Vikram Solar to invest INR 500 crore in West Bengal

KOLKATA: Vikram Solar Pvt Ltd a part of the Vikram group of industries would invest INR 500 crore to manufacture wafer and photovoltaic cell at its plant in Falta SEZ in West Bengal.Mr HK Chaudhury chairman of Vikram group said that to start with, the company had already invested INR 100 crore to produce PV modules with a generation capacity of 25 MW. He added that "The capacity will be expanded to 50 MW by the middle of the next financial year.”He said that Vikram Solar GmBH in Germany had been supplying 1 MW of solar power to the grid in that country. The company is also in talks for setting up solar power projects in countries like Italy, Bulgaria and France. Currently, the plant employs around 100 persons and the number would go up to 800 once the expansion process is complete.(Sourced from PTI)

IIT Kharagpur plays leadership role in advancing renewable energy in rural India

IIT KGP has been working on Bioenergy research for several decades now and with the recent launch of the PK Sinha Center for BioEnergy (PKSCB), the institute today conducted a symposium on Energy for the powerless: Entrepreneurship and Innovation, on the occasion of the fifth year celebration of the Entrepreneurship Cell at IIT KGP.

Mumbai, Maharashtra, March 12, 2010 /India PRwire/ -- IIT Kharagpur (KGP) the premier institute of technology and the country's think-tank take the initiative to advance the use of renewable energy in rural India. IIT KGP has been working on Bioenergy research for several decades now and with the recent launch of the PK Sinha Center for BioEnergy (PKSCB), the institute today conducted a symposium on Energy for the powerless: Entrepreneurship and Innovation, on the occasion of the fifth year celebration of the Entrepreneurship Cell at IIT KGP.
With the growing changes in technology revolutionizing the lifestyle of the rural masses in India, the PKSCB in its endeavor to promote bioenergy is harnessing the potential of young minds and encouraging entrepreneurship in this direction. While the urban success story of India is still being penned down, the young IITians are working toward the development and betterment of the rural masses. Known for their technological prowess, IIT KGP has the unique advantage of deploying this skill to enhance the life of these rural masses along with promoting entrepreneurship. PKSCB is currently exploring ways to adopt a few villages around the campus in order to help make them self-sufficient and sustainable, energywise.

The center brought together an eminent panel of distinguished members, who encouraged students to emulate their success stories through a knowledge-sharing session that was filled with enthusiasm and excitement from both students and panelists. The panel consisted of Dr. SP Gon Chowdhury, MD, West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation Limited, Gyanesh Pandey, CEO, Husk Power Systems - the company that has recently created waves for their innovative technology of producing electricity from rice husk, Anish Thakkar, Co-Founder and Director, Greenlight Planet Inc. - who has successfully combined cutting-edge technology with innovative distribution networks to commercialize low-power LED solar lanterns for rural India and Dr. Prabha Kant Sinha, Founder & Co-Chairman, ZS Associates.

According to Dr. SP Gon Chowdhury, MD, West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation Limited, "Energy is the key input for socio-economic development of a nation. The fast industrialization and rapid urbanization besides mechanized farming have generated a high demand for energy in all forms, be it thermal, mechanized or electrical. With fossil fuels having been exploited in an unsustainable manner the need of the hour is to develop alternate sources of energy that are not only sustainable but also eco-friendly". He also welcomed the initiative IIT KGP is taking to develop alternate energy sources and sensitize young minds to the need of the hour.

With both Gynesh Pandey and Anish Thakkar sharing their experiences and answering questions for an invigorated student body, the session was exciting and educating for students opting for entrepreneurship. Said Gyanesh Pandey, CEO, Husk Power Systems, "The power to empower lies in the simplicity of the solution to complex problems while creating socio-economic value for the rural masses and at the same time creating entrepreneurship with focus on sustainable solutions."

Dr. Prabhakant Sinha, Founder & Co-Chairman, ZS Associates, who joined the seminar through a video conferencing from Chicago, added, "While the center is focused on creating India specific bioenergy solutions it is also keen on using its knowledge base and putting it into action through products, services and business solutions. With the aim of becoming a hub for researchers and industry to gather and share knowledge and information, the PKSCB is excited to facilitate the symposium and looks forward to other initiative of the kind in the future". Dr. Sinha encouraged youngsters towards entrepreneurship while pointing out the need for inclusive growth and creating value for the bottom of the pyramid.

