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Clean Energy & Green Technology
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2020: India to cross 100GW renewable energy mark
Presently, the issues hampering growth of renewables in India are lack of interest of financial institution to fund renewable energy projects, safeguard duty on imported solar panels, ambiguity over goods and services tax (GST) on solar equipment. The PM-KUSUM scheme had three components -- 10,000 megawatts (MW) of decentralised ground mounted grid-connected renewable power plants (Component-A); installation of 200, 000 standalone solar powered agriculture pumps (Component-B); and solarisation of 100, 000 grid-connected solar powered agriculture pumps (Component-C).  *This image is copyright of its original author India is all set to cross the 100GW renewable energy capacity mark in 2020 & can make rapid strides towards the ambitious 175GW clean energy target by 2022, provided the government keeps a close eye on key issues and deals with those well in time. The government however needs to promote storage to ensure 24X7 clean energy supply as coal fired thermal power still remains the base load in the country. Presently, the issues hampering growth of renewables in India are lack of interest of financial institution to fund renewable energy projects, safeguard duty on imported solar panels, ambiguity over goods and services tax (GST) on solar equipment and low investor sentiment due to delayed or non-payment by discoms to clean energy developers. India's installed renewable energy generation capacity touched around 86GW by November-end. This includes solar, wind, small hydro, biomass, waste to energy. Around 30GW renewable capacity including 18GW solar and 10GW wind energy is under implementation. Besides, around 40 GW including 36GW solar and 3.4GW wind energy, is being tendered. "Together with other schemes being implemented by the government, I expect RE (Renewable Energy) sector to get a big boost in 2020 and the years thereafter. I expect our RE capacity to cross 100GW mark in 2020," Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh told. Singh said, "Our initiatives in 2020 will be aimed at achieving RE targets by providing an environment of policy certainty. Our efforts will be to minimise the risks and promote ease of doing business for investors, manufacturers and other stakeholders." The government also needs to focus on storage of renewables based on rapidly improving technologies. The minister said storage is necessary not only for the growth of RE sector but is also a pre-condition to reduce our dependence on conventional energy resources like hydrocarbons and coal which are exhaustible and polluting. The industry wants the government to bring a storage policy for over 100GW capacity to encourage private players to invest in the segment. It would encourage private players to set up storage facilities. He said, "In simple words, development of storage systems is necessary in order to ensure 24×7 power supply using RE sources like solar and wind. We are committed for the growth and development of the storage systems such as Lithium-ion batteries, pumped Hydro and Hydrogen. We shall be technology neutral in this and allow the market to decide the appropriate systems in various performances depending on markets." However, as per industry body Solar Power Developers Association (SPDA), as the year passed, the sector went through a real tough time due to various policy uncertainties both at central and state levels which laid heavy financial burden on the power generators. The SPDA listed issues impacting the segment which includes uncertainty over GST rates for SPGS (solar power generating systems), forecasting & scheduling mechanism, continued safeguard duty on imported solar cell/ modules, provisional anti-dumping duty on import of material for module mounting structures, grid curtailment etc. India’s Thermal and Renewable Capacity Additions every fiscal year, in MegaWatts. Source: Central Electricity Authority, MNRE, IEEFA Estimates.  *This image is copyright of its original author SPDA Director General Shekhar Dutt said, "The major hit came from Andhra Pradesh which initiated the renegotiation of closed PPAs (power purchase agreements) thereby raising question over sanctity of contracts and shaking the confidence of domestic as well as foreign investors in the sector." He further said, "This (Andhra issue) was coupled with ill health of state DISCOMs which impacted the timely payments against power purchases. Some states topping the chart include Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. This led to difficulty in raising finance specially from scheduled public and private banks who remained reluctant to invest in infrastructure projects." According to portal PRAAPTI (Payment Ratification And Analysis in Power procurement for bringing Transparency in Invoicing of generators), the overdue outstanding of the discoms toward non-conventional or renewable energy generators is Rs 5,590 crore in October this year. The overdue amount of discoms toward generators is even higher at around Rs 65,000 crore in case of conventional power generators like thermal and hydro in October this year. The overdue outstanding of discoms are those dues which are not cleared even after 60 days of grace period offered by generators. Power producers give 60 days to discoms for paying bills for supply of electricity. After that, outstanding dues become overdue and generators charge penal interest on that in most cases. In order to give relief to power generation companies (gencos), the Centre enforced a payment security mechanism from August 1. Under this mechanism, discoms are required to open letters of credit for getting power supply. The government has also taken other steps like forming Dispute Resolution Committee to resolve contractual disputes in time bound manner and reduce number of litigations. It has also made amendments in Standard Bidding Guidelines to broaden the definition of Force Majeure and increase of ceiling tariff has also supported the smooth deployment of solar projects It has also launched the SARAL platform to asses and rank the readiness of states for rooftop segment helping investors to identify investment opportunities and states which need to be brought at par with others. The industry is hopeful that in coming years, the GST rate would be brought down to 5 per cent, ceiling tariff increased and most importantly the E-reverse auction done away with and closed bidding process brought in again. Also, lenders will be encouraged to finance renewable energy projects.  *This image is copyright of its original author Mirage or premonition? An apparition gives us a rare view of a clean energy future
Opinion: On the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day the COVID-19 crisis has shown us how quickly our collective action can help the Earth heal.
