In 2015, at the climate talks in Paris, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi spearheaded the launch of an international solar alliance to raise $1 trillion to light up the developing world. Eighteen months later, Modi has turned promise into action.

India, a country of 1.3 billion people, is becoming perhaps the world’s best example of the revolution in green energy.

“It’s happening faster than anybody expected, because it was a gigantic promise,” says international environmental reporter Stephen Leahy, who has been writing about the energy transition in India for National Geographic.

“Many people were skeptical that they could deliver, but in just these last two years they have done remarkable things, in terms of creating a new approach to bringing energy to an awful lot of people,” Leahy says. “People thought that even if India [tried], they couldn’t do it this quickly. The perception of India may be that it’s a bureaucratic government that takes a long time to make decisions, that there’s lots of red tape, but that seems not to be the case when it comes to this.”

Leahy says India is acting, in part, because it is so vulnerable to the weather changes created by climate disruption.

“They’ve got water shortages. They’ve had huge heat waves that killed hundreds of people. They’ve got the sea-level rise issue, with most of the coastal areas. There are threats to their monsoon, which their agriculture is completely dependent upon,” he says. “There are a whole range of real impacts already happening to India right now, and it’s only going to get worse in the future.”

For India, the beauty of renewable energy is it’s cheaper, and it’s decentralized, Leahy says. In remote areas, where people have no electricity at all, “it’s much easier to install a small solar panel setup or a couple of wind turbines to provide energy,” he notes.

The other aspect that doesn’t get as much attention is water usage, Leahy says. Coal uses billions of gallons of good, quality water to provide electricity, while solar and wind require almost none. In a country without sufficient water to grow its crops, this is a major benefit.

India’s massive market has helped drive down the costs of renewable energy, Leahy says. Globally, prices have been falling year after year, and right now, India is getting a lot of financing from banks and financial institutions who see there’s money to be made.

“This isn’t a charity project. This is a moneymaking venture for a lot of companies,” Leahy points out. “Those folks who are installing renewables are power companies who are borrowing money — millions of dollars — from banks, and they are planning on making some profits off of this.”

India has seen other benefits to renewable energy, too, Logan says. Right now, the country loses about 30 percent of the energy it generates, because of transmission line losses. By having decentralized solar power and wind, they’ve cut these losses and seen big savings in energy and money.

A primary difference between India and countries like the US is that India wants to use coal to supplement its renewable energy, rather than the other way around. India’s energy minister, Piyush Goyal, has said that India plans to build no more new coal plants for the next decade. They will complete the few that are currently under construction. In the interim, they are hopeful that they can slowly develop better batteries capable of storing renewable, intermittent energy.

“That technology has been a bit expensive, but it’s coming along very quickly, as well, in terms of lower cost,” Leahy says. “So, in the future, they’ll be able to store renewable energy, and that will mean they can wean themselves off coal.”

India plans to add 160 gigawatts of renewable energy over the next four years and may reach that goal even sooner, Leahy says. By comparison, the US in 2015 had just over 100 gigawatts in solar and wind power, which took several decades to build out.

Can (or will) the US learn anything from India’s energy transformation? Leahy hopes so.

“They should understand that going back to coal is not the answer, that the day of fossil fuels is over, and that even a developing country with all sorts of social and other issues can make this rapid transition to renewable energy for the benefit of its citizens and for the benefit of their economy,” Leahy says. “They’re building a 21st-century economy around renewable energy.”

Source: https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-06-14/indias-renewable-energy-revolution-racing-ahead

All large ‘Gaushalas’ across thecountry will soon have their own biogasification equipment and bottling unit to make good use of bio waste, New and Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal said today.

“I have instructed officials to come up with an improvised scheme, which will help Gaushalas to make good use of cow dung for generating biogas,” Goyal said while answering a question during a video conference.

He said bio waste has huge potential, which can generate biogas usable for cooking food. It can also help Gaushalas earn some money, he added.

On solar energy front, the minister said that if Rajasthan government waives of intra-state transmission charges, solar energy sector can attract investment in Rajasthan, which will generate income and employment and benefit other states as well.

The minister hailed the achievements and initiatives ofthe Ministry of Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy made in the last three years.

“Achieving 24×7 affordable clean power for all and ensuring optimum utilisation of natural resources are critical for ‘Ujwal Bharat’.
“Over the past three years, the ministry has madeconsiderable progress towards achieving this goal under theleadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Goyal said.

Source:  http://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/power/gaushalas-to-have-their-own-bio-gasification-equipment-piyush-goyal/59112705

Power reached Majra Faqeer Khera village in Mohanlaganj area of state capital 69 years after independence. Villagers danced when the first bulb was switched on in the house of a villager Bechan.

The village finally became one of hundreds of villages across the country that has been provided electricity for the first time since independence in a special drive to electrify all the villages of state.
On the first day, 35 connections to BPL families and 1 to APL family was given, said GM LESA Ashutosh Srivastava who adopted the village and ensured power lines within 20 days of adoption of village.

“ I have directed all the engineers to adopt a village in their respective areas which do not have power yet. However, in this village under Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana of the centre, only Rs 21 lakh were spent for creating the power infrastructure ,” said Srivastava.

For Bitana Devi 31, Electrification means a lot as her son can study any time he wants. “My son, a student of Class 5 was not able to study at nights. Now he can do so,” she said.

Shatrughan, 59, another resident, said, “ We have studied and spent our lives using lanterns. Now our kids can live a better life.”

Chandan, a shop owner said, “ Earlier our day started with sun rise and finished with sunset but now we will have a life after sunset too. Electrification will help students, traders and farmers in increasing their output.

Gaj Prasad cleaned his refrigerator today which he received in his marriage as a gift from his in laws five years back. H would be able to use it at last, he said, adding gleefully, “Now we can drink chilled water and save our food from rotting.”

Source:  http://www.hindustantimes.com/lucknow/faqeer-khera-electrified-69-years-after-independence/story-C9PgkgJVfvsB0gTXq5VdiP_amp.html