The symposium ended with young IITians like Sourav Das (winner of Eureka - Business Plan competition of Entrepreneurship Cell, IIT Bombay) and Manoj Mandelia (honoured at MIT's EmTech 2010 where he was the youngest innovator on the list) sharing their plans for entrepreneurship and their dreams to make rural India self-sufficient and sustainable.

About Entrepreneurship Cell, IIT Kharagpur:

started in 2005, is a student body which promotes entrepreneurship and innovation among students of IIT and other engineering college, nourishing student ideas to profitable business ventures. It facilitates enterprise formation through various bplan competition, VC and Angel investors forum and strategy consulting. With wide array of industry stalwarts E-Cell provides round the year inspiration through guest lectures, summit and workshops. In short our motto is THINK BIG START SMALL. The cell has helped setup about 20 successful startup companies in the last five years.

About PK Sinha Center for BioEnergy, IIT KGP:

'PK Sinha Center for BioEnergy' at IIT KGP, India's first integrated bioenergy center, is envisioned to accelerate research, education and innovation in the important field of bioenergy. It brings interdisciplinary expertise of IIT Kharagpur faculty to bear, and establish collaborations in India and around the world. This center provides a unique opportunity to apply an integrated and collaborative approach to solve energy, climate change and economic challenges.

Solar power breakthrough in Bengal

JAMURIA (Raniganj),16 Jun 2009: An abandoned thermal power plant in Asansol has been converted into a mega solar power generating station - perhaps the only instance in the world where a high-carbon power unit has been replaced by a zero-carbon one.

What’s more, the 2-MW project marks the first time in India that a solar project has crossed the megawatt threshold and is poised to give a huge fillip to India’s renewable energy ambitions.

It’s being considered the first significant climate-responsive project in South Asia and marks the culmination of solar man S P Gon Chaudhuri’s lifetime dream. Six years ago, the diminutive man who is a giant figure in the Indian solar space, won the Ashden award, better known as the Green Oscar.

“This is empowerment of India in green energy and demonstrates the country’s intent and ability to be climate responsive in the energy sector. It has already catalyzed commercial interest in solar power that has been shunned by private companies till now due to high capital investment and a longer break-even period,” said Gon Chaudhuri, managing director of the West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation.

In a few years, with the use of nanotechnology, the cost of setting up a solar power plant will be reduced by half, thereby negating the argument that mass producing solar power is cost prohibitive.

At present, capital investment in a solar plant is Rs 15-18 crore per mega watt - four times that of thermal energy at Rs 4-5 crore/ MW. The cost is expected to be slashed by half and efficiency doubled when nano technology is integrated in solar cells in 4-5 years.

The project is located in Jamuria, 20 km from Asansol and 210 km from Kolkata, in the heart of India’s coal belt. A 6-MW coal-based thermal power plant of Dishergarh Power Supply Co (DPSC) once stood on the 8-acre plot that is now the site of the solar project, comprising 9,000 crystalline type solar modules of 230 watt each. The plant will generate 3 million units of electricity a year, enough to light up 2,000 rural or 500 urban households.

The facility will save a whopping 7 lakh tonnes of carbon dioxide emission a day - the CO2 that a 2-MW thermal project emits daily. The power the solar plant will generate will be fed into DPSC’s grid for distribution to customers in the Asansol-Raniganj belt.

DPSC will purchase the power at Rs 5 per unit and MNRER will pay Rs 10 per unit as generation incentive. WBGEDC can earn a further 97 paise per unit through the sale of carbon credits that the project will accrue. Annual revenue is pegged at Rs 4.8 crore. Only the US and EU member states have such large solar power units.

Power system collapses after Aila in Sunderbans

Kolkata June 08, 2009: Cyclone Aila which hit West Bengal on May 25, has devastated the entire solar panel set-up in the Sunderbans island, leaving the island completely bereft of electricity.

