The need to have a sustainable energy supply necessitates the exploration of available energy resources. Among these, renewable energy resources are in the forefront. It is now an established fact that renewable energy can be an integral part of sustainable development because of its inexhaustible nature and environment friendly features. Renewable energy can also play an important role in resolving the energy crisis in urban areas to a great extend. So far , renewable energy projects with an aggregate capacity of about 33,200 MW have been installed in the country which includes 22,168 MW of wind power, 2870 MW of solar power, 4225 MW of bio power and 3938 MW of small hydro power.
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has been supporting Research and Development (R&D) for technology development and demonstration through various academic and research institutions, autonomous organisations and industry. In addition, the Ministry has set up three research institutes, namely, National Institute of Solar Energy, Gurgaon, National Institute of Wind Energy, Chennai and Sardar Swaran Singh National Institute of Renewable Energy, Kapurthala, Punjab for R&D in solar energy, wind energy and bio-energy, respectively.
Budgetary Support to R&D:
Against a budget of Rs. 500.00 crore allocated for R&D in new and renewable energy sector for the 11thFive Year Plan, a total of 169 R&D projects in the areas of solar energy, bio-energy, hydrogen and fuels cells with an outlay of Rs.525 crore were sanctioned and an amount of Rs.239.56 crore was released. The R&D projects taken up include: higher efficiency solar cells, Mega Watt scale solar thermal power generation, advance research in biomass energy, hydrogen production, storage and utilization and fuel cells development. In the area of biogas, demonstration projects on purification and bottling of biogas for various applications were taken up. During the last two and a half years of the current plan period, a total expenditure of Rs.208.12 crore has been incurred on R&D in new and Renewable energy.
12th Plan- Increased Support:
For the current 12th Plan Period, the Ministry has increased the budgetary provision for research and development to Rs.910.00 crore. The focus is on reduction of cost and improving efficiency of renewable energy systems and the key areas for R&D include: Solar energy, wind energy, biomass, biogas, bio-liquid fuels and Hydrogen/fuel-cell technologies.
The details of the Institutes involved in R &D in Renewable Energy Sector are as follows :
1. National Institute of Solar Energy
The main objective of the institute is to assist the Ministry in implementing Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) and function as the apex National Centre for research, testing and technology development in the area of solar energy. The areas of research include solar photovoltaic, solar thermal, energy storage and solar resource assessment.
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2. National Institute of Wind Energy, Chennai (NIWE)
The NIWE serves as the technical focal point for wind power development and supports the growing wind power sector in the country. The activities being carried out include wind resource assessment onshore and offshore, wind turbine performance testing, Grid connection and Power Quality, operation and maintenance, wind power development, human resource development, national and international collaborations for research & design development, NIWE has established real time network for wind resource assessment with 100m met-masts at 73 locations, and 121 automatic stations for Solar radiation resource assessment all over India. NIWE is also working on development and implementation of procedures and guidelines for orderly development of quality wind turbines besides preparation of Indian standards for wind turbines.
3. Sardar Swaran Singh National Institute of Renewable Energy
The main objective of the Institute is to carry out and facilitate research, design, development, testing, standardization and technology demonstration in bio energy. The R&D activities include development of bio energy, bio fuels and synthetic fuels in solid, liquid and gaseous forms for transportation, portable and stationary applications and development of new technologies for effective utilization of different types of biomass.
The achievements made by three institutes during last three years are as follows:
1. National Institute of Solar Energy
(a) Solar Photovoltaic
· Setting up of module reliability test beds
· Setting up of accredited SPV modules test lab
· Setting up of solar cell test and characterization lab
· Setting up of roof top SPV power units
· Setting up of solar hydrogen production & research facility
· Setting up of advanced lighting system test lab
(b) Solar Thermal
· Setting up of solar thermal system test lab
· Setting up of solar water desalination plant
· Setting up of solar air conditioning
· Setting up of solar-biomass cold storage system
· Setting up of 1 MW solar thermal power plant
(c) Energy Storage
· Setting up of test bed for batteries used in solar systems
· Setting up of test bed for inverters used in solar systems
(d) Solar Resource Assessment
· Setting up of establishment of solar radiation measurement set up
2. National Institute of Wind Energy
· Continuous health monitoring facility for components of wind turbines of 2 MW established.
· Three multi-institutional research projects dealing with grid connection, power quality and blade aerofoil characteristics completed
· Capacity building for acoustic measurement, power quality measurement, small wind turbine performance testing, inter-laboratory comparison of power curve measurements, establishing world’s largest real time resource measurement networks for wind and solar, wind power forecasting and first offshore wind measurement at Dhanuskoti, near Rameshwaram.
· Over Rs.33 crores of internal revenue generated through the expertise developed, to entirely meet and sustain the salary expenditure of regular and temporary staff in the last three years.
· Intangible outcome is the orderly development of over 7000 MW of wind power installed capacity in India using indirectly the expertise of NIWE scientists.
3. Sardar Swaran Singh National Institute of Renewable Energy
· The laboratory infrastructure for production and characterization of bio fuels has been created.
· A project entitled “Integrated technology development for biodiesel production using heterogeneous catalyst” was completed successfully in 2013. Under this project a process has been developed for biodiesel production from high free fatty acid containing Jatropha curcas oil in a single step, under elevated condition.
· Two numbers of highly efficient thermo tolerant yeasts i.e. NIRE-K1 and NIRE-K3, for bio ethanol production from lignocelluloses biomass have been isolated, characterized and submitted to culture bank. A process has been developed for bio ethanol production from lignocelluloses materials.
· A thermo phallic consortium isolated and process has been developed for biogas production from paddy straw and the research under biogas area is in progress.
· Testing and R&D facilities for improved biomass cook stove have been established.
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