Low Carbon News in India in December 2015 & January 2016
India cut carbon emission intensity by 12% in 5 years
Just weeks after the Paris deal, India, on Friday, submitted its first Biennial Update Report (BUR) to a UN climate body highlighting that the country is well on course to fullfil its global commitment by voluntarily cutting its carbon emission intensity (emission per unit of GDP) by about 12% between 2005 and 2010. The result appears encouraging as it shows that the country is in line to reach its 2025% reduction target by 2020 and subsequently the 33-35% emission intensity reduction goal by 2030 as promised by it in the country’s climate action plan to the UN body.
International Solar Alliance will be the First International and Inter-Governmental Organisation of 121 Countries to have Headquarters in India with United Nations as Strategic Partner
The Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi, and the President of France Mr François Hollande, today jointly laid the foundation stone of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) Headquarters and inaugurated the interim Secretariat of the ISA in National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE), Gwalpahari, Gurgaon. Government of India has dedicated 5 acre land in NISE campus for the ISA Headquarters and also has contributed Rs 175 crore for ISA corpus fund and also for meeting expenditure for initial five years. ISA is part of Prime Minister’s vision to bring clean and affordable energy within the reach of all and create a sustainable world. It will be a new beginning for accelerating development and deployment of solar energy for achieving universal energy access and energy security of the present and future generations.
http://pib.nic.in/newsite/pmreleases.aspx?mincode=28
A big boost for solar rooftops in India
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the scaling up of budget from Rs, 600 crore to Rs. 5,000 crore for implementation of Grid Connected Rooftops systems over a period of five years upto 2019-20 under National Solar Mission (NSM). This will support Installation of 4200 MW Solar Rooftop systems in the country in next five years. The capital subsidy of 30% will be provided for general category States/UTs and 70% for special category States i.e., North-Eastern States including Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Lakshadweep, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, There will be no subsidy for commercial and industrial establishments In the private sector since they are eligible for other benefits such as accelerated depreciation, custom duty concessions, excise duty exemptions and tax holiday etc,
http://pib.nic.in/newsite/pmreleases.aspx?mincode=28
Government releases list of 20 smart cities
The government on Thursday announced the names of the first 20 urban areas that will be developed as smart cities. “Implementation of smart cities plan will showcase integrated planning. The investment of Rs 50,802 crores has been proposed in selected smart cities and towns during the five-year period,” said minister of urban development. Following is the list of 20 smart cities: 1. Bhubaneswar 2. Pune 3. Jaipur 4. Surat 5. Kochi 6. Ahmedabad 7. Jabalpur 8. Vishakapatnam 9. Sholapur 10. Davangere 11. Indore 12. New Delhi (New Delhi municipal council area) 13. Coimbatore 14. Kakinada 15. Belagavi 16. Udaipur 17. Guwahati 18. Chennai 19. Ludhiana 20. Bhopal
Smart cities need over $150 billion investment: Study
The Narendra Modi government’s vision of creating 100 smart cities will require an investment of over $150 billion over the next few years, with private sector being a significant contributor, says a report. According to Deloitte, nearly $120 billion will come from the private sector. The government has already initiated two programmes with an initial outlay of $7.513 billion for ‘Smart Cities Mission’ and the ‘Atal Mission for Rejuvenation of Urban Transformation (AMRUT)’ for the upgradation of 500 existing cities. “Even as funding for these smart cities is an area of concern, the major challenges remain with respect to the development of smart cities project management, government decision making and policy and regulatory framework,” Deloitte India’s PN Sudarshan said. While several cities have made incremental investments in smart solutions, the challenge will be to replicate these on a larger scale, he said.
According to the study, in 2016, service providers and over-the-top content providers will invest heavily in city- wide Wi-Fi networks which will be the back-bone for smart city services.”As smart solutions are heavily dependent on ICT, service providers will play a significant role in smart cities.
Climate change action is linked to lifestyles
Climate change cannot be tackled without sustainable lifestyles. This idea was India’s contribution at the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) on climate change held at Paris recently. A sentence in the Paris Agreement, signed by participants in COP21 on United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) reads “The parties of the agreement also recognizing that sustainable lifestyles and sustainable pat terns of consumption and production, with developed country and parties taking the lead play an important role in addressing climate change.” This sentence in the Paris Agreement recognizing `sustainable lifestyle’ as one of the prerequisites for dealing with climate change, was India’s contribution to the final agreement.
Government urges India Inc to move towards low carbon economy
To help India meet its climate targets agreed upon in Paris, the Indian industry will need to meet their obligations to move towards a low-carbon economy even as they capitalise on new business opportunities, the government said on Wednesday. “There are huge opportunities in renewables across generation, evacuation, storage as well as energy energy management systems to bring it at par with conventional fuels. The challenge lies in finding off grid solutions and fully integrating renewables into India’s fuel mix,” said Ashok Lavasa, secretary, ministry of environment, forest and climate change, in a statement. Lavasa was speaking at the Confederation of Indian Industry conference on ‘Roadmap to a Low Carbon Economy’.
How India weathered a storm in Paris during COP21 climate summit
The epochal global climate treaty signed last week would not have been possible without commitments from all the 195 countries that converged in Paris, but the role of one country — India — was crucial. India held the key to any global consensus in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In the parleys held in the run-up to the UN summit in Paris, almost every big country had set itself targets to reduce emissions. The Leaders’ Event on November 30 was attended by 154 heads of state and government, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US president Barack Obama, Chinese president XI Jinping and Russian president Vladimir Putin.