It is to be noted that the islands of Sunderbans at present do not have any access to grid connectivity and solely depend on solar, biomass and renewable energy sources. Solar power has emerged as the primary source of electrification in most of the inhabited islands in Sunderbans.

“The state government is reviewing the extent of damage.Preliminary estimates suggest that 40 per cent of the household solar power installations have been damaged. As per WBGEDCL's estimate the quantum of damage is likely to be around Rs 50 crore.

Rehabilitation work has started, but it will take some time to repair the damage caused," said S P Gon Chaudhuri, managing director, West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation Limited (WBGEDCL) on the sidelines of an interactive seminar organised by Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

WBGEDCL, the state nodal agency for promoting use of renewable energy sources, in association with the centre and state rural development department had set up one lakh household solar power installations or solar-powered home lighting systems in Sunderbans area. The largest cluster of solar power system in the country is in the Sunderban islands of which 40 per cent have been damaged now, Gon Chaudhuri informed. The cyclone has washed away or destroyed close to 40,000 solar panels. This apart the storm had damaged 21 clusters of solar and biomass power hubs which supplied electricity to around 10,000 households there.

“The power clusters have been repaired, but the individual house solar panels or the home lighting system is yet to be complete. It will need some more time,”said Gon Chaudhuri.

A large number of villages and islands — which are located on the fringes of the core forest area will remain in darkness unless steps are taken on a war-footing to restore electricity there.

“We will suggest to the government to incorporate new low-cost technologies by which these houses in the coastal areas can both get power through renewable sources and at the same time be rigid and resilient to climate changes and disasters. There are lots of technologies. We will help with the technical input,” said Gon Chaudhuri.

Lab on cheaper solar power to be set up

KOLAKTA, 31 MAY: In a bid to reduce the price of photovoltaic solar cells, the Green Energy Corporation, in collaboration with the West Bengal Science and Technology Council, will set up a Nano solar cell laboratory. The laboratory will come up on the Calcutta University campus in Salt Lake. 

The corporation has recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Catholic University of America to provide technological support and the project is expected to be completed within six months. Researchers from abroad and scientists working in the corporation will work in the new laboratory. 

Mr SP Gon Chaudhuri, managing director of the corporation, said there was a need to set up such a laboratory for Nano solar cell research as various studies claimed that efficiency of the Nano solar cell was higher compared to ordinary solar cells. 

Experts are of the opinion that if Nano technology can be used to prepare photovoltaic solar cells, the price will be cheaper. The cost of one watt of a solar cell is Rs 120 but using Nano technology the cost will go down to Rs 80 per watt. 

The members of the corporation have also decided to send a proposal to the Union ministry of new and renewable energy so that they can provide funds for the project. 

The project cost is Rs 6 crore and till now they have managed to procure Rs one crore. With the increase in demand for power supply, experts feel there is a need to set up more such laboratories in collaboration with private bodies to meet the dearth of electricity. The advantages of using solar cells is that residents can get electric power directly from the sun without polluting the atmosphere.

Power utilities in WB to register a net revenue collection of Rs 8,289.19 cr

KOLKATA, 20 March: State-owned power utilities in West Bengal are slated to register a net revenue collection of Rs 8,289.19 crore during 2008-09 with an estimated net profit of Rs 289.47 crore. Accordingly, enthused by the decent revenue collection projections, the West Bengal government on Friday increased plan allocation for the power sector from Rs 2,061.73 crore during 2008-09 to Rs 2,376.4 crore for 2009-10.

This, however, is inclusive of internal resources of the power utilities. The state-owned power utilities include West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Co, West Bengal State Electricity Transmission Co, West Bengal Power Development Corporation Ltd and Durgapur Projects Ltd.

In his budget speech for 2009-10, West Bengal's finance minister Asim Dasgupta said: "Special emphasis has been given to improve the internal efficiency of power utilities in the state. As a result, the plant load factor of these power utilities has increased from 53.2% in 2001-02 to an estimated 63% in the current year.

In addition, the transmission and distribution loss has also been reduced from 31.1% from 2001-02 to 22% in the current year." Mr Dasgupta also claimed that rural electrification has reached 99.2%. "Out of 37,910 villages in the state, electricity has reached as many as 37,606 villages till February 28, 2009. The state government has now set a deadline for completing the task of providing power to each household of every villages within 11th Plan Period."

