Live Blog: Anil Agarwal Dialogue

Farooq Abdullah, Union minister for new and renewable energy, releases "State of Renewable Energy in India, A Citizen's Report", a Centre for Science and Environment publication

Renewable energy has come centrestage in the past few years. But how renewables can play a big role needs to be seen, says Sunita Narain after release of the book

Bigger challenge is how to get light into hands of millions. Grid has reached many places but is not reliable. How do we make renewable a part of challenge to bring clean fuel and energy to many?

Renewable energy has a future. But what we need to ensure is how we store the generated power. Those in and moving towards research and development in this field have a serious issue to look at, says Farooq Abdullah. Praises CSE for bringing out the book, "State of Renewable Energy in India, A Citizen's Report", saying many in India and outside are not aware of the issues relating to renewables

Villages in Tamil Nadu have wind machines to produce power but don't have power transmission lines. So states and Centre need to work together for better generation and distribution of renewable energy, says Farooq Abdullah

Renewable energy is the future,not only of India but of the world. But for this we cant ruin forests, says Farooq Abdullah, Union minister for new and renewable energy. Rooftop energy has potential. Need to produce panels and technology in India itself, says minister

Industry cannot operate without consent of local farmer, says Sumant Sinha of ReNew Power Ventures. Calls for environmental impact studies to make minimise impact of wind turbines. He says companies should move towards ISO certification. "We are working for environment-friendly source of energy. We need to be environment-friendly company as well"

We need lot of money to continue to provide generation-based incentives (GBI). It could be to the tune of 40,000-50,000 crore in next 4 to 5 years. We cannot afford to continue paying it, says Alok Shrivastava

MNRE is in talks with finance ministry to reinstate accelerated depreciation (tax benefit), says Alok Shrivastava

How is it possible to get wind energy without penetrating forests? We have a lot of capacity. But we need to identify why, when, where, how much can be tapped economically. The total potential, excluding hilly, snowy areas, forest areas, is 2,500,000 MW. Of this, 2,000 GW  is in croplands; forests account for 4,000-5,000 MW, says Ranjit Bharvirkar, an independent expert working as an advisor with the Regulatory Assistance Project since 2013

Our biggest challenge is land acquisition for the wind projects. The long-drawn process of granting forest clearance remains a disincentive for acquiring land for setting up of wind projects, says Sumant Sinha, chairperson of ReNew Power Ventures Pvt. Ltd 

Transmission remains a major challenge in scaling up and increasing wind access. This is because wind centres are just concentrated in certain parts of the country. Harnessing captive energy can be cost effective source of energy for industries, says Chintan Shah, president, Suzlon Energy

Wind turbines today are almost 60-70% indigenised. The Indian turbines are 30% less expensive as compared to ones elsewhere in world, says Shrivastava

For India, which is facing acute power shortage, the variability of wind energy should should not matter because any energy put out in the grid will be gobbled up. We hope smaller players who concentrate only on resource assessment will enter the market now, says Alok Shrivastava, joint secretary, MNRE

For India, which is acutely short of power, the variability of wind energy should should not matter because any energy put out in the grid will be gobbled up. We hope smaller players who concentrate only on resource assessment will enter the market now, says Alok Shrivastava, joint secretary, MNRE

Obtaining data is difficult for many small projects, for example, small hydro and non-co-operation in part of Central Electricity Authority, says Praveen Saxena, MNRE

As solar targets increase, land is going to be crucial. Land leasing and community involvement should be made a part of national solar mission, says Ashwin Gambhir of Prayas Energy Group

China invested in solar heaters and not PV as the former was cheaper, points out Chandra Bhushan. Praveen Saxena, advisor to MNRE, agrees that it was a sensible move. Decentralized energy access is a long-term solution and thus will take time. Importing PV modules makes sense because of cost effectiveness, technology and also energy saving for production, adds Saxena

Off-grid is largely missed out in the evaluation of National Solar Mission (NSM) at the end of its first phase. Off-grid system today can be an on-grid system tomorrow. The government said that phase 1 of NSM has done very well but there was no mention of off-grid solar targets within the mission in the evaluation, says Harish Ahuja of Hindustan Power Project Ltd

