Towards green energy

E Rajesh Pathak

(rajeshpathakbpl@rediffmail.com)

The unprecedented pace is visible these days in the direction of reducing dependency on imports in the energy sector, as also in working upon the alternative ways to it. The limit of mixing ethanol in petrol is now allowed to have been 10% at the national level. Ethanol, firstly, is extracted from sugarcane; secondly, it is also now pragmatically allowed to be produced from the surplus grains lying unused in the warehouses. So also, to discourage import, the government has increased customs duty on ethanol. It is under favourable conditions only that now companies are demanding to increase the limit to 15%.

However, the government, in totality, wants to see that in future as soon and as much as possible electricity should replace petrol-diesel in the energy sector. One of the biggest problems in the way of this is of manufacturing high-quality battery for the storage of electricity, for which, as of now, the country is dependent on import. But soon things are going to be changed. The government has sanctioned a PLI (production linked scheme) scheme worth Rs 18,100 crore under which now 60% of the companies' production are made mandatory to undergo in the country itself.

Polysilicon is a specific kind of plastic. Today solar cells made of polysilicon, and other components like solar panels, solar modules are imported in the country from abroad. Due to which the cost of the final solar product gets to be expensive by 40% as compared to that of China. But now initiatives in the way of getting rid of this problem have begun to be worked upon, and days are not far when we would have got to be self-reliant in solar energy. India has set the target of achieving 2.80 lakh megawatt (450 GW) electricity from solar energy by the year 2030. Sharing its contribution, Reliance Industries announced to invest Rs 75,000 crore in that. From raw material (polysilicon) to manufactured goods (solar cells, solar panels, solar modules etc.) everything would be produced in Dheerubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex to be set up in 5000 acres of land in Jamnagar, Gujarat. Just refresh the memory when in the year 2015 Narendra Modi announced to achieve the capacity of 175 GW solar energy in the country by the end of 2022. The capacity today has got to be 100 GW, which accounts for India having earned fourth place in the world in the field of green energy, notably.

'Located at the height of 17000 feet, it is a territory where not a single blade of grass grows. Laddakh is useless, and not worth habitation. We did not even know where it was." Losing Aksai Chin to the hands of China, was what Jawaharlal Nehru was reported to have said in the Parliament. Today in the same Laddakh the process to begin the construction of such a mega solar plant is underway which is going to have the reputation of producing solar energy electricity to the tune of 5000 megawatts, the highest in the world over. Rs 45,000 crore being its estimated cost, the plant will start functioning by the year 2023. One more benefit of plants concerning the environment is that the country would be saved from the projected emission of 12,750 tonnes of carbon.

Today the Government seems to be more concerned as to how the benefits of Akshayurja (sustainable energy) could be reached more and more to agriculture and farmers. The subsidy, therefore, has been increased from 30% to 60% for the farmers purchasing solar pumps under the already running scheme of KUSUM [kisanurjasurakshautthanmahaabhiyan]. The subsidy will be borne by Central and State governments equally. Not only this but the farmer initially has to pay only 10% of the cost of solar-pump, the rest of the amount he will get in the form of a loan through banks. The solar unit once started, the surplus electricity to be produced from it farmer can sell to the DISCOMS [electricity distribution companies]. And the government will provide 50 paise per unit as an incentive for the five years to DISCOMS for buying the surplus power from the farmers. To wean farmers away from diesel to solar pumps government has planning of investing Rs 48,000 crore during the next 10 years.