Sustainability Outlook Headlines

India may add 6,000 MW wind power capacity in FY'18: IWTMA

India may add around 6,000 megawatts (MW) of wind power capacity in the ongoing fiscal, an industry body has said.

"The government's target (for the 2017-18) I think is 4,500 MW. We know that we have number of challenges in front of us, but we will try our best to give around 6,000 (MW) in the current financial year," Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturing Association (IWTMA) Chairman Sarvesh Kumar said here.... Read more..

Flat solar power tariff drops to all time low of Rs. 3.15/unit in Andhra Pradesh auction

Solar power tariffs reached another record low of Rs. 3.15/ unit (flat rate) during auction in Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh by NTPC. This is the levelised price at which NTPC will source power from the 250 MW project won by Solairdirect.

Bidders had competed for setting up projects within the solar park. This insulated them from land acquisition and power evacuation hurdles.

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Hartek Power bags over 1-GW solar grid EPC projects in 2016-17

Hartek Power bagged 1,025-MW solar grid EPC orders in 2016-17, with a third of these coming from Telangana and Karnataka. The orders include a 100-MW solar power project at Kalwakurthy in Telangana and 30 substation projects in several States.

The company connected more than 500 MW of solar projects to the grid in 2016-17 and the order book of about 1GW shows a 733 per cent jump over 123 MW order it received... Read more..

Illegal e-waste industries polluting Ganga tributaries: CPCB tells NGT

Several illegal e-waste industries operating in Uttar Pradesh are polluting the Ramganga, a major tributary of the Ganga, by dumping waste into it, a joint inspection report told NGT on Tuesday.

The report jointly filed by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Union Environment Ministry and Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) added that a number of “sealed” and “closed” e-waste industry are... Read more..

Tata Power’s Kalinganagar plant Aspires Carbon Neutrality in FY 18

Tata Power, India’s largest integrated power Company, has always been at the forefront in adopting sustainable practices in its business. In line with this philosophy, Tata Power’s Industrial Energy Limited (IEL)-Kalinganagar Plant, Orissa has taken a target to offset carbon generation of FY 17 with an average of 40 tonnes (approximately) of CO2 per month by distributing LEDs in nearby villages under its CR program. This target is in line with Tata Power’s commitment of care for environment.... Read more..

CREDA to develop solar Power Distribution Network in three districts

 The Chhattisgarh Renewable Energy Development Agency (CREDA) will be creating a Power Distribution Network (PDN) for street lighting through Solar Power Plant established at various sites of Bemetara, Dantewada and Bijapur districts of the State, officials informed.

It may be recalled that the agency is also working on developing a power distribution network for the Solar Photo Voltaic (SPV) plants in eight... Read more..

No agreement stops India from using any energy source: Piyush Goyal

The Paris Agreement on Climate Change does not in any way stop India or any country from meeting its energy needs from whatever sources of energy that one may choose, the government told the Rajya Sabha today.

Replying to supplementaries, Coal Minister Piyush Goyal said coal will continue to remain our mainstay as it was a domestic raw material for producing energy.

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Karnataka hints at water-rationing

The Karnataka government today said it has no problem in providing water till June 15 to the people in the state, hit by consecutive years of drought, but there may be water rationing, if required.

Appealing to farmers to stop using pumpsets, it advised the people to use water judiciously, as the levels in almost all the reservoirs was just enough for drinking needs.

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WWF to create fashion platform to eliminate environmental negative impacts

World Wildlife Fund (WWF), known as the world’s most proactive conservation association, is coming together with unconventional fashion platform – AwaytoMars to create clothing that completely eliminates any negative impacts on the environment. WWF, a huge conglomerate in itself, has tapped in big budget retail stores like Harrods and Selfridges to sell these garments but their main aim is to make this a globally pursued project.

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Ministry of New and Renewable Energy plans to push auction route for wind power

The ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) has proposed to allow state-owned power distribution companies (discoms) to conduct reverse auctions for procuring wind power. The move, an effort to promote the competitive bidding mechanism,is likely to encourage state-owned discoms to award wind projects through a bidding route, instead of feed-in tariffs (FiT) — a cost-based compensation system. Currently, states buy wind power from the developers at various FiTs, which are in the range of Rs 4.16 to Rs 5.76... Read more..

Bengaluru to get climate change lab

Rising temperatures, varying rain patterns and unpredictable weather.The impact of climate change is no longer a hypothesis but an everyday reality . In order to study the actual impact of climate change and equip the state to tackle the vagaries of nature better, a dedicated Climate Change Laboratory will soon be set up in Bengaluru.

The Environmental Management and Policy Research Institute (EMPRI),... Read more..

CleanMax Solar to set up 300 MW solar capacity this fiscal

Energy solutions provider CleanMax Solar plans to set up nearly 300 MW of solar capacity, including 100 MW of rooftop installation, this fiscal and will invest around Rs 1,500 crore for the same.

"There is a huge opportunity in the sector, not just in the ground mounted solar space but also rooftop projects. We are hoping to install nearly 300 MW of solar capacity in the country in FY 2017-18, which will... Read more..