Time to rethink solar: National Solar Mission is a big step in scaling up renewable energy (RE) in India but it does not provide an answer to the RE mix that can actually help to address the problem of energy access. Solar energy is the best decentralised energy source. We need to integrate off-grid solar energy with grid-connected solar energy, says Hari Natarajan of GIZ

If we want to enforce Renewable Purchase obligation in the country we need to make changes in our electricity Act. Why should India manufacture solar PV if it can't compete with China, US and Europe? CSE asks Harish Ahuja. Showing long-term trajectory of manufacturing capacity can encourage investors, replies Ahuja 

The acceptance of solar technology is higher in comparison to other RE technologies. India imports 38% of energy requirement. This will change to 84% by 2047 and its cost is going to go up to more than US $200 billion if we do not tweak our energy mix, says Harish Ahuja, president (strategy & corporate affairs) of Hindustan Power Project Ltd 

Utility companies can be a part of investments in renewable energy to secure its future. Area almost equal to almost half the district of Barmer (6,475 hectares) can account of 1,000 MW of solar power, says Jasmeet Khurana

We are moving from incentive-driven demand for solar to facilitation-driven demand for solar. With some support, including capital support, 2 to 3 GW of solar rootftop can become a reality India in the next two to three years, says Jasmeet Khurana, head of market intelligence team at Bridge to India

Concentrated solar power, which is needed to support peak load in the evenings, has been lagging behind. Rooftop solar power is the way to go, says Ashwin Gambhir, senior research associate with Prayas Energy Group

Technology transfer for renewable energy (RE) should be a centrepiece agenda in the global platform for RE discourse as the clean evelopment mechanism for climate change, says Raghunath Mahapatra, head of strategy at Welspun Energy. Capacity building and investing in people are concerns, he adds 

The Energy Conservation Building Code notification has been passed by Rajasthan, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh. This mandates all the new commercial buildings to have solar panels and solar water heaters. However, it does not cover residential buildings. Initiatives encouraging “buy ins” of residential property can be important in scaling up renewable, says Ramachandra

The number of rural households with no electricity access was 75 million in 2001 and the number increased to 78 million in 2011, says Ramachandra, citing a report. Only seven states have met Renewable Purchase Obligation targets. Every square kilometre of India comes under the “monopoly right” of some distribution company. Any intervention by small players of renewable energy is considered as intrusion, she adds

We need to work with distribution companies, municipalities and panchayati raj institutions for scaling up renewable energy, says Ramachandra

About 40,000 MW of coal-based system is lying stranded. We need to explore all sources of energy. We should scale up these options, says Usha Ramachandra, professor and ahairperson of Energy Area in the Administrative Staff College of India

Grid expansion has been largely supported by a mix of renewables in Germany. The federal (central) government's support has been instrumental. In the past 10 years Germany has been able to scale up it’s grid power system by about 60%. Renewables meet 24 % of electricity demand in Germany, says Supersberger

Even in Germany, which is a leader in transition to renewable energy (RE) today, there was scepticism about the potential of RE expansion 10 to 15 years ago. Decentralisation, particularly using off-grid, has significantly helped in the success of the German PV market, says Nikolaus Supersberger, deputy director of Indo-German Energy Programme with GiZ

India has the second largest installed capacity of biogas plants in the world, says Saxena

Renewable Energy has enormous potential: both solar and wind, with about 100,000 MW potential, top the list. Total renewable energy potential in the country is 245,880 MW and more than 14,000 MW RE was added during the 11th Five-Year Plan, says Praveen Saxena, advisor to the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE)

Per capita electricity availability in India is 884 Kwh. In villages it is just 100 Kwh. At the same time, the country's population is rising at the rate of 2.5% per year. With that our energy demand is also rising, says Nayan  Goswami, programme director for renewable energy with Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)

Day 2 of Anil Agarwal Dialogue begins with an agenda how to scale up renewable energy

