Low Carbon News in India in July 2015
55 Solar Cities to be Developed in India
As many as 55 cities in 27 states and union territories are currently being developed as solar or green cities, parliament was told today. The new and renewable energy ministry has been implementing the programme under which a total of 60 cities and towns are proposed to be supported for development as “solar or green cities”.
http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/55-solar-cities-to-be-developed-in-india-784596
India ‘will not announce’ carbon emissions peak year
India will not announce a target year for its carbon emissions to peak, its environment minister tells the BBC. Prakash Javadekar said that Delhi would submit plans to cut emissions to the UN, but would not announce a target date for when it expected its total carbon emissions to drop. His comments came two days after China told the United Nations that its emissions would peak around 2030.
“Countries know where India stands and what its requirements [development needs] are and therefore nobody has asked us for [the] peaking year.”
“China’s per capita annual emission is nearly 20 tonnes whereas ours is only two tonnes.”India argues that more than 20% of its population has no access to electricity and they have a right to development. Coal-fired power plants are India’s major source of emissions.
Delhi has announced that it will double the production of the dirtiest fossil fuel to one billion tonnes annually within five years. Indian officials say they have also launched massive renewable energy projects involving solar, wind and hydro power, that would generate 175,000 MW of electricity.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-33353181
Ministry of New & Renewable Energy to Conduct Solar Training Programme
Australian solar engineering and training company Global Sustainable Energy Solutions (GSES) India, has collaborated with the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) under Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, Government of India, to conduct quality solar training programme in Chennai.
Under this collaboration, the first training programme will be conducted on the NIWE campus in Velachery between July 20 and July 24.
The company had recently signed an MoU with NIWE under PPP mode to provide quality training in grid connection and off grid solar photo-voltaic design and installation.
The five- day technical advantage course will be offered on Standalone Power Supply Systems: Design and Installation for off-grid and rooftop solar PV systems. The aim of the training courses is to provide industry professionals, PV engineers and individuals wishing to further their career in the solar industry, hands-on training on step-by-step design and installation procedure of grid connected and off grid PV systems in accordance with international best practices to narrow the skills gap in the sector.
Solar Power for Irrigation
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is implementing programme for installation of 1,00,000 of Solar Pumps for irrigation and drinking water through State Nodal Agencies and NABARD. The Minister stated that ministry provides 30% capital subsidy to farmers for installation of Solar Pumps for irrigation purpose through State Nodal Agencies. State Government may also provide additional subsidy through own funds. Ministry also provides 40% subsidy with mandatory loan to farmers for irrigation purpose through NABARD.
http://pib.nic.in/newsite/pmreleases.aspx?mincode=28
India & USA Launch of a New Initiative “Promoting Energy Access Through Clean Energy (PEACE)”; Signs a MoU on Cooperation to Establish the PACESetter Fund
The Government of India and the United States of America have announced the launch of a new initiative “Promoting Energy Access through Clean Energy (PEACE)”. This ambitious cooperation is a new tract under the U.S.-India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy (PACE), a flagship initiative on Clean Energy that combines the resources of several U.S. agencies and GOI Ministries. India-U.S. corpus of about Rs.500 Million ($8 Million U.S. Dollars) have been drawn on 50:50 sharing basis. the Promoting Energy Access Through Clean Energy (PEACE) track of the U.S.-India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy (PACE) will accelerate the commercialization of off-grid clean energy through early-stage grant funding grants to develop and test innovative products, systems, and business models
http://pib.nic.in/newsite/pmreleases.aspx?mincode=28
‘Paris climate deal should reflect differentiated responsibilities’
The developing countries’ bloc of Brazil, South Africa, India and China have underscored that the ambitious Paris Agreement on climate change to be adopted later this year should “fully reflect” differentiated responsibilities of developed and developing countries. Developed countries should take the lead by undertaking ambitious emission reduction targets, ministers from the BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India, China) bloc said as they met for the 20th Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change here over the weekend. In a joint statement issued after the ministerial, the ministers underscored the need for the Paris Agreement to address in a balanced manner all six elements identified in the Durban mandate – mitigation, adaptation, finance, capacity-building, technology development and transfer, transparency of action and support. “With regards to mitigation, Ministers underscored the need for the provisions of the agreement to fully reflect differentiated responsibilities and distinct development stages of developed and developing countries, with developed countries taking the lead by undertaking ambitious, economy- wide, absolute emission reduction targets and providing finance and technology support to developing countries,” the statement said. It added that developing countries will also enhance their efforts, in the context of sustainable development, enabled and supported by finance, technology development and transfer and capacity-building from developed countries.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/global-warming/Paris-climate-deal-should-reflect-differentiated-responsibilities/articleshow/47866162.cms
India’s climate pledge ‘critically important’, says UN climate chief
A strong pledge to curb carbon emissions by India, the world’s third largest polluter, will be “critically important” to a meaningful deal at the crucial UN climate summit in Paris in December, the UN’s climate chief has said.
India has so far resisted calls for an ambitious target, citing the millions in the country who do not have access to energy and the need to pull those people out of poverty. Instead, it has suggested that it may make two climate pledges: one that can be achieved with domestic resources, and another that would be possible with financial and technological aid from the developed world.
Christiana Figueres said India’s pledge was vital. “It is one of the very large developing countries and it will be very important to see what their trajectory on energy is going to be and, in particular, how they are planning to provide energy to 400 million un-electrified people in india.”
India has promised to submit its own lower-carbon blueprint soon, but on Thursday ruled out setting a date for peaking its emissions – as China has done. Rather, the country’s pledge would be “much more ambitious” than the world expected, India’s environment minister, Prakash Javadekar said.
India seeks $2 bn from World Bank, ADB for rooftop solar projects
The government of India is in talks with the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank seeking $2 billion (Rs 13,000 crore) of funds. The funds would be used to provide cheaper loans for rooftop solar projects, Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, said at Delhi today.
The funds would be used to provide interest subvention to banks – banks would provide cheap loans and would be reimbursed for their sacrifice of interest from the funds. The government is also getting funds from other agencies, such as the German development funding company, KfW, Tripathy said.
The Union Minister for Coal, Power and New and Renewable Energy, Piyush Goyal, launched the IREDA scheme for rooftop solar PV power projects. IREDA will give loans at interest rates between 9.9 to 10.75 per cent for rooftop projects.