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Frontline, Volume 21 - Issue 22,
Oct. 23 - Nov. 05, 2004
The renewable imperative
PRAFUL BIDWAI
As oil prices shoot up to historic highs, India must immediately
redouble its renewable energy programme, with a strong emphasis on
rural energy security based on biomass and wind power, with
employment generation tied to it.
FIRST, the bad news. Crude oil prices, which recently ruled at $40 a
barrel, have broken the $50 barrier and reached a historic high. The
spike is partly fuelled by speculation about a likely steep rise in
demand for space heating in winter in Europe, and partly by transient
factors like rumours set off by a fire at a Nigerian pipeline. But
the underlying long-term uptrend is unmistakable. It is highlighted
by a 66 per cent rise in demand this year.
K.K. MUSTAFAH
Windmills in farm near Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu.
Now, worse news. It is unlikely that oil prices will fall soon to
levels prevalent before Iraq's invasion. The impact of high prices on
Third World economies that have been profligate in energy use will be
particularly harsh. India falls within this group, with an
oil-consumption intensity per unit of gross domestic product (GDP)
addition triple that of the more energy-efficient economies of the
First World. As elite consumption drives up demand, India must spend
an additional Rs.3,000 crores for every $1 rise in global oil prices.
This will further erode the government's capacity to provide
essential public services.
Finally, the good news. India's renewable energy programme is looking
up under the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (MNES).
While its expansion is nowhere near the potential for - or imperative
of - growth, its overall performance has improved significantly with
energy capacity doubling over the last four years.
As of now, renewable sources contribute 5,077 MW in electrical
capacity to the 100,000 MW-plus national grid. Off grid, their
capacity appears even more modest - just 130 MW (70 MW from solar
photovoltaics and 60 from biomass gasifiers). But some of this energy
lights homes (some 800,000 of them) mainly in remote villages where
darkness would otherwise rule for years. In addition, India has
850,000 m{+2} of solar-thermal collectors mainly for low-temperature
applications. Of the grid-connected power from renewable resources a
little over one-half comes from wind, about 1,600 MW from small
hydro-electricity projects, and just under 700 from biomass.
The most impressive story here is that the growth of wind-driven
power generation, capacity of which has doubled over three-and-a-half
years. Last year, its growth rate rose to 100 per cent. According to
MNES sources, wind generation today contributes an electrical
capacity of 2,731 MW. Quite simply, wind energy has just overtaken
nuclear power generation, which according to the Nuclear Power
Corporation (NPC) web site, has a capacity of 2,710 MW spread over
six stations. At this moment, another 60 MW is being added to India's
wind farms.
By this current financial year, wind generation is expected to notch
up a total of 3,200-3,300 MW. After that, some big projects, in the
500 MW range, are expected to come on line. (The Oil and Natural Gas
Corporation and Reliance have already tendered for projects in that
class.) India now boasts of Asia's biggest wind farm (298 MW) at
Satara in Maharashtra. It could soon enter into the same league as
Denmark, Germany and California in total wind-generation capacity.
Indian companies, which started with small 20-50 kW turbines, are
beginning to instal big generators with capacities that are a couple
of orders of magnitudes higher - 2 MW each.
All this has taken place without a fuss, without huge publicity, and
without massive public investment in research and development and
other subventions or big subsidies - unlike, say, in the case of
nuclear power. The expenditure budget for 2004-05 of the Department
of Atomic Energy (DAE) is Rs.4,470 crores. Its principal research and
development organisations alone absorb over Rs.1,200 crores a year.
The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre annually costs the exchequer Rs.954
crores, the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam,
another Rs.164 crores, the Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore,
Rs.101 crores and Kolkata's Variable Energy Cyclotron, Rs. 76 crores.
True, there is a varying element of subsidy for wind generation that
is determined by state-based electricity regulators. But this is
moderate, usually under Re.1 a unit. The point is, wind generation
can deliver power commercially at Rs.2.70 to 3.50 a unit - and make a
profit.
Any renewable energy source which is clean, does not leave a huge
stream of waste, and which does not contribute to greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions, emphatically deserves generous public support. Its
real, long-term social costs are considerably lower than those of
conventional energy, despite deceptively low short-term claimed
costs. Wind is growing remarkably fast even with modest to moderate
support.
There is a case for subsidising wind energy further, especially in
coastal States which started off well but soon became laggards (for
example, Orissa, Kerala, West Bengal). There is an urgent need to
correct regional imbalances too. Currently, Tamil Nadu leads in wind
generation, with 1,529 MW. Maharashtra, a distant second (411 MW),
Rajasthan (221 MW) and Gujarat (213 MW) are all growing fast. And the
great potential of Karnataka (225 MW) and Andhra Pradesh (101 MW)
must be tapped. Perhaps, a good subsidy model is Maharashtra which
levies a 5-paise cess on all power for industrial and commercial use
to fund renewable resources. Bank-based initiatives, such as seed
loan finance, are equally worthy.
IT must be conceded that wind farms have problems. They are noisy,
aesthetically unsuitable in some places, and often occupy too much
space. (There is also the unproven belief in Maharashtra that they
interfere with rainfall.) But these disadvantages must be weighed
against both the merits of wind and defects of other technologies,
for example high levels of pollution and GHG emissions from fossil
fuels.
