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Decentralised renewable energy a key to growth in India

There are several assumptions and beliefs that are implicit in Chavan’s statement that are worth examining. I have listed the four key ones below. Each of these statements is either patently false or at least extremely contentious:

India’s nuclear fixation is not smart strategy, Apr 26, 2011, By Samit Aich | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA   “……The Maharashtra chief minister Prithiviraj Chavan  is resorting to the time-tested art of making statements that are dodgy, sound absolutely reasonable and credible by taking a simple fact (fossil fuels will run out) and connecting it to a popular concern (energy shortage/energy security) in a way that appears to make the solution he has in mind (nuclear energy) the obvious, reasonable and inevitable solution.

In the process, he expertly turns nuclear safety into a narrow technical issue on which he will assure an agitated public while presenting nuclear energy as inevitable to meet India’s growing energy needs in a secure way.

There are several assumptions and beliefs that are implicit in Chavan’s statement that is worth examining. I have listed the four key ones below. Each of these statements is either patently false or at least extremely contentious:

Nuclear energy is perpetual, everlasting, and clean. It makes economic sense.

There is no alternative (TINA): renewable technologies don’t count and won’t matter in meeting India’s energy needs.

India’s current energy shortage is a result of insufficient production. Nuclear power can be ramped up quickly to make a significant impact on this shortfall.

The technological and economic features of electricity generation, distribution and consumption in the future are going to replicate what we have now……..f in complete deviation from historical experience of cost and time overruns in nuclear projects in India, Jaitapur gets built on time and on budget, it would produce 1650 MW from 2018. Given the centralised nature of the facility, it is highly doubtful what benefit this would have for the millions of people who are still waiting for electrification……….ndia is today in serious danger of being left behind again and the nuclear fixation could well be a key factor in holding India back. China has probably ensured that it would be world’s manufacturing hub for these [renewable energy]  technologies while India has slid from being one of the world’s leading wind energy players to an insignificant one.

What India needs to implement is a strategy that rapidly invests in efficiency to have an immediate impact on the shortage and massively scale up investment in decentralised renewable energy as the key to inclusive growth. With its recent scaling up of investment in wind and solar technologies, India probably still has an immense opportunity to leverage its IT capabilities to become a world leader in smart grid technology.

But, are Chavan and his colleagues listening?……. http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/analysis_indias-nuclear-fixation-is-not-smart-strategy_1536216

April 26, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general