Kalavati is the new symbol of energy security in India.
What's the difference between the 2000 MW Chandrapur Thermal
Power Plant in Mahrashtra and the 1.7 kWh and 280W solar panels
that Greenpeace installed over the Zilla Parishad School in Jalka
village?
The first is a mega power plant constructed with the aim of
lighting several villages in India. Today, years after the plant
was constructed and Jalka connected to the grid, the village
continues to face over seven hours of power cuts on a daily basis.
Most of the energy that is produced is diverted to bigger cities
and towns. A significant chunk of the rest is lost during
transmission and distribution. The same story resonates across the
country. Roughly 78 million people still do not have access to
power despite the increasing investment in such mega structures.
And the fact of the matter is that if we are to continue depending
on conventional sources of power, we never will. If we are to meet
our growing energy needs, and ensure secure, reliable and clean
energy, we will need to turn to renewable sources of energy such as
solar and wind that are independent of the traditional central grid
systems.
The promise of tomorrow, today
Over a matter of three days, Greenpeace commissioned Tata BP
Solar who installed solar panels on Zilla Parishad school and the
secondary school in Kalavati's village Jalka, Maharashtra. The 1.7
kWh and 280W panels can power 10 fans and two computers
respectively. Clearly, this indicates that the millions of
'Kalavatis' across the country need not wait for years before they
have access to clean and reliable energy. Take the example of the
2000 MW Chandrapur Thermal Power Plant, which is meant to have lit
Kalavati's village, Jalka. Although it has been receiving
electricity since the 80s, the village continues to face power cuts
on a daily basis. If the Kalavatis of India are to get power today,
we cannot fall back on coal or nuclear power plants.
Decentralised renewable energy solutions such as solar and wind
will not only ensure reliable and clean energy but will also usher
in an array of opportunities and the freedom of choice. As opposed
to the traditional, central grid systems, which entail huge
transmission and emission losses, alternative sources of energy,
which are structured such that the source of energy production is
close to the point of consumption, T&D losses are ruled out.
This also ensures that power cannot be diverted towards cities and
towns as is often the case with central grid systems.
In a statement to the media, Sarpanch Anusuabai Kumbhre
emphasised, "Our village was made famous in Parliament by Rahul
Gandhi and still nothing had changed. Electricity when we need it
has remained just a promise. I have witnessed how easily this solar
panel was set up in just three days. We heard that Rahul Gandhi
will be in Wardha from tomorrow. I would like to invite him to our
village to witness and take this vision forward."
Energy [R]evolution
A sustainable India Energy Outlook Report, by Greenpeace and the
European Renewable Energy Council provides a practical energy
blueprint on how India can urgently and simultaneously achieve the
following goals, which are complementary and not mutually
exclusive.
1. Secure an affordable energy supply for our economic
development.
2. Ensure that our carbon emission growth, as projected in a
business-as-usual scenario, is significantly reduced.
The report develops a sustainable energy pathway up to 2050 for
India. The urgent need for change in the energy sector to meet the
above goals under today's scenario of economic crisis and
catastrophic effects of climate change mean that this scenario is
based only on proven and sustainable technologies, like renewable
energy sources and efficient decentralised cogeneration. By 2030,
35% of our electricity needs can be met by renewable forms of
energy.
To achieve, this, the Energy [R]evolution uses a three step
approach:
Step 1: Electrical efficiency
• Exploit all technical potential for electrical efficiency via
technical standards
Step 2: Structural changes
• Change the way we produce energy in large centralised power
stations towards a decentralised energy system, using large-scale
renewable resources that use locally available energy sources such
as wind, sun or geothermal
• Cogeneration - end the huge amounts of wasted energy via
cooling towers
Step 3: Energy-efficient transport
• Build up efficient public transport systems
• Implement efficient cars, trucks, etc.
Kalavati - The Symbol of Energy Security
Kalavati represents millions of Indians who receive unreliable
power, or who do not have access to power altogether.
By adopting solar power, Kalavati is now the new symbol of
energy security in the country. Political parties are in no
position to deliver "electricity for all by 2012," unless they
adopt this mechanism. The fact is that centralised grid with
coal-fired power plants will not be able to deliver the end of line
connectivity. Only a paradigm shift in the way we produce and
consume energy, will.
It's the ecology…err the economy, stupid!
There is a clear and direct link between economics and ecology,
in this case the very survival of the planet. A cost-benefit
analysis would explain how any investments in renewables today,
would be offset in the long run. Lord Nicholas Stern in The Stern
Review, the most comprehensive review carried out on the economics
of climate change, put the likely cost of climate change impacts at
up to 20% of global output. Mitigating it, which would involve
investment in low carbon technologies would be a fraction of this
cost: a mere one or two per cent of the global GDP.
If renewables are an expensive affair as compared to coal,
diesel, kerosene or petrol, it would be imperative to take into
account the fact that coal is highly subsidised, and externalities
(socio-economic, environmental costs) are never considered. It is
therefore not a comparative analysis. We need to have investment
and policies in place that would encourage manufacture and use of
renewables, on a massive scale. Subsidies need to be diverted
towards renewable energy systems. Economies of scale would be
reached soon enough and the manufacturing and sale costs would drop
sharply. The electricity generation costs (compared to conventional
fuels) under the Energy [R]evolution Scenario are lower from 2010
onwards due to independence from (world market) fossil fuels
prices. By 2050, the specific electricity generation costs are five
cents/kWh under those of the reference scenario. This is the only
way forward, if we are to phase out our dependence of fossil fuels
and play our part in mitigating climate change.