An international conference on “Innovations in Power and Advanced Computing Technologies” was organised at VIT University on Friday.
Speaking on the occasion, S. Rajavel, senior vice-president and head, Larsen and Toubro Limited, Chennai, said there was great scope for development of renewable energy, especially solar energy in India. While conventional sources of energy such as thermal power, lignite, hydro-electric power and natural gas were available in India, the country ranked third among 40 countries that had made renewable energy attractive, according to a press release.
He added that the annual growth rate was estimated to be 27% in renewable energy and 18% for conventional energy. He said that India should take advantage of the fact that manufacturers of renewable energy equipment had reduced their prices, the release added.
Mr. Rajavel said the country would require two trillion units of power by 2019. This meant doubling the current generation capacity to provide uninterrupted electricity for residential, industrial, commercial and agricultural use, he said.
He pointed out that the Government of India was taking a number of steps such as 10-year tax exemption for solar energy projects to achieve India’s ambitious renewable energy targets of adding 175 GW, including addition of 100 GW of solar power by 2022.
Saad Mekhlief, professor, University of Malaya, Malaysia, said that computing techniques had to be used for smart use of energy. G. Viswanathan, chancellor of VIT University, was present, the release said.
