 "Odisha to have National Institute for New Energy")
"The institute will carry out research and development of best possible technology for wind and other renewable energy sources in coastal states. Small pilot project demonstrations will also be done here. The site selection process is underway near Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Bhubaneswar at Arugul," Hemant Sharma, managing director, Green Energy Development Corporation of Odisha limited (GEDCOL) said on the sidelines of the second edition of Odisha Energy Conclave - 2015 organised by Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) here.
The state government would provide 15 acres of land and the project cost is pegged at Rs 250 crore. The proposal is almost finalised and a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) will be signed soon, he added.
The ministry currently has a National Institute of Solar Energy, an autonomous R&D institution in the field of solar energy in Haryana, National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) at Chennai and Sardar Swaran Singh National Institute of Renewable Energy (SSS-NIRE) at Kapurthala in Punjab.
It may be noted that the Union government has set a target to increase renewable energy capacity to 175000 Mw by 2022.
Non-conventional sources of energy accounts for 14 per cent of the total energy mix in country.
Total renewable energy installed capacity in the country is about 35000 Mw, out of which Odisha's contribution is meagre 116 Mw (0.3 per cent), rued J B Mohapatra, joint secretary, MNRE.
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The Odisha government has set an ambitious target to add 3,000 Mw renewable energy capacity by 2022. The target included 2,300 Mw in the solar sector, 350 Mw from wind sources, 150 Mw from the small hydro-electricity projects, 180 mw from biomass and 20 Mw from municipal solid waste (msw).
Recently, a 25 Mw solar power plant was commissioned in Bolangir district and another 10 Mw will be commissioned by September 30 in Boudh district, added Sharma.