Renewables must take centre stage in India

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: acquisition, environmental constraints, resettlement, finance and availability of sites have impeded its progress over the years resulting in project delays, cost escalation and underachievement of targets.

The advantages of hydropower are enormous. Apart from being renewable, non-polluting and environment friendly, it requires the least maintenance and has higher efficiency levels with low ancillary consumption compared with other power resources. Additionally, the cost of hydropower generation declines over a period of time as opposed to thermal power projects where costs increase due to increasing fuel cost. Small hydro projects have an additional advantage of fewer issues of rehabilitation & resettlement, submergence, deforestation, etc.

Wind energy has seen rapid expansion over the last few years and technological advancement leading to cost competitiveness and opportunities for carbon trading have been key drivers for investments in wind energy. Solar energy is the most abundant energy resource in the world and presents a wide application canvas, but we need some major R&D breakthroughs in cost reduction and maintenance of solar thermal power generation systems.

Renewable and clean energy projects are key to providing energy where power is in short supply and for off-grid applications. What is needed is an environment conducive to the growth of these resources and a stable policy framework, which is uniform across all the states. Some of the major issues confronting the renewable sector broadly include the need to reduce the cost of and improve the efficiency of technology, risk of investment and tight financing options, slow pace of electricity reforms, conflicting stands taken by various state electricity regulatory commissions and low availability of credit.

To sustain our growth process, it is crucial that we ensure uninterrupted energy supply at reasonable prices. Sustainability of the growth process will depend crucially on the level of energy security or independence that India is able to achieve in the future. For optimal development of the power sector, an integrated approach, including capacity addition with added focus on renewables, building a strong national grid with enhanced capacity of inter-regional links, developing a vibrant power market, demand management through energy efficiency and conservation, policy reform, etc has to be adopted. Nuclear energy is only part of the story and we should not lose sight of the others.