CATEGORIES

Air Pollution In India: Major Issues And Challenges

As per a study published in The Lancet Planetary Health Journal, in 2019, air pollution ‘caused more than 16.7 lakh deaths in India — over ten times more than the country’s COVID-19 death toll so far’. In this thought-provoking article, Dr Bhola Ram Gurjar foregrounds the challenges India is currently facing to bring the level of air quality to a certain standard and discusses solutions that could be adopted to combat the national crisis.

RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT

RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT

Molten Salt Tower echnology for India

Power generation is the backbone of India’s solar sector. Sheela K Ramasesha highlights the merits of considering the solar molten salt tower technology in the country’s power mix to achieve a quicker and more efficient way of power production.

LPG ADOPTION BY RURAL HOUSEHOLDS: Financial Instrument to Push Refills

One of the major health hazards in India stems from household air pollution. The use of the traditional cooking stove, called chulha, involves burning of biomass, thereby releasing smoke that is a leading cause of illness and death. In this article, Debajit Palit, Martand Shardul, and Deborshi Brahmachari discuss the advantages of replacing biomass stoves with LPG and recommend an innovative financial instrument for increasing the uptake of LPG refills by rural households

CHINA SET TO ADD 140 GW RENEWABLE ENERGY CAPACITY IN 2021

China is expected to add 140 GW of renewable energy power generation this year as its electricity consumption continues to grow, according to forecasts from the China Electricity Council (CEC).

Flood Early Warning System For Guwahati

In this article, Prasoon Singh, Dhriti Pathak, and Saurabh Bhardwaj say that flood early warning systems that can predict the flood hotspots of the city based on information regarding the rainfall intensity and duration can be a major boost towards enhancing the resilience of flood-prone cities such as Guwahati. They also inform us that TERI in collaboration with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has recently launched a Flood Early Warning System (FEWS) for Guwahati.

STRENGTHENING DISASTER RESILIENCE OF THE POWER SECTOR IN INDIA

Electricity services are one of the most needed services in the present world. A natural hazard event not only causes direct physical damage but also disrupts electricity services along with various indirect damages. The severity and intensity of extreme weather events are increasing in India. In this article, Ranit Chatterjee and Lalatendu Keshari Das focus on building resiliency into the power infrastructure in India.

Sustainable Thermal Comfort in Buildings Through Prioritizing Occupant Needs

A major reason for the poor satisfaction with thermal environment is the lack of individual and personal control over the environment. Building environment control systems can be designed by incorporating personalized control systems for greater satisfaction at much less energy consumption. In this article, Asit Kumar Mishra and M Ramgopal present a simple three-level approach that can achieve this goal and lead to a sustainable thermal comfort system.

Solar Powered Mobile Water Purifiers

Various methods exist for the purification of water. The lack of fuel use has made the solar energy application relatively superior than the conventional sources of energy for water purification as it does not cause various types of pollution effects. Suram Singh Verma, in this article, talks about solar powered water purifiers and elaborate on their advantages and challenges.

GREEN ENERGY AND GRID INTEGRATION - Potential and Economic Viability in India

As the costs of renewable technologies have come down, renewable markets are slowly evolving to become viable alternatives to the conventional energy. Governments across the world are reconsidering the economics of renewable energy and increasingly accommodating renewables into the complex equations of public policy. Shreya Shekhar, in this article, examines the renewable energy in countries that have been early movers in the market and then considers the Indian context to discuss potential and problems.

Coronavirus Crisis Hits Solar And Wind Energy Industry

Swinerton Renewable Energy had everything it needed to build a promising new solar farm in Texas. It lined up more than 2000 acres for the $109 million project estimated to generate 400 jobs while under construction.

RENEWABLE POWER SURGES AS PANDEMIC SCRAMBLES GLOBAL ENERGY OUTLOOK, NEW REPORT FINDS

The pandemic-induced global economic meltdown has triggered a drop in energy demand and related carbon emissions that could transform how the world gets its energy – even after the disease wanes, according to a report released today by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

CORONAVIRUS WAKE UP CALL FOR SOLAR INDUSTRY, NEED TO SET UP MORE MANUFACTURING FACILITIES IN INDIA

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a wake-up call for the domestic solar industry as it is heavily dependent on imports, but domestic manufacturing can be sustained only if there is profitability, a senior official of Tata Power Solar said.

TRANSITIONING TOWARDS CLEAN ENERGY

Dramatic steps have been taken to reduce emissions and transition to cleaner sources of energy. Apart from efforts for steep reduction in climate change consistent with the Paris Agreement, it is equally import to reduce air pollution and provide universal electricity access to people. David Turk, IEA, in conversation with TCA Avni for Energy Future talks about challenges and progress to meeting clean energy transition goals.

GREEN STEEL FOR A GREEN ECONOMY

The ‘harder to abate’ sectors – a categorization that includes the iron and steel sector – account for around 40% of the total carbon dioxide emissions from today’s energy system, and these emissions will increase as emerging economies continue to develop unless steps are taken to promote ‘green steel’. In this article, Will Hall, Thomas Spencer, and Sachin Kumar discuss short- and long-term actions for the iron and steel sector, covering the technological solutions and possible policy options that could help drive a sustainable transition.

INDIA'S ENERGY TRANSITION The Challenge with Decision-Making at a Time of Rapid Change

India has set ambitious targets towards the achievement of the dual goals of climate action and sustainable development through its nationally determined contributions and energy access commitments. As India starts a new decade of energy transition, it is an opportune time to assess where India stands in achieving its targets as well as to identify the key challenges being faced during this transition. Parul Kumar and Bharath Jairaj discuss these issues and offer insights into solutions that can help India achieve its goals.