In some instances, India was working on finding “bridging” proposal to find convergence of issues. It made clear that coal was not its default option. Senior Indian negotiator Ajay Mathur said solar and wind are the country’s first commitments. “Hydro, nuclear — all of these non-carbon sources are what we will develop to the largest extent that we can. What cannot be met by these will be met by coal,” he said.
Solar Power Costs Drop to Record in Rajasthan Auction in India
The price paid for solar power in India touched a record low of 4.34 rupees (or 6 cents) a kilowatt-hour in the latest auctions held in the state of Rajasthan, where a total of 420 megawatts of capacity was awarded, a government official said.
The aggressive levels bid in the solar auctions are relieving concerns that the projects might not be built, according to Bridge to India, an industry research group.
The state of Rajasthan has the highest solar installations at 1,264 megawatts of the total 5,130 megawatts capacity installed in the country.
India’s Ambitious Bid to Become a Solar Power
India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, made headlines last fall by announcing his ambition to install 100 gigawatts of solar power capacity—over 30 times more than India has now—by 2022. Skeptics noted Modi’s lack of a detailed plan and budget, but some well-capitalized industrial players have apparently caught Modi’s solar fever: at a renewable energy summit called by Modi last month he collected pledges for 166 gigawatts of solar projects.
At the New Delhi summit, renewables giants such as First Solar and Sun Edison mixed for the first time with chief ministers from Indian states and top executives of Indian industrial conglomerates such as Adani Enterprises and the National Thermal Power Corporation, India’s largest power generator.
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/535551/indias-ambitious-bid-to-become-a-solar-power/
Solar power cost competitiveness to help India meet emission targets
Private energy producers once again bid for solar power projects at the lowest-ever tariffs in the latest auction that concluded on 19 January as India strives to cut carbon emissions by 35% and increase the use of renewable energy sources to generate at least 40% of its power needs by 2030.
Increased investor interest and bidding under the so-called reverse auction process where a winner is chosen based on the lowest price bid for the project are likely to make pricing of power generated from renewable energy sources more competitive, says industry watchers.
Fall in prices of solar panels and modules in global markets along with a firm policy push by the government in India to install 100 GW of solar power capacity by 2022–the largest renewable energy capacity expansion in the world–has increased investor appetite, leading to a tariff drop from Rs.18 per kWh a few years ago to a record Rs.4.34.
Waiving of Transmission Charges in Renewable Energy
Electricity Act, 2003 mandates Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) to determine tariffs including transmission tariffs. The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, vide CERC (Sharing of Inter State Transmission Charges and Losses) (Third Amendment) Regulations, 2015 notified that no transmission charges for the use of ISTS network shall be charged to solar based generation for the useful life of the projects commissioned upto 30.6.2017
http://pib.nic.in/newsite/pmreleases.aspx?mincode=28
Solar Power to Farmers
The Ministry has been implementing Solar Pumping programme through States, NABARD & other Government departments for setting up of Solar Power plants to pump water for irrigation purpose. State Governments send proposals to the Ministry based on the requirements in their respective States. Ministry is providing 30% capital subsidy equivalent (Rs/Hp) for setting up of solar water pumping systems, limited to maximum 5 HP, the Minister added.
http://pib.nic.in/newsite/pmreleases.aspx?mincode=28
Launching of Indian Wind Resources Atlas
The National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) has recently launched Wind Energy Resources Map of India at 100 meter above ground level and solar radiation map at ground level on online Geographic Information System (GIS) platform. This online Wind Atlas is available online in the NIWE website www.niwe.res.in.
http://pib.nic.in/newsite/pmreleases.aspx?mincode=28
5 crore LED bulbs distributed, count to double in next 2 months: Piyush Goyal
Government on Thursday said Energy Efficiency Services has distributed over five crore energy-efficient LED bulbs so far and this count will nearly double to 10 crore in the next two months.
Energy Efficiency Services Ltd, a joint venture of PSUs of Power Ministry, has completed distributing five crore LED bulbs under Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP) on Thursday morning, an official statement said.
“Reduced peak demand of 1,600 MW through LED bulbs. Imagine alternative of setting up four 400 MW plants and associated pollution and land needed,” Goyal tweeted.
“Almost 15,000 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide is not being emitted daily due to five crore LED bulbs,” he tweeted.
Britain, KMC join hands to make Kolkata low-carbon city
UK Employment Minister Priti Patel and KMC Mayor Sovan Chatterjee today launched a roadmap to make Kolkata a low carbon economy and a climate resilient city.
“Kolkata is leading the way in India, and playing its part in the international effort to tackle climate change,” Priti Patel, UK Cabinet Minister for Employment, said after releasing the roadmap at the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.
The British-Indian MP said with the launch of the roadmap, Kolkata has become one of the first cities in India to put in place an integrated strategy to lower emissions, improve resilience to the impacts of climate change and reap the economic benefits that a low-carbon transition can bring.
The roadmap contains recommendations across 20 sectors including disaster management, health, low-carbon procurement, resource conservation and policy to encourage use of solar energy.