There is no incentive for farmers to invest in solar energy efficient pumpsets. Also, renewable energy has to be coupled with affordable storage systems to make it mainstream, says Saurabh Kumar

Huge gains can be be made if we focus on energy efficiency in the country. For example, the same amount of illumination that is provided by a sodium streetlight that consumes 250 watts of energy can be provided by a 110 watt LED, says Saurabh Kumar of Energy Efficiency Services Limited

Financing models are needed to scale up the clean energy solutions. Capacity building has to be taken up on a large scale to ensure energy access to all, says Sankar

Today we have fairly acceptable technology for providing lighting to all, but we are still searching for the right technology for cooking, says energy guru T L Sankar

In the 90's one got to hear that 90% of people have access to electricity. Years later, one gets to hear the same fact. A lot of policies are oblivious of challenges that households face in terms of energy access, says Shirish Sinha, who works with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) on their India programme as senior thematic advisor on climate change

Despite focus on equity since first 5 year plan, there is still a disparity in access of resources including electricity

Energy access has largely been relegated to the backseat of the renewable debate for a long time. But it will certainly increasingly become a debatable issue that can no more be ignored, says Gireesh B Pradhan

Bidding should be done for off grid solar projects also to discover the price for energy in rural areas, suggests Chandra Bhushan

Village electrification can be a reality if we use a mix of renewable-energy sources existing in these areas, and distribute through a cluster approach in densely populated rural areas. We need to have cluster approach for densely populated areas for providing them mini grids, says Chandra Bhushan

Remote Village Electrification Programme has failed. The aspirations of people in rural areas is high which the existing models are unable to meet, says Chandra Bhushan

Centre's Remote Village Electrification Programme has failed miserably. 95% villages have grid; so grid extension in that sense remains satisfactory, but only 55.3% households connected to the grid, points out Chandra Bhushan, deputy director general of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)

Rural financial institutions should be involved to finance solar energy solutions because they have a large customer base, says Naresh K Joshi, who retired as general manager, Bank Of India. His work as the founder chairperson of Lucknow’s Aryavart Gramin Bank (a unit of Bank Of India) won him and the bank the prestigious Ashden International Award in 2008 for sustainable energy

Anshuman Lath, co-founder of Gram Oorja Solutions Private Limited, explains how an experiment in a village in Maharashtra lit many lives. Gram Oorja has been working on decentralised renewable energy systems since 2008 and focuses on community-based applications, including micro-grids for electricity and cooking

Markets do not see mini-grids as a priority since there are no major returns, says B V Rao, chief GM of Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd

Gireesh B Pradhan, chairperson of Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, has suggested a "distribution franchise" model to the government for electricity distribution in off-grid areas. The state electricity regulator decides tariff based on power generation cost of the developer. But the consumer is charged the conventional tariff. The distribution company pays the difference to the developer

It is difficult but not impossible to scale up renewable energy at grassroots level, says Jyoti Dar, founder director of Kuvam Energy. Funding is a stumbling block, she adds

One reason for low rural uptake of LPG in rural India is that it is competing against an “apparently” free fuel--firewood. One kind of fuel cannot solve the cooking needs of the entire India. We need a mix of different kinds of fuel and make them affordable to meet energy needs of people, says Neeraj Mittal of petroleum and natural gas ministry

The subsidy for a biogas plant is Rs 8,000 for a family. A typical urban middle class using six cylinders a year for the past 20 years have availed subsidy of Rs 25,000 for LPG and will continue to avail more. It is not right to question subsidy for biogas when LPG is getting so much subsidy, says Priyadarshini Karve, managing director of Samuchit Enviro Tech

For harnessing maximum potential of biomass for biogas production, programmes at village level is important, says Atma Ram Shukla of Biogas Forum of India, while speaking on the role of Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) in promoting biogas. He was earlier advisor to MNRE

Efficient cookstoves can reduce PM2.5 emissions by nearly 50%, say studies; reduces fuel use by 30-60%: Anumita Roychowdhury

