Fresh - X, March Edition

March 2013 | Fresh Energy Co | +91 9990256661
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Fresh-X

Privatisation of Power - How It Helps In India the opposition to privatisation are plenty and many and more so, with the privatisation already happening in  a few states in the country and the latest initiative by the Bihar Government in four of its towns.  I believe  and know for sure that it is a popularly accepted fact that privatization leads to greater customer satisfaction.  With privatization come the Greater efficiencies, Net Metering and Smarter Grids. The one thing that we solar producers have been ignored for a very long time is that net metering will bring benefits to all us and the states where privatization has occurred.  Delhi and Mumbai were the first cities to have privatised power distribution in the country.  Apart from these metros, the states of MP, Odisha and Gujarat have privatised power across their cities. Net metering ensures that energy generated at home does not go waste.  While you are away, your house is generating energy but you are not using it.  Meanwhile at night while you have the lights and TV blaring, your solar system is sitting idle.  You could buy an expensive battery to store the extra energy you generate during the day, but there's another option that allows you to send your extra power to the grid in exchange for banked energy credit that you can use when you need it.  It's called net metering Innovation in Solar Creative minds not necessary mean innovative mind and the Indian Renewable Energy has lot to adapt from innovative techniques around the world.  Innovation could be the key to India becoming world leader in low cost renewable energy solutions.  There are two techniques that are applied to innovation, there is the "slow and build" approach of say a Bell Labs as opposed the face book's "fast and break" approach.  Seemingly the idea may take a long time to germinate but when it does then there is a revolution. The temple has an annual income of more than $340M and a footfall of 50,000 - There is a revolution going on in India and no better thought comes to my mind the one that happened in the holy town of Tirumala in Andhra Pradesh 1,00,000 people daily.  Obviously this heavy footfall takes a toll on its resources of water, food and electricity. The temple has an annual income of more than $340M and a footfall of 50,000 - There is a revolution going on in India and no better thought comes to my mind the one that happened in the holy town of Tirumala in Andhra Pradesh 1, 00,000 people daily. Obviously this heavy footfall takes a toll on its resources of water, food and electricity. So the temple used Eco-social innovation to get around its problems, one for instance it has installed rows of solar dishes which serve the community kitchen.  This equipment generates 4,000kgs of steam a day at 180 deg C and as a result 500 liters of diesel is saved per day.  Badal Shaw, Managing Director of Gadhia Solar Energy System which set up the solar cookers estimates that this has resulted in reduction of 1350 kgs of green gases to the atmosphere thus ensuring gold standard certification in carbon credits. India has to move from a consumer of technology to a becoming a producer of technology.  After being defunct for many years, the Solar Energy Centre is showing promise and the II Ts of Mumbai and Jodhpur are keeping the youth in touch with solar.  Here are a few takeaways, if India could become the hub for developing DE-central solar energy solutions which would impact the poor and un-electrified villages as also the fast developing urban and commercial centres, it would rapidly overtake the solar manufacturing centres in China. Going Green in a Big City For years I have lived in an independent house where it was easy to install and run energy efficient off grid solar energy system.  But I don't currently live in a villa or a kothi as you may call, I live in an apartment in the centre of the city where it is easier to transit and most of all you get high speed Internet.  This change has left me reflecting on how difficult it is to go solar in an apartment. Think of it this way, if I wanted solar water heating for my apartment, passive or active or if I wanted an off-grid application, I would probably have the following difficulties: -           Common Terrace  -    Lack of Space     -   Plumbing and Electrical I have been thinking on how to surmount these difficulties and it’s not been easy thinking logically through them.  What really has to be done to ensure that I maintain a green footprint is to first calculate the terrace area that is available.  Even with the available terrace area, it might be more difficult getting a level terrace in an apartment block with space divided between areas around the entry and the mumpty which is more like the area over the staircase.  In case of an apartment block it is most essential to use all the space that is available.  Typically after the space has been calculated remember the following calculations: 1) One panel of water heating in India requires 2 sqm of space and 100 Litres of water heating requires 1 panel and a mounted tank, in total roughly 3.5 sqm of space on the terrace 2) Off grid solutions are easier to manage and require 5 sqm for a KW of generation on the terrace. 3) Plumbing and Electrical work is best left to the professional though it would be prudent to involve yourself with the quality of the product for instance GI pipe or CPVC pipes or the gauge of the wire.