The People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), which is spearheading a movement against the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP), today said India should look at renewable sources of energy like solar and wind power as a sustainable solution, instead of opting for nuclear energy.
''Though India’s offshore offers a great potential as a renewable alternative, the Union Government has not formally made a serious entry into exploiting offshore potential and a national policy on renewable energy is yet to be formulated, said Dr S P Udaya Kumar, Coordinator of PMANE, in a statement here. He said, ''India’s 7,500 km-long coastline offers tremendous potential for offshore wind farms.
The country has a potential of generating over 48,000 MW through onshore wind energy farms, but with re-powering, it is estimated that it can be higher at 70-100 GW. ''The current onshore installation is about 13,000 MW and the resources are limited with respect to high wind potential sites. Some of the satellite studies of 868 locations globally indicate that Koodankulam and Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu have high wind potential of greater than 9 m/s (metre per second) which equals some of the European farms,''.
He said it was expected that by 2030, 40 per cent of global wind farm would be offshore with an annual expected growth rate of 32 per cent. The total business potential was expected to be in the range of $200 billion from now on till 2030, he said, adding the global offshore wind farm capacity was expected to be 55,000 MW by 2020, as against 3,150 MW as of now. Mr Udaya Kumar said harnessing solar power had become an economic imperative for Asia and for India, it had become an urgent necessity.
''The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that solar will generate at least 20 per cent of the electricity in the world by 2050. In the case of Tamil Nadu, we have the land, the sun and the technology. And financial institutions such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) are willing to provide the money to get the solar economy up and running,'' he said.
He said Tamil Nadu had over 5,800 MW installed capacity of wind energy. According to the Centre for Wind Energy Technology, the potential for wind energy generation was huge in Tamil Nadu and could go up to even 15,000 MW. He said Tamil Nadu was currently facing a shortage of around 11,500 MW power and urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to fulfill Chief Minister’s request for additional allocation of 1000 MW from Central pool to tide over the present acute power crisis in the State.
Though Tamil Nadu government had sought from the Centre a special package of Rs 40,000 crore to bail out the financial crisis faced by Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation and adequate funding for various power projects, the Central government had been obviously turning a deaf ear to all these requests for financial help, he alleged.
He said instead of pleading with the unresponsive Central Government, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister should take people into confidence, concentrate on renewable sources of energy, adopt decentralized and demand-based generation schemes, and devise creative energy projects for Tamil Nadu. ''The poor farmers, fishermen, dalit workers and women all want the Chief Minister to scrap the KKNPP and save their lives and livelihood,
''Though India’s offshore offers a great potential as a renewable alternative, the Union Government has not formally made a serious entry into exploiting offshore potential and a national policy on renewable energy is yet to be formulated, said Dr S P Udaya Kumar, Coordinator of PMANE, in a statement here. He said, ''India’s 7,500 km-long coastline offers tremendous potential for offshore wind farms.
The country has a potential of generating over 48,000 MW through onshore wind energy farms, but with re-powering, it is estimated that it can be higher at 70-100 GW. ''The current onshore installation is about 13,000 MW and the resources are limited with respect to high wind potential sites. Some of the satellite studies of 868 locations globally indicate that Koodankulam and Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu have high wind potential of greater than 9 m/s (metre per second) which equals some of the European farms,''.
He said it was expected that by 2030, 40 per cent of global wind farm would be offshore with an annual expected growth rate of 32 per cent. The total business potential was expected to be in the range of $200 billion from now on till 2030, he said, adding the global offshore wind farm capacity was expected to be 55,000 MW by 2020, as against 3,150 MW as of now. Mr Udaya Kumar said harnessing solar power had become an economic imperative for Asia and for India, it had become an urgent necessity.
''The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that solar will generate at least 20 per cent of the electricity in the world by 2050. In the case of Tamil Nadu, we have the land, the sun and the technology. And financial institutions such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) are willing to provide the money to get the solar economy up and running,'' he said.
He said Tamil Nadu had over 5,800 MW installed capacity of wind energy. According to the Centre for Wind Energy Technology, the potential for wind energy generation was huge in Tamil Nadu and could go up to even 15,000 MW. He said Tamil Nadu was currently facing a shortage of around 11,500 MW power and urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to fulfill Chief Minister’s request for additional allocation of 1000 MW from Central pool to tide over the present acute power crisis in the State.
Though Tamil Nadu government had sought from the Centre a special package of Rs 40,000 crore to bail out the financial crisis faced by Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation and adequate funding for various power projects, the Central government had been obviously turning a deaf ear to all these requests for financial help, he alleged.
He said instead of pleading with the unresponsive Central Government, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister should take people into confidence, concentrate on renewable sources of energy, adopt decentralized and demand-based generation schemes, and devise creative energy projects for Tamil Nadu. ''The poor farmers, fishermen, dalit workers and women all want the Chief Minister to scrap the KKNPP and save their lives and livelihood,
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