Off-grid biomass plants light up villages; experts demand clarity on tariff regulation

Off-grid biomass plants light up villages; experts demand clarity on tariff regulation.

Read More: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/powered-husk

3,000 MW of solar energy to be added in second phase of national solar mission. Off-grid solar applications and grid-connected rooftop panels will be given more importance in the second phase of the ongoing Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM). Started in early 2010, the mission is a flagship programme of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) to promote solar energy in the country. The government plans to add 3,000 MW of solar power in the second batch of JNNSM which aims to infuse 20 GW of solar energy by 2017.

Biomass power sector is in trouble. About 60 per cent of the country’s grid-connected power plants that run on biomass are either closed or about to be closed. Reason: rising fuel price, unrevised tariff and government apathy.

For full text: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/looming-biomess

Land meant for food crops being used to grow biofuel crops; may push up food prices by 36 per cent by 2020. The European Union’s biofuel production targets are depriving people of food, land and water across the world. Increasing biofuel production is one of the measures taken to reduce fossil fuel emissions and save the environment. But it is resulting in food price inflation and serious cases of land grabs in poor countries, says the recent report, The Hunger Grains, by Oxfam, an international non-profit.

Daily wager Bijendra Sao is fussing about at Exhibition Road in Patna to shop for his daughter’s dowry. The doting father wants the best that he can afford—a solar panel that can power two compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and a table fan. What better gift to give in a state that suffers perpetual power crisis. And what better place to shop for but the world’s biggest off-grid solar market that does an annual business of Rs 500 crore.

For full text: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/out-option

Industries that over-achieve targets will be awarded energy saving certificates that can be traded like carbon. With the aim to make the industrial sector energy efficient, India’s Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) launched its 'Perform, Achieve and Trade' (PAT) scheme on July 4. The scheme has set energy efficiency targets for industries. Those that fail to achieve targets will have to pay penalty. PAT has been launched under the National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency, one of the eight missions under the umbrella National Action Plan on Climate Change, launched in June 2008.

A chat and books persuade parents in Shravasti to not marry off young girls.

Read More : http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/children-once-again

Report predicts forced displacement of poor people from their land to meet EU targets to grow fuel crops. The European Union’s biofuel policies are driving up global food prices and pushing people in poor countries off their land, says a recent report of ActionAid. EU has a target of 10 per cent renewable energy in transport by 2020, and 88 per cent of this is expected to come from biofuels. The report Fuel for Thought comes at a time when the European Commission is set to submit a report on Renewable Energy Directive to the European Parliament this year.

Other states may follow suit as cash-strapped state discoms find the going difficult. Odisha government has asked the Centre for a subsidy to purchase solar power, saying it is too costly. The move makes Odisha the first state in the country to openly express its inability to purchase costly renewable energy. The state may not be the last one to demand aid—cash strapped state discoms are increasingly finding it difficult to purchase renewable energy.