The number of households have increased by 30% between 2001 and 2011, according to Census. Fuelwood consumption by the household is still growing in India. Kerosene use has declined by 47% and this space is increasingly being taken by fuelwood, says Anumita Roychowdhury

A typical chulha emits smoke equal to 400 cigarettes per day. In the northern belt of India, indoor air pollution is acute: PM2.5 concerntration is more than 450 microgram/cum. During cooking this can go as high as 600 microgram/cum because of cooking stoves, says Anumita Roychowdhury, who heads CSE's policy advocacy programme on clean air, public health security and sustainable mobility

Census 2011 says 0.7% rural household use kerosene and 50 % of the PDS-allocated kerosene is used for cooking. The real rural transformation in India will happen only if we utilise the potential of renewable energy, says Deepak Gupta

Deepak Gupta, director general of National Solar Energy Federation of India, says 130 million people in India still use cook stoves with unclean energy sources, despite indoor air pollution being identified as India’s biggest health hazard

Session 2 of Anil Agarwal Dialogue, devoted to Universal Access to Clean Cooking Fuel, gets underway

Decentralised solar and wind energy is a way to mainstream renewables, says Ajay Shankar

Clean cooking fuel is not an agenda for any political party, says Ajay Shankar, member secretary of National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council

Ethanol from sugarcane bagasse has potential to replace 40% of total petrol consumption for transport in the country: Satish Balram Agnihotri

Solar steam is lowest hanging neglected fruit, which we must capitalise on; it has some challenges we need to overcome, says Agnihotri

Renewable energy, energy efficiency and smart grid are like holy trinity, says Agnihotri, secretary with MNRE

Satish Balram Agnihotri, secretary with the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), says there is a ray of hope for the energy deprived. Mentions successful finalisation of 750MW solar tenders under phase two of national solar mission. Renewable energy must look at hybridisation, he says

Of the 32,000 villages without electricity, 10,000 are in Uttar Pradesh and 10,000 in Odisha; others are mostly in Jharkhand, Bihar, Assam and Madhya Pradesh. It is the northern belt which is highly starved of electricity. Unfortuntaley state discoms have lukewarm attitude to providing power connections. It is because they are not sure if they would be able to realise the money from consumers, says B K Chaturvedi

32,000 villages in India do not have access to electricity, says B K Chaturvedi

B K Chaturvedi, member (energy) of Planning Commission, speaks on health hazards of using biomass and coal as cooking fuel. Studies indicate that 3.5 million women and children die because of smoke from dirty fuel

The first session of the Anil Agarwal Dialogue gets under way with Sunita Narain giving an overview of India's energy problems

Prices of renewable have dropped significantly. Yet, it is relatively more expensive than coal. Can we take a relatively more expensive route to energy access in the form of renewable energy? Can we make this leapfrog? asks Sunita Narain

Energy poverty continues in India despite the nation’s prosperity, says Sunita Narain

P Chidambaram is not India’s finance minister. Indian monsoon is the country's finance minister, she adds

The two-day Anil Agarwal Dialogue this year will address the issue of energy access and the role of renewable energy in providing energy to all

The discussions on the first day will cover meeting the cooking energy needs through clean cookstoves, biogas models and rural distribution of LPG

According to the Census of India, about 33 per cent of the households do not have any access to electricity. Participants in the Anil Agarwal Dialogue will also discuss on the first day the viability of decentralised models through proper regulatory and policy interventions. Micro and mini- grids will play a significant role in ensuring reliable electricity supply to the rural households

The Central Electricity Authority has estimated a power shortage of 6.7 per cent in 2013-14 which translates into 70 billion units. Can renewable energy meet this unmet and growing energy demand in the country?

Point to ponder: is it time for reforms in the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) and does it need to tread on a new path

Rooftop solar can be a path-breaking strategy for India’s energy portfolio. Given the huge potential for rooftop solar market, discussion on the second day would focus on grid-interactive rooftop solar

Although the 12th Five-Year Plan estimated 3,000 MW of wind power installations per year, achievements are far below the targets in the first two years due to various policy issues and other hurdles. How can wind power be sustained?