Affordable power: key to energising India

With a further growth in the economy, it is imperative that there will be a higher consumption of power.

Laying emphasis on this fact, Gujarat Foundation for Development Alternatives (GFDA) had organised 'Energising India "" National Conference on Indian Energy Sector' at Ahmedabad.

According to Sanat Mehta, chairman, GFDA, the seminar was an attempt to explore the various aspects of the power and energy sector.

The first day featured several panel discussions on the role of natural gas in energising India, Electricity Act and regulatory aspects, and reliability of power supply. While the second day saw deliberations on non-conventional sources of energy like solar power and bio-diesel, and carbon credit.

Emphasising the need for more professionalism in the power sector, Murali Ranganathan, managing director, Torrent Power AEC Limited said, "There has to be more professionalism in the sector and the power theft cases should be tried quicker and faster for greater efficiency. The transmission and distribution losses too ned to be lowered. The key to energising India will be power at affordable rates for the common man."

Promoting non-conventional power generation such as natural gas, U D Choubey, chairman and managing director, GAIL said that there is a huge potential in India for the growth in usage of gas in power generation.

"The power sector spents around Rs 1,50,000 crore of foreign exchange in import of petrol and petroleum products. While against a demand of 200 million cubic metres of natural gas, we are producing only 93-94 million cubic metres currently," he said, adding that natural gas can be substituted for petroleum products to a huge extent.

Meanwhile, Dilip Kale, executive director, research and development, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) revealed that the other possibility of power generation is through gassification of coal mines.

"We can tap the huge number of unminable coal mines and by latest technology gassify them and use the gas for power generation," he said. He further added that a similar experimentation is being conducted near Bharuch in Gujarat.

The seminar saw proposals of new substitutes for conventional sources of energy through speakers like Greg Solomon, chairman, Hythane Company, Colorado, USA.

"Hythane is a premium blend of natural gas and hydrogen which can offer over 20 per cent more efficiency than natural gas. We have already begun working with Ashok Leyland to convert some of their vehicular engines to make them hythane compatible," said Solomon.

The seminar also saw companies like Fuel Cell Energy Inc., USA expressing their desire to invest in power generation in India through fuel cells.