by Tara Ramanathan, Helena Molin Valdés, Veerabhadran Ramanathan 22 April, 2020 Aerosol levels can be seen changing over northern India. (Image credit: Joshua Stevens/NASA Earth Observatory/Terra/MODIS/Pawan Gupta/USRA)  *This image is copyright of its original author Last week, amid the doom and gloom of the spread of COVID-19, came a vision of hope for solving the climate crisis, as if giving an early gift for the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. For the first time in many decades, people could see the Himalayas from 100 miles away in north India after just one month of the lockdown. This anecdotal data served as an icon for large reductions in air pollution that were picked up by instruments on satellites, around areas of the world subjected to COVID-19 lockdown.The Himalayas are usually shrouded in a nearly 2-mile-thick layer of brown clouds, a toxic air pollution soup. The sight of the world’s most inspiring mountain range, known to exist but usually invisible from distant cities, could be just a fleeting apparition or it could be a vision of the future depending on our actions during the COVID recovery. In our research, we have personally observed this soot-laden brown layer with dozens of instruments across aircraft and satellites during experiments in the early 2000s. It was shocking then to document the blanket of pollution stretching from the Indian Ocean up to the highest mountains in the world. The Project Surya initiative with University of California, San Diego and Nexleaf Analytics was designed to poke holes in that blanket to show how both climate and public health changed. These brown clouds are found worldwide. The famous Denver Brown Cloud is an example. The tint comes from black carbon and pollutant gases that produce ozone. Black carbon and ozone, in addition to being air pollutants, are also powerful global warming agents popularly known as super pollutants, along with methane and hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants. The majestic Himalayas as well as the blue skies over city skylines throughout the world should show political leaders that emissions of super pollutants can be quickly flattened and bent down to zero, with fast and visible—indeed, stunning—results. What the world needed was an urgent collective action on a large enough scale to offer convincing proof. We now have it – proof that we can reclaim our skies, and in turn our health. Epidemiologists have documented the nearly 3.5 million deathsper year that result from inhalation of polluted air outdoors. In addition, at least 3 million people die each year from inhalation of indoor smoke created by cooking, heating, and lighting using outdated fuels like firewood, dung, and kerosene. And, as a recent Harvard study noted, air pollution could make us even more vulnerable to COVID-19. The air pollution problem has been known for decades. What is new is the appreciation that black carbon and ozone cause global warming that is surpassed only by that of carbon dioxide. Getting rid of black carbon and ozone is the fastest mitigation measure for bending the warming curve and delaying the onset of dangerous warming by 10 years, this must happen if the world is to maintain the warming well below 2˚C through 2050 and enable it to move to net zero emissions by 2050. Reducing the other short-lived super pollutants—methane and hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants—can bend the curve even more. The Climate & Clean Air Coalition catalyzes global efforts to mitigate super pollutants with memberships from 70+ nations and 76 organizations. They run 11 initiatives that raise awareness, mobilize resources and lead transformative actions in key polluting sectors. The Coalition’s work to reduce super pollutants can prevent up to 0.6˚ Celsius of warming by the end of the century. While it is essential to solve the immediate pandemic we cannot forget that the climate crisis is coming at us at an accelerating rate, with the potential to precipitate yet another worldwide health crisis. As but one example, warming of the planet is projected to promote the northward spread of vector-borne viral diseases like Zika, Chikengunya, and Lyme. So, how do we keep the skies blue even after COVID lockdowns are removed? We can start by getting rid of about 60% of the black carbon by making clean energy available for the world’s poorest three billion people. The rest of black carbon is mostly a product of transportation, power generation, and industry, which can be quickly reduced to near-zero emissions with targeted measures, as California has done to reduce its black carbon by 90 percent. We would hope that the evidence drives public support for drastic climate actions such as a zero-emission carbon-free economy. The climate crisis can be solved if we quickly cut the super pollutants, while also pursuing the transition to clean energy worldwide. Emissions anywhere cause warming everywhere. Making clean energy, including clean cooking, affordable to the poorest three billion is as essential for our survival as it is to their survival. We know from our work providing clean energy in south Asia and Africa that we should think about clean energy access in the same way that we think about vaccines – as a life-saving solution, not just a product. The global pandemic has shown us how interconnected we are to everyone else in the world. It also has shown us how quickly our collective action can help the Earth heal itself. The immediacy of the crisis resulted in a large percentage of the world’s population acting selflessly and at great economic cost to prevent the spread of COVID-19. We need similar global behavioural change to prevent the worst impacts of climate change and avoid millions of mortalities every year caused by air pollution. We can manage the transition to cleaner air and a safer climate and prevent similar shocks in the future, by putting in place polices and regulations that steer investment in sustainable options so we build back better. Tara Ramanathan is Director of Clean Cooking at Nexleaf Analytics; Helena Molin Valdés is the head of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) Secretariat at the UN Environment Programme; Veerabhadran Ramanathan is the co-author of Bending the Curve: Climate Change Solutions and distinguished professor of climate sustainability at the UC- San Diego. 
