About 85 km from Tehri Dam, one of the highest in the world, is a small village, Agunda, in Uttarakhand. It is like any other village in the hilly state except that it boasts its own power station. The village community operates and runs a 40 kW micro hydro power project.

A village council in the remote northeastern state of Nagaland has offered a template of investment that can be replicated by financial institutions and banks throughout the hilly and rural regions to harness the renewable energy potential of an area

The Indian renewable energy sector has registered a growth of 106 per cent in the Eleventh Five Year Plan period ending March 31, 2012.

The land of rugged beauty has been suffering from the maladies of modern life accentuated by heavy use of fossil fuel especially diesel. However, in last two years, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has initiated an ambitious project to save the region from the clutches of fossil fuel.

Small hydro power is witnessing a curious case of opposing perceptions. While the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) thinks there is no need to revise the price estimates set three years ago, the independent power producers feel the pinch of escalating costs and squeezing margins.

With an installed renewable energy capacity of over 7,420 MW, Tamil Nadu occupies the top slot amongst all states in the sector. Wind power capacity, which accounts for more than 90 per cent of the state's installed capacity, has been the anchor of its renewable energy installations.