The concept of solar parks was started in India by the Gujarat government where land, infrastructure and electricity transmission is established in one place making it easy for solar developers to set up megawatt scale solar energy plants. This has been copied by Rajasthan and now by Tamil Nadu as well. The 6% SPO for […]
Small Hydro Power in India Classification of Small Hydro in India Small Hydro Power projects in the country are generally categorized as those having small gestation periods and requiring lesser investment unlike other energy projects, thereby emerging as an attractive option for investors. Small Hydro Power projects generally serve a small community or industrial plant. A […]
Bottleneck in Biomass Power Development India is predominantly an agricultural economy. The estimated food grain production in India in 2011-12 is estimated as a little over 250 MT (Source: PIB). Since biomass energy is primarily derived from the agricultural waste, this sanctify India with huge potential for Biomass power generation. However reality eludes this. The growing O&M costs and […]
Wind Energy is the largest renewable energy source in the globe right now (if you don’t count in hydro and nuclear energy). The total installed wind energy capacity exceeds the solar and biomass capacity by quite a margin at over 200 GW . The recent surge in wind energy installations has been from China which put up almost 40-50% of the global wind turbine installations in 2010 and 2011. Now China has surpassed every other country to become the largest wind energy country in the world with over 60 GW. While Europe earlier led by Spain, Denamark and Germany used to lead in wind capacity, they have been comprehensively overtaken by the Middle Kingdom in the last couple of years. USA comes in next but still far below its potential while the rest of the world has started to pick up now. India is the 5th largest country and has been steadily putting up around 2-3 GW of wind capacity each year.
However Solar Thermal Technology is finding a niche in Hybrid Fossil Fuel Power Plants . The reason that Solar Thermal is gaining traction in Solar Hybrid Plants is
1) They can use the existing Electricity and Transmission Infrastructure of the new Fossil Fuel Plant or the Existing One
2) Solar Thermal Technology in most cases generate Steam which can be used by the Turbines of the Fossil Fuel Plant saving additional costs
Nuclear Power has come under assault in the aftermath of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident with Nuclear becoming a four letter word.However Nuclear Energy cannot be ignored because its nuclear energy uses are unique in some applications and cannot be substituted by any other means.Nuclear Energy is responsible for generating almost 1/6th of the global production of electricity with Developed Countries like Japan,Europe and USA having 20% or more of their electricity being generated by Nuclear Fission.Currently 31 countries in the world have nuclear reactors producing electricity.The total installed nuclear generating capacity in the world is around 375 GW (WNA) with another 170 GW in planning g state and another 170 GW being proposed.Despite the massive opposition that nuclear power has run into,nuclear companies and nuclear power stocks are not going away soon.This is because of the massive installed base and the nuclear plans of emerging countries.For example Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia,UAE are going ahead with their nuclear power plans as are countries like India and Vietnam.