Impressive as the potential for wind generation is - now raised to
45,000 MW (gross) nationally - it is still seen primarily in terms of
grid-linked power. But it should be used in decentralised stand-alone
modes, specifically for rural applications. Generally, what India
needs is not just electricity, that most refined form of energy, but
also energy to power different services - lifting water, cooking
food, motive power for a variety of machines, heat to dry
agricultural produce and so on. This is where purposive public action
is imperative.
The greatest renewable resources in this respect is biomass, with its
amazing versatility and its omnipresence. India, as has been said, is
a biomass-based society. This is especially true of rural India,
where 72 per cent of the population lives. Almost a third of all
energy consumed in India comes from non-commercial sources like fuel
wood (220 million tonnes), and animal dung and agricultural wastes
(130 mt.).
Villages are the site of India's gravest energy crisis, both
commercial - commercial forms are dear and scarce - and
non-commercial - because biomass sources are becoming less accessible
and more expensive and because common property resources are being
privatised. Officially, over five lakh of India's six lakh villages
are "deemed" to be "electrified": defined as a minimum of 10 per cent
of households being connected to power supply. This rarely translates
into access to power, however reliable, for a majority of village
homes.
Only 44 per cent of India's 138 million rural households use
electricity for lighting - a particularly efficient and desirable
application of power. Over 55 per cent still use kerosene - a grossly
inefficient source, which is increasingly becoming expensive too. In
recent years, rural India's dependence on fossil fuels has grown
thanks to an appalling power supply situation, and greater reliance
on diesel for irrigation pumpsets and other agricultural applications.
At the same time, shortages and high prices of biomass have created
greater dependence on petroleum or raised costs of cooking food, and
added to the drudgery suffered by women. This also affects rural
industries like brick making, silk reeling, agro-processing, and
spices and rubber drying, with harmful impact on employment
generation and income.
There is a compelling argument for a holistic approach to rural
energy, which focusses on the demand side (or on the services that
energy is meant to provide), which strongly relies on locally
available resources, and which is environment-friendly, sustainable
and affordable - in accordance with the paradigm developed by
Professor Amulya Kumar N. Reddy, a pioneer in rural energy systems
analysis and one of the world's greatest energy planning experts. His
work, launched through ASTRA (Application of Science and Technology
to Rural Areas) of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in the
1970s and since carried forward, remains a guiding beacon in this
regard. (He has since further refined his analysis in the
International Energy Initiative.)
The MNES has now embraced this very approach, and drawn up a plan for
creating energy security in villages based on biomass. Briefly put,
its scheme aims to meet the total energy requirements of cooking,
electricity and water pumping through locally available biomass
resources. The strategy relies on plantations of fast-growing trees
and oil-bearing plants raised by local communities.
The plan has modules of 100 households. It has three main components
besides energy plantations: cooking energy; electricity generation
and supply; and motive power for irrigation pumps, and so on. A
successful village energy plan should eliminate all use of diesel and
kerosene, improve cook stoves, supply adequate biogas, and generate
enough electricity for lighting homes, schools and clinics, and
powering rural industries.
The crucial link between biomass and power is the gasifier or biomass
engine, which generates producer gas (containing carbon monoxide and
other products of controlled combustion). This technology was used
during the World War to cope with acute scarcity of petroleum, and
has been further developed since, including in India. MNES has
identified about 15 manufacturers of gasifiers, who supply units of
up to 500 kW capacity. So far, 1,850 gasifiers have been installed.
Another important plank of the plan is biofuels produced from
oil-yielding plant species such as jatropha, karanj, mahua, kusum and
so on. The Botanical Survey of India (BSI) has identified more than
400 species that can yield oil, which can be burnt in place of diesel
in an engine powering an irrigation/drinking water pump.
The MNES plan seeks to use biomass of various kinds: woody biomass
and agricultural wastes, animal dung and leafy biomass, as well as
oilseeds. The dung and leaf/waste would be digested in biogas plants
to generate 72 cubic metres of cooking fuel for the 100-household
villages. The gasifier, accounting for about half the total cost of
the project, would provide enough fuel to generate power for five and
a half hours a day for all households, run three irrigation pumps for
three hours a day for 100 days, and supply 5 kW to rural industries -
an annual total of 50,000 units, a little over 70 per cent of it for
domestic and community use. There would be some additional income
from oilcake made by expellers too.
The total cost of the project per village works out to Rs.20 lakhs -
no mean sum, but by no means unaffordable if loan and grants are
given. The MNES reckons that such a rural energy security plan could
deliver power at about Rs.4 a unit to industry/irrigation, and supply
adequate power for basic use (two light bulbs, and an optional fan or
a TV set, and so on) to every household at a cost varying from Rs.60
to Rs.135 a month (depending on how much money is given as loans or
as grants). In addition, it will make each home self-sufficient in
cooking energy, and power needed for irrigation - and totally
independent of diesel and kerosene.
The plan is eminently worthy - the more so because it promotes a
bottom-up approach. It must be tried out through people's
participation and self-help groups' involvement on a large scale, for
example, perhaps 20,000 villages, so it can be fine-tuned to
different climatic conditions and energy-use patterns before it is
universalised to all panchayats. This could be usefully combined with
resource-mapping surveys by local students and creation of networks
of young people who learn to maintain the various systems.
The village energy security concept offers tremendous possibilities
for grassroots-based planning and energy-user cooperation from below.
Above all, it has the merit of creating jobs - on plantations, in
biomass collection, oilseeds processing, power distribution, and
rural industries. The future of energy security of India's villages
lies in this direction - and away from petroleum.
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