Solar, wind, nuclear power are sources of future, says MP

India is way behind the developed world in terms of per capita energy consumption and if we are to reach anywhere near the existing benchmark we have to expand the power generation capacities, Visakhapatnam MP and state BJP president Khambampati Haribabu has said.

"We are highly dependent on hydel and thermal power. Water is going to be a scarce commodity and we will not be able to expand hydel power generation capacities. Thermal, both coal and gas, resources are finite and will not last. We have to look at renewable sources of power like solar and wind and nuclear power to meet our future requirements", the MP said at the Outreach programme of the Department of Atomic Energy organised at the Andhra University here on Thursday.

Solar power is being pushed on a mission mode. Wind power is highly erratic and undependable. The only viable option we have is nuclear power, he said. India has developed the technology for safe nuclear power generation, said Mr.Haribabu, who was formerly a professor of Engineering in Andhra University. He complimented the Department of Atomic Energy, BARC, Nuclear Power Corporation India Ltd. and Nuclear Physics Department of the Andhra University for organising the awareness programme on nuclear power for students.

After looking at a scale model of the water desalination plant set up at Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu, the MP suggested to the officials to make such a plant an integral component of the Kovvada Nuclear Power project.

The MP keenly studied the details of post harvest irradiation facility designed and developed by BARC and wanted to study the possibility of establishing such a unit here.