Laying the Foundations for a Brighter Future: New Light on Indian solar industry

There’s no denying, India is developing at a breathtaking pace. New infrastructures are sprouting up every day, ever-growing numbers of cars are driving on ever-growing numbers of roads, houses are fitted with new appliances; yet, all this comes at the cost of a tremendous amount of energy. India is ready to rise to this challenge. However, if it wants to do so sustainably on a large scale, it cannot turn it back on the solar option. Thankfully, although much is still to be done, things seem to moving along in the right direction. A recently published Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) report entitled Laying the Foundation for a Bright Future provides an interesting outlook into the current state of solar energy in India. Indeed, there’s good reason to hope. For instance, Indian solar energy capacity went from 17.8 megawatts in 2010 to an impressive 506.9 megawatts in March 2012. That’s an astonishing advance over such a short time span and definite proof that there is interest in the solar market. However, the report also identifies three major hurdles on India’s road to solar sustainability. One is the technology gap between India and other countries. Two, albeit growing, the global industry is still very fragmented, mainly comprising numerous small-scale plants. Three, the industry is young and plagued by difficulties in obtaining raw materials, inverters and system components, slowing down growth in the sector and making self-sufficiency an issue for India. Obviously, there is still much to do and at many levels, ranging from component suppliers to solar energy producers, including distribution. But there’s a real interest in the burgeoning sector that materialized during the PV Manufacturing Summit on August 1and 2 in Delhi. On that occasion, key industry players met Tarun Kapoor, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, to discuss solar industry issues. This can be considered as a good starting point for addressing the conclusions of the NRDC report and fuel more energy into an already vibrant sector.

Time to adapt and ensure a cleaner future

Efforts for cleaner, greener energies and sustainability may still seem undersized but their underlying concepts have been around for quite some time. Actually, April 22 this year marked the forty-second anniversary of Earth Day celebrations, created in 1970 as a yearly occasion to increase awareness and appreciation of the Earth’s natural environment.

A landmark event for environmental protection, Earth day is also the perfect opportunity to pass the torch to new generations and inspire them with hopes of a sustainable future. This year in India, Earth day took a new dimension thanks to a common initiative by the Indian Youth Climate Network in partnership with CLEAN-India (Community Led Environment Action network), the program of Development Alternatives (DA) and the Earth day Network. The alliance launched a yearlong program, two days before the worldwide celebrations, called “iAdapt – for a carbon CLEAN-India”.

Aside from support from NGOs and citizen-led initiatives, the event was officially sponsored by the Department of Environment. Its purpose was to educate youth and students on the impact of their acts on the environment and the need for a sustainable approach to development and growth. More specifically, the program focused on biomimicry, i.e. taking inspiration from nature’s process to address human problems, an innovative idea based on the fact that children generally learn best through imitation. If we can inspire them to imitate nature’s intricate ways, then maybe they will be ‘naturally’ led to live a more sustainable life.

For its Earth day inspired launch, iAdapt featured a variety of workshops and competitions, involving a multitude of very keen children. Musical performances took place during the day, further lightening the mood and instilling a general atmosphere of hopefulness.

Event highlights: the Student Energy International Case Challenge

Imagine 120 students around the world were given the opportunity to tackle a real world energy problem. That was exactly what happened when the Student Energy International Case Challenge (ICC) (ICC Programs) took place on Jan 31st and Feb 1st, 2012. Students in North America and Asia were asked to develop a Global Framework of high-potential ideas to tackle the following problem: “As a global community, how do we provide emerging/developing nations with the energy services necessary to continue their rapid growth – and thereby continue to lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty – without jeopardizing the well-being of future generations?”. Definitely one of the core issues of sustainability!

The Student Energy ICC was made up of two separate but interconnected events. The main one took place in New Delhi, in conjunction with two world-class events organized by the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)  (TERI Website) : the Youth United Voluntary Action (YUVA) meet (YUVA MEET) and the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS) 2012 (http://dsds.teriin.org/2012/). The Youth United for Voluntary Action meet was held on 30th-31st Jan, bringing together youngsters from all over the world. Selected participants had the opportunity to take part in the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS) on 2nd-4th February 2012 and the Student Energy Challenge which was held between the two TERI-sponsored events, on Feb 1st. 

A satellite event was held in Calgary, Canada on Jan 31 by ISEEESA (Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy) (http://www.iseeesa.com/) a student organization at the University of Calgary. Students in Canada tackled the same challenge as their counterpart in India. The former came up with a framework from the perspective of developed countries, while the latter came up with a framework from the perspective of developing countries. If you are interested in the Challenge results, please see: Student Challenge. We are so glad India hosted this very special event, which shows once more the high potential of the youth all over the world. The Student Energy ICC proves that sustainability can be achieved only through a multidisciplinary approach and the joint efforts of all countries. So, let’s join our efforts for a sustainable future!