (Canada) and Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand). (more…)

  • Atlanta-based Suniva Powers India’s Commonwealth Games Stadium With 1 MW Rooftop Solar PV System

    Keeping its promise to make the 2010 Commonwealth Games the ‘greenest ever‘, India hired services of Atlanta-based Suniva and Reliance Industries’ Solar Energy Group to install the largest rooftop solar energy power system in the country at the Thyagaraj Stadium.

    Suniva was chosen to supply its thin film mono-crystalline solar cells that have efficiency up to 20 percent. The company was founder by the current CTO Ajeet Rahotgi who is also a professer at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Benefitting from the close ties with Georgia Tech, the company was able to license this high efficiency solar cell technology.

    Suniva has been expanding its base in India. Last month it commissioned a 3 MW solar PV plant in Karnataka which supplies power to local farmers for irrigation.

    (more…)

  • NTPC, India’s Largest Coal Power Generation Company, Plans 500MW Solar, Wind Energy Project

    NTPC Ltd., formerly known as National Thermal Power Corporation, is planning to develop 500MW wind and solar energy projects in the Indian state of Orissa. NTPC is India’s largest power generation company and generates a big majority of power from coal-fired power plants. However, the company is now foraying into renewable energy and low carbon intensive generation technologies like hydro, nuclear and renewables.

    The company recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Orissa government in order to obtain approva for setting up the power plant. Orissa is a coastal state located in the south-eastern part of India. In addition to significant offshore wind resources, Orissa also blessed with substantial solar energy resource. The company has signed similar MoUs with the government agencies in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, all highly potential areas on India’s energy map. (more…)

  • Solar Powered Cellphone Towers In India To Reduce 5 Million Tons CO2 Emissions, Save $1.4 Billion Every Year

    The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy of the Indian government is likely to come out with a mandate that would require telecom operators to transform their cellphone towers from being powered by diesel generators to solar panels.

    The ministry had earlier invited proposals for establishing power supply technologies based on renewable energy sources other than solar and wind. However, now it seems that the ministry would go ahead with solar-based power systems and is looking to incorporate this project into India’s National Solar Mission which aims at setting up 20,000MW of solar power capacity by 2022. Such a move would not only help the government achieve this ambitious goal but would also allow the ministry get subsidies for the telecom and tower operators for installation of solar power systems.

    India has more than 250,000 cellphone towers which consume 3-5 kilowatts power depending on the number of operators using the tower. These towers consume about 2 billion litres (about 530 million gallons) of diesel every year. (more…)