August 20th - Renewable Energy Day in India
Last Saturday, India observed the birthday of former PM Rajiv Gandhi as Renewable Energy Day - Rajiv Gandhi Akshay Urja Diwas.
Some celebrations were rather symbolic. In Manipur the main observation was held at the office premises of the Manipur Renewable Energy Development Agency (MANIREDA), where the 2030 deadline on energy independence was stressed again. Others saw a little more than just that.
New Delhi
In New Delhi, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh addressed a function:
- a community biogas plant for every village
- micro-hydel projects in the hills
The Minister of State (Independent charge) for Non-Conventional Energy Sources Vilas Muttemwar
- the biogas initiative would be a major objective of the ministry
- "grid quality electricity to 25,000 remote villages, which cannot be connected with grid, by 2012 through the renewable energy (RE) sources."
- "Renewable Energy Clubs are being formed in 1300 engineering colleges and technical institutions with a grant of Rs 25,000 per annum by the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources, which would help development of renewable energy technology and present this as a career option."
-"District Advisory Committees (DACs) have been set up in 465 Districts for accelerating use of RE devices and removing obstacles in the way," said Muttemwar
India's Largest Wind Energy Producer honored
MSPL Ltd was awarded the ''Highest Investor Award in the field of Renewable Energy'' for 2004-05 by the Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited (KREDL).
"...the company had invested about Rs 460 crore during the financial year 2004-05 for installing wind mills of 105 MW.
An ISO 14001 certified company, MSPL has the unique distinction of being India's largest 'Wind Energy' Producer. They have a total installed capacity of 140 MW of Wind Energy as of date that has been put up at an investment of about Rs 650 crore. MSPL Limited alongwith group companies exports about 385 million units of energy to the Karnataka State grid per annum.
One of the major upcoming projects of MSPL Limited in the field of renewable energy for the current financial year 2005-2006 is the expansion of the existing Wind Farm Projects with an additional capacity of 75 MW."
