Thursday, March 17, 2011

Potential of Renewable Energy

As per various studies undertaken in past, a potential of about 89,000 MW for power generation from different renewable energy sources is estimated excluding solar energy which has been estimated for most parts of the country at around 20 MW per square kilometer of open, shadow free area covered with solar collectors.

A total grid interactive renewable power generation capacity of around 18842 MW has been set up as on 31.01.2011, which is over 11% of the total power generation installed capacity from all sources in the country.

The initial capital investment in renewable energy projects is generally high and their viability is very much region / site specific. As such, the cost of renewable power generation is generally higher in comparison with the traditional sources.

Research, design and development (RD&D) efforts are underway globally, including in this country, driven mainly by industry, to develop technologies/processes that help to align the unit cost of power generation from renewable energy sources, especially solar, to that of conventional power generation. The Ministry is supporting such efforts under its R&D programme, with CFA up to 100% of project cost to Universities, research institutions, R&D laboratories and industry, for achieving well-defined specific outputs.

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