The department is run by a small team comprising one secretary, one additional secretary, two joint secretaries and two scientists under the overall leadership of 76-year-old Farooq Abdullah, the National Conference supremo from Jammu & Kashmir, who is highly passionate about green energy along with cricket, music and a few other good things of life. The cause of green energy is also substantially championed by private entrepreneurs and community users.

Dr. Abdullah, who is known for making the least tongue movement in the union cabinet meetings, has silently but firmly put India in the global non-conventional energy map making it the fifth largest producer of wind power, an important green energy having a global capacity of over 200 Giga-watt. China leads the pack with a total capacity of over 50,000 MW, followed by the USA, Germany and Spain. India entered the scene very late, in 1999, and picked up pace in 2009, under the UPA II and septuagenarian Abdullah. The minister insisted on moving fast. The credit for India’s initial success in this front also goes to a local manufacturer of world class wind turbine, Suzlon.

In fact, technology firm Suzlon, an Indian-owned company, emerged on the global scene in the past decade. By 2006, it had captured almost 7.7 percent of market share in global wind turbine sales. Suzlon is currently the leading manufacturer of wind turbines for the Indian market, holding some 43 percent of market share. Suzlon’s success has made India a developing country leader in advanced wind turbine technology. Solar energy is another area the country has made a laudable progress. Roof-top solar power is spearheading the programme in a number of states, from Rajasthan to Kerala and remote areas of North-Eastern states. Abdullah thinks, quite rightly solar energy is India’s as well as the world’s future. As per Indian Wind Atlas, the on-shore wind power potential has been estimated at 49,130 MW at 50m height. Extrapolated at 80m height, the wind power potential has been found to be 102,000 MW. However, this needs to be validated with field measurements.

Thanks to the growing popularity of green energy among community users, several rural parts of Uttar Pradesh now have solar mini-grids. Solar power is dispelling darkness in Chhattisgarh. Biomass is firing brick kilns. Bagasse is generating captive power to crush canes in sugar mills. Renewable energy is becoming imperative for e-governance in rural India.

It is estimated that approximately 1.3 billion people worldwide have no access to electricity. And, some 2.7 billion people continue to rely on solid fuels such as traditional biomass and coal for cooking and heating. The number is expected to rise to 2.8 billion in 2030. According to an estimate, the primary sources of energy consisting of petroleum, coal and natural gas amount to around 86 per cent share for fossil fuels in primary energy consumption in the world. Non-fossil sources include hydroelectric 6.3 percent, nuclear 8.5 and others such as geothermal, solar, tidal, wind, wood and waste amounting to less than one per cent. World energy consumption has been growing at about 2.3 per year.

Fossil fuels are non-renewable resources as they take millions of years to form, and reserves are being depleted much faster than new ones are being made. The production and use of fossil fuels raise environmental concerns. A global movement towards the generation of renewable energy is under way to help meet increased energy needs. The burning of fossil fuels produces over 21 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, 50 per cent more than what natural processes can absorb. The greenhouse gas enhances ‘radioactive forcing’ and contributes to global warming with major adverse effect on earth and life on it. Renewable energy holds the future of earth and life. Thankfully, all countries are aware of it. And, a good number of them have programmes to tap the renewable energy resources to reduce the dependence on highly polluting conventional energy.

Although India woke up rather late to pursue the cause of green energy, it has been making steady progress since the beginning of this century. In the last 12 years, the share of India’s renewable power generation capacity as a percentage of the cumulative capacity has risen to nearly 13 per cent. As on 31st January this year, the country’s gross installed power generation capacity was 212,829 MW. Of this, coal thermal generation capacity was 122,810 MW and gas-based capacity 18,903 MW. Hydro-electric capacity was 39,416 MW and installed capacity from renewable was 26,920 MW, leaving only 4,780 MW from nuclear plants. In April, 2002, India’s renewable power generation capacity was a meager 3,453 MW.

Behind the growth story of India’s renewable energy capacity is the increasing interest of private entrepreneurs in this field, trying to create indigenous equipment capacity, take up R & D activity, focusing on cost, access and affordability to consumers, and acquire project development expertise. Of the total grid-interactive renewable energy capacity at the beginning of this year, wind power took the lead position claiming over 18,600 MW, followed by small hydro power (up to 25 MW capacity projects), bagasse cogeneration, solar power, biomass power and gasification and waste to power. Despite high investment cost, solar power is becoming increasingly popular in India.

India has been interacting with both developed and developing countries for cooperation in the field of new and renewable energy. The idea is to learn from and adopt technological advancements in best practices in policy and implementation from advanced countries such as Germany, the US, Denmark, Sweden and Scotland and share them with all relevant stakeholders, including, scientists, policy makers and businessmen. India has signed memorandum of understanding with some 23 countries in the area of renewable energy and have several joint working groups to take the cause of green energy forward. It has developed bilateral and multilateral cooperation frameworks involving SAARC, ASEAN, BRICS and IBSA (India-Brazil-South Africa group), etc.

More people in India lack access to electricity than any other nation. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), over 400 million people don’t have access to the energy needed for lighting, mechanical power, transport and telecommunications. That’s equivalent to roughly the combined population of the US and Mexico. “Access to electricity is not only a result of economic growth but electricity access also contributes actively to economic growth,” according to the IEA report. “In this regard, reliability, and not just access, is very important to sustainable economic growth.” The UPA government has failed to keep its pledge to provide electricity nationwide by 2012. Maybe, at the current rate of India’s green energy expansion, this should be possible by 2020. (IPA Service)