 "Centre to bring in policies to address issues in renewable energy sector, says official")
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is in the process of bringing in Policy to address issues related to the renewable energy sector, which would help the States to resolve policy related issues, said Alok Srivastava, joint secretary with the Ministry. It is also working on a policy for repowering the old wind turbines in various parts of the country which could be an economic issue in the sector.
Addressing audience in the Green Power 2014, an international conference on renewable energy, organised by CII, he said that the proposed Policy "will not tell the States what to do, but will help them in the form of guidance and how they should move forward".
He said that the government is also working with Centre for Wind Energy Technology (CWET) on a policy on repowering the wind turbines. The government would work with various States to address the issue, as a large number of wind turbines, which has been set up several years ago, require repowering to produce wind energy. This could be an economic issue for the sector, he added.
He asked the industry to give suggestions towards bringing up the policy and the government might even look at the possibility of introducing a subsidy for repowering, it the industry would come up with response, he added.
The investment potential in the renewable energy sector in the next five to six years is estimated to be over Rs 100,000 Crores, according to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The companies should work in collaboration with the domestic and overseas firms in the sector, to grab the potential, said experts.
Tamil Nadu to promote manufacturing solar components
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Tamil Nadu is looking at ways to support manufacturing activities in solar power and solar grid tied invertor in the State, in order to reduce the dependency on import of the components and the invertor from overseas.
Delivering his address inthe Green Power 2014, an international conference on renewable energy, Sudeep Jain, chairmana and managing director of Tamil Nadu Energy Develpment Agency (TEDA) said that the agency is looking at how to support the industry in manufacturing solar cells and the grid tied invertor.
The State already houses several wind turbine manufacturers including the component suppliers. However, there is no such support for the solar sector and the government is looking at helping the Solar industry, he said.
"We want to encourage the industry and work with it to set up these systems in the State", he said.
"For instance, the grid tied invertors are mostly imported while the local manufacturing is very less. We have to work together to set up the systems in the State," he told the industry representatives in the conference, organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
It may be noted that the State government-run programme of roof top houses with a target of 10,000 roof top houses, which would get subsidy from the government, and similar projects has increased the demand for grid tied invertor. However, he did not comment more on the plans to promote the solar power related manufacturing activities.
TEDA is working on a wind-solar hybrid demonstration project at Kaythar, by planting a 0.5 MW solar facility in a 1.5 MW of wind turbine. He added that once this becomes successful, the agency would look at the industry adopting the model, for better growth.