Country’s largest solar power plant in state soon

KOLKATA: The state is set to get the countrys largest solar powergeneration plant by the end of March this year, said state power minister, MrMrinal Banerjee speaking this morning at the inaugural ceremony of the 18thInternational Photovoltaic Science and Engineering Conference and Exhibition(PVSEC) at Science City.

The minister said the power plant, under construction atJamuria near Asansol, would be capable of generating around 2MW solar power.The state government has invested Rs 38 crore(USD 8MN) in the project.

As per the norms, 4.8 per cent of the total powerdistributed by West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL) should be generated from renewable resources, which is not currentlythe case. Mr Banerjee said: ""Initiatives to increase powergeneration from renewal resources will be essential for the future of thecompany."" He added: Besides the government initiative,many private companies have started investing in the sector to meet the crisis.

Astonfield sticks to Rs 2000cr green energy plan

Kolkata, November 14, 2008: Astonfield Renewable Resources Limited (ARRL) plans to invest close to Rs 2,000 crore over the next two years on renewable energy projects in India.This is part of the money raised by the company earlier when it had decided to foray into India.

According to Sourabh Sen, co-chairman, ARRL, “Raising fresh funds is an issue now but we have more banks in US and Japan part financing all our projects. A few of the projects are self-funded. We hope to break even in six to seven years from now.”

Sen said ARRL has seen a steady growth of business in 2007 and first quarter of 2008, where the first official renewable energy allotments were received in Bengal, including 10 megawatt of biomass, 5 megawatt of solar PV, and 1 megawatt of manure-to-power, to be executed in Gangarampur, Bankura, and Kalyani, respectively.

Since then, last year, ARRL bought its first plot of land in Bankura, a total of 26 acres for a 5 megawatt solar PV plant, which ARRL will start constructing later this year. According to Sen, ARRL is also in final stage to bid on the allotment for a 54 megawatt municipal solid waste-to-energy plant in Dhapa, a project the company has been working on since October 2007. The specific projects in West Bengal will cost approximately Rs 60 crore for the 10 megawatt biomass project, Rs 100 crore for the 5 megawatt solar, and Rs 8 crore for a 1 megawatt of manure-to-power project.

Sen said that the Haryana Renewable Energy Development Agency (HAREDA) has issued a letter of intent to ARRL for setting up solar power projects of 3 megawatt in the state with the option of two more in future.

The tariff for generation of solar energy has been fixed at Rs 15.96 per unit by the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) for projects to be commenced up to December 31, 2009, and Rs 15.16 per unit for projects commencing between December 31, 2009 and March 31, 2010. Astonfield has also set up an office in Mumbai to focus on projects in South and West India.

Plans for solar power plant on anvil

Kolkata,Thursday, Nov 13, 2008: West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation (WBGEDC) has invited “expression of interest"" from various developers for setting up a roof-top solar energy harvesting mechanism.

The corporate houses or commercial buildings with roof top area more than 50,000 sq ft would be eligible for submitting an application, said Mr SP Gon Chowdhury, MD, WBGEDC. He said that corporate houses with 50,000 sq ft or more roof top area can set up “high efficient"" solar power plant capable of generating 250 KW of power. He said Wipro has already expressed interest for setting up the proposed solar power plant. This corporate houses would be able to sell power to different state power utilities at Rs 11 per unit as per the state electricity regulatory commission.

He said the WBGEDC has already spoken to different power utilities like CESC, West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Corporation (WBSEDC), and DPL. All these power utilities have agreed to buy solar power from the corporate houses. They would be providing the solar power generated to the grid with the help of a transformer. A metre would be fitted to record the total amount of transmission and accordingly the corporate houses would receive the ‘preferential’ tariff.

He described this as “win-win"" situation for the corporate houses as they would be entitled to tax benefits and can also ask the United Nation Framework on Climate Change for carbon credit. But prior to the application, the corporate houses would have to take post country clearance from ministry of environment and forest.

Mr Gon Chowdhury said that the power utilities would be benefited as it is mandatory for them to buy 10 per cent renewable energy by 2012 as per Renewable Energy Port Folio (RPF) standard.