$110 TRILLION RENEWABLES STIMULUS PACKAGE COULD CREATE 50 MILLION JOBS

As the world continues to grapple with the worst global pandemic in living memory, economists everywhere are warning that we are witnessing the unravelling of something far grimmer than the 2008 financial crisis.

Tata Power Plans To Have 700 EV Charging Stations By 2021

Tata Power is planning to increase its network of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations to 700 by next year, a top company official said.

Women In The Solar Workforce

It is important to evaluate where we are in terms of women’s participation in the renewable energy (RE) workforce. While there is a consensus regarding lower female participation in the RE workforce, the efforts towards the achievement of SDGs 5 and 7 are invisible due to their presence in the informal sector. In this article, Arunima Hakhu discusses the gender and employment in the RE sector and highlights that women self-help groups are crucial for the uptake of solar solutions in the informal sector.

ORGANIC PHOTOVOLTAICS: Towards Development of Low-cost Green Solar Cell Technology

Solar power industry is developing rapidly in India. Among the key challenges faced by the solar PV community is to find a balance between manufacturing commercially viable solar panels to meet growing consumer requirements and optimize the manufacturing technology following an environmentally sustainable design. In this article, Raavi Sai Santosh Kumar focuses on the development of green solar cells and the possibility to employ eco-friendly green organic molecules in the device fabrication.

GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN ENERGY SECTOR

Concerted actions are required at multiple levels of policymaking, implementation, budgeting, and monitoring to promote equal participation of women in the energy sector. Gender- sensitive policies and practices are necessary to create opportunities for women across energy value chains, including at workplace and marketplace. Suhela Khan, Country Programme Manager WeEmpower Asia at UN Women, in conversation with TCA Avni for Energy Future talks about enhancing women’s access to sustainable energy and developing their leadership and entrepreneurial skills in renewable energy.

MANAGING INDIA'S CLEAN ENERGY WASTE: A ROADMAP FOR THE SOLAR AND STORAGE INDUSTRY

With the increasing penetration of distributed renewable energy sources such as solar PV and energy storage into the Indian electricity sector, it is necessary to prepare for managing the waste generated from these technologies. The reduce, reuse, and recover approach offers multiple socio-economic benefits besides being environmentally benign. In this article, Akanksha Tyagi takes a closer look at the management of clean energy waste.

RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT

To rid electric grid of carbon, shore up green energy support

TRANSFORMING PV WASTE TO A RESOURCE

Growing resource consumption comes at a cost of the environment. As the global deployment of PV approaches terawatt levels in an increasingly resource-constrained world, resource efficiency strategies adopted for PV manufacturing combined with end-of-life high-value recycling are essential to promote a circular economy and transform PV waste into valuable secondary raw materials for other industries. In this article, Karen Drozdiak, Andreas Wade, and Sujoy Ghosh describe how First Solar continues to proactively invest in the improvement of the recycling technology to increase resource efficiency and drive down recycling prices for its customers.

POTENTIAL AND MARKET OPPORTUNITIES FOR ENERGY GENERATION FROM AGRO AND LIVESTOCK WASTE IN INDIA

India has a huge potential for installation of anaerobic digestion based biogas plants for cooking, electricity, and transport fuel applications in both rural and urban areas owing to the availability of large quantities of animal wastes, wastes from forestry and agriculture, industrial wastes, kitchen wastes, and so on. Over the years, a number of projects of different capacities and applications have been taken up for developing the technical know-how, manpower, and necessary infrastructure. In this article, Sunil Dhingra focuses on energy generation from agro and livestock waste in India.

Delhi Electric Vehicle Policy 2018

The national capital of ‘Delhi’ has been already declared as a ‘Gas Chamber’ by the Chief Minister of Delhi. Hence, to deal with the situation, the State Government of Delhi released the draft of Delhi Electric Vehicle Policy on 27 November 2018. In this article, Dr Atul Agarwal discusses the measures the policy takes to address major issues, that are necessary for the growth of electric transport infrastructure in order to combat air pollution in the city. The policy aims to bring down vehicular emissions in order to improve Delhi’s air quality. For the same, the strategy seeks to drive quick adoption of electric vehicles in such a manner that the share of registration of electric vehicles will be 25% in the total registration of new vehicles by 2023.

Higher Integration Of SPV Systems Issues And Challenges

Since Photovoltaic (PV) systems have variable power generation because of variable parameters, it would be more challenging to manage distributed voltage, increasing wear and tear in electromechanical utility equipment, and configure protection system with larger distributed generation PV (DGPV) systems. Deepak Kumar Yadav and Dr Brijesh Singh highlight some of the major issues and their impacts on integrating DGPV in this article.

India Stepping Up Efforts To Add Renewables And Lower Emissions In The Wake Of Paris Agreement

India’s focus on renewable energy started more than 100 years ago with hydro plants. However, the country accelerated its commitment after signing the Paris Agreement, the landmark accord designed to combat climate change. Developed during a United Nations convention in 2015 and ratified by 185 nations the following year, the Agreement urges countries to fast-track the actions needed for a sustainable, low-carbon future. With that goal in mind, the country is continuing to target renewable energy solutions and, at the same time, lower emissions. In this article, Suresh Nagarowth talks about India’s target of finding renewable energy solutions and at the same time lowering emissions.

Solar Energy In India

Challenges with Policies for Off-Grid Installations

Towards A Renewable Energy Boom In India!

Solar and wind energy to hold the front.