A collaborative effort between The World Bank, the Planning Commission, the Centre, including other CEM partner led to the launch of a South-South-North Knowledge Exchange (SSNKE) facility during the 4th Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) held in the Capital recently. The facility will enable exchange of ideas and experiences in clean energy among the members of the CEM, a high-level global forum to advance clean energy issues.
The facility, which follows up on an idea presented at last December’s Delhi Clean Energy Conference, will focus on areas such as low-carbon generation and distribution; renewable energy; energy storage and efficiency; energy demand responsive technology and smart grids. It will function within the 21st Century Power Partnership, a CEM members’ knowledge platform initiative led by India. It will also capture and convey key elements of clean energy policy, technology and best practices.
“Rapid advances in clean energy are creating a compelling need for countries to learn and adapt quickly. We hope that the SSNKE will enable India and other CEM countries to adapt and institutionalise existing knowledge and best practices at operational levels in the areas of clean energy technologies, market development policies and scaled-up financing in a manner that will help us provide reliable and clean energy to our people,” B. K. Chaturvedi, Member (Energy), Planning Commission said.
SSNKE will support twinning arrangements, learning networks and communities of practice, study tours and field visits, policy dialogues, peer-to-peer interactions, and formal training programmes. Some of these activities will be piloted during 2013-2014.
“As a global leader in promoting clean energy, the World Bank is delighted to partner with the CEM and host this facility. The opportunities for expanding clean energy options in the production, distribution and use of energy are tremendous, but the challenge for countries and practitioners is to overcome knowledge barriers and stay on top of developments in this dynamic space,” said S. Vijay Iyer, Director, Sustainable Energy and Extractives Department, World Bank.
The government, through the 12th Five Year Plan, has targeted a capacity addition of 30 GW with outlay of $4 billion for undertaking renewable energy activities during 2012-17. In the last decade, a series of policy initiatives and technology improvements have helped create a substantial supply base of renewable energy. Renewable power excluding large hydro power (which is hydro power projects more that 25MW) represents around 13 per cent of the total installed capacity of electricity generation on India. Wind power is the fastest growing renewable source and it constitutes around 70 per cent of the total renewable energy installed capacity in India.
At present most of the renewable electricity generated within a State has to be absorbed within that State and grid balancing issues limit addition of more renewable electricity beyond a certain limit. Therefore evacuation from resource rich States to other parts of the country where load centres are located is essential for further growth of renewable power.
In a report titled ‘Green Energy Corridors’, State-run Power Grid Corporation of India Limited has estimated that around Rs. 43,000 crore or around $8 billion would be required to strengthen and develop renewable power evacuation and transmission infrastructure for the planned renewable power capacity addition in next five years. “We are looking at various options to raise financing for implementing this important report, including through public-private partnership. We look forward to learning from international experiences and targeting international collaboration in the areas of renewable energy grid integration,” Farooq Abdullah, New and Renewable Energy Minister, said.
