oppn parties Green Energy: Despite Increasing Usage, India Behind on Committments

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  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
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  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
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  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
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Green Energy: Despite Increasing Usage, India Behind on Committments

By Ashwini Agarwal
First publised on 2016-10-18 20:06:08

With more and more corporates willing to buy power directly from green power generating companies, is the sector finally finding a niche? A report in The Economic Times has identified Taj Hotels, Tata Teleservices, Philips India, JK Tyres and 100 more who are buying power directly from power generators like ReNew Power, CleanMax and others. This means that the power generators do not have to depend on state utilities to buy their production and can now get a better price. They will just have to pay a wheeling charge to the utility for carrying the power on the grid.

Despite a lot of focus, India’s green energy production is nowhere near what it has committed in international forums. But since India has already ratified the Paris climate agreement, it will have to keep its commitments. The biggest drawback for green energy is that many states are simply not interested. They have schemes and energy parks, but those are just in name. In the initial euphoria, many investors came forward to announce units. But most were never set up. The cost-benefit scenario for the investors, despite government subsidies, was not very lucrative till recently.

But with things moving up on the GHG front and the rich countries committing to help the developing nations in sourcing energy from solar, wind and other renewable sources, there should be another round of investor interest in setting up green energy units. Set up cost has also fallen with solar panel prices having dropped by 25 percent in some cases. Land, however, remains a bottleneck. Also, state utilities are reluctant to pay a good price and payment is also notoriously slow. India will need to remove the bottlenecks fast if it has any intention of being a major producer of green energy.