Just near the international airport of Abu Dhabi, there is Masdar City, for which the CNN remarked in 2016: "The ultimate experiment in sustainable urban living?" https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/co...index.html
 *This image is copyright of its original author
Making walls & pavements are much better option... India has tried making metalled roads before using molten wate-plastic with tar. But that gives rise to several other complications ; The advantages There is hardly any difference in constructing roads with this technology compared to conventional road construction methods. The mixing of shredded plastics is the only additional process. Yet, recycling plastic wastes by mixing them with bitumen can help build stronger, better quality roads at a cheaper cost. The technology is about utilising the lowest-end plastic waste, which hardly has any recycling value that would have otherwise polluted water bodies, choked the drain or waterbidies d killed animals if consumed by them. The biggest advantage of plastic roads can be seen during the monsoon, when there is water-logging on the road and still no potholes are formed. The main reason is that the aggregates used in this construction are pre-laminated or coated with plastics, which stops rainwater from percolate through, hence contributing to longevity. Besides, it ensures better quality, water-resistant, maintenance-friendly roads, among others. In fact, its longevity is twice that of bitumen-only roads & strength of the road increases by 100% (increased Marshall Stability Value). https://www.constructionworld.in/special...oads/21735 The disadvantages The plastic used is still non-biodegradable, which with wear & tear, break down into tiny pieces to be washed down water courses into rivers, lakes and seas. These microplastics are hugely problematic. They absorb other pollutants like legacy pesticides & carcinogenic hydrocarbons from the ocean or aquatic environment. These microscopic toxic bombs tend to be mistaken for food and ingested by zooplankton. Planktons are the foundations of any aquatic food chain, and plastics has found a way to contaminate that. If not done correctly, plastic road-making itself may become a source of pollution... Only polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS) and polyethylene (PE) polymers should be used, & that PVC (polyvinyl chloride or flex) should not be allowed to contaminate the feedstock of waste plastics used in road laying. Thermal degradation of PVC, PP, PS, PE etc. will result in the emissions of harmful gases under sunlight. Workers engaged in road-laying are particularly at risk from these emissions. 
Telemetry reveals strong effects of offshore wind farms on behaviour and habitat use of common guillemots (Uria aalge) during the breeding season
Abstract Seabirds have increasingly encountered offshore wind farms (OWFs) in European waters in the past 10 years, resulting in potential conflicts with offshore foraging areas. During the breeding season, seabirds are restricted in their choice of foraging habitat and are under increased pressure to find enough prey to raise their offspring. However, information on the individual reactions of seabirds towards OWFs during the breeding season is lacking. Three OWFs located 23–35 km north of the island of Helgoland have operated since October 2015. We studied their possible effects on locally breeding common guillemots (Uria aalge) using GPS tracking. GPS tags were deployed on 12 breeding guillemots from Helgoland for 8–26 days during 2016–2017. Most individuals avoided the OWFs, but one individual in each year briefly entered the OWFs on two or three occasions. Using a point process model, we revealed a 63% reduction in the resource selection of the OWF areas compared with the surroundings (lower confidence interval (CI) = 79% reduction, upper CI = 36% reduction). Furthermore, OWF avoidance was increased to 75% when the turbine blades were rotating (lower CI = 93% reduction, upper CI = 11% reduction). Guillemots mainly approached the OWFs from their eastern edge when resting or diving, and rarely approached the areas when commuting. These results provide a detailed description of guillemot reactions to OWFs during the breeding season, and the first comprehensive analysis of OWF effects on this species based on telemetry data. The strong avoidance effect for guillemots during the breeding season indicates the need to consider the presence of OWFs when interpreting future trends in the abundance and breeding success of this species. |
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