2nd; Energy Consumption Equation to be based on Controlling Pollution of Cities
Gas as The Prime Fuel for Vehicles in India
Gas is the 'cleanest' "High Grade Energy", which may be used for vehicles too. its price is always cheaper than petrol/diesel, and would obviously be much cheaper than market rate for a long term contract for a high demanding market like India, the biggest market at the closest geo-graphical proximity to Iran. Iran, which has second largest gas reserve after russia too...... a gas pipeline with a big cross sectional area is needed, for a long term contract to cover the whole western region of india is needed at present, along with the current supplies of gas from eastern region we already have.....
India needs to rely more and more on LNG for vehicles etc. first Gas engines are always bit cheaper than petrol and diesel and also its a very less polluting source of energy......
government would consider to reduce tax on those passenger vehicles which require gas to run its engine. once we imagined India to be having a type of tax system which would encourage the three categories of vehicles as below.
1st;
2 wheel drives like bike etc to be run by Petrol.
2nd;
Passenger four wheel vehicles like cars/buses/ auto ricksha etc to be run by Gas only, a majority at least by reducing taxes on gas engines and higher tax on diesel/petrol engines. (auto ricksha on electricity is also a concern.)
3rd; Vehicles to transfer goods like trucks etc to be run by diesel, a cheaper fuel than Petrol to reduce transportation bill, while being operated outside cities.
(with a separate tax systems for luxury cars, as we already have.)
(and a Gas pipeline with a big cross sectional area from Iran would be the big concern in this regard, to fulfill demand of gas, which has the second largest gas reserve of world, and India is the largest market in its closest Geo-proximity. and this idea would get more strength with the recent news that pipeline under sea route is now cheaper than that of the pipeline on the surface too, hence avoiding any type of transit problems through pak too this way :thumb
=> "Having metro rails in all the cities/ more modern express ways etc too", but these things are the basic things. its clear that you have to have more and more metro lines in cities, similar to other infrastructure projects. and we do see progress in this direction too, but we demand more expenditure on Infrastructure projects.......
and yes, transferring a big portion of the city population to electric metro trains is the most Ideal way to reduce pollution of cities
India Poised to be a Global Leader in the Development of Solar Power - Says New World Bank Report
December 12, 2013
Inadequate finance, lack of shared infrastructure and constraints to supply chain key barriers to scaling up
New Delhi, 12 December, 2013 –
Launched in 2010, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission Phase 1 (JNNSM) is well-poised to make India a global leader in the development of solar power. In a span of three years, India has taken a significant step forward in implementing its green growth agenda by increasing its installed capacity of solar power from around 30 MW to more than 2,000 MW, says a new World Bank report.
What is significant is that JNNSM has been instrumental in bringing down the cost of solar power to a level that is competitive across the world, says the report.
It has reduced the costs of solar energy to $0.15 per kWh, making India amongst the lowest cost destinations for grid-connected solar Photovoltaic (PV) in the world.
The report, Paving the Way for a Transformational Future: Lessons from JNNSM Phase 1 (pdf), says solar power can reduce India's dependence on imports of diesel and coal for power generation, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and contribute to energy security.
Growth in this sector will help India increase its share of clean energy and help meet its target of reducing emissions per unit of its GDP by 20-25% by 2020 over 2005 levels.
The report identifies two unique features of the solar program which has helped reduce tariffs – bundling of solar power with unallocated thermal generation and adoption of reverse auctioning. Such bundling of solar power with cheaper conventional power helped reduce solar power tariffs for distribution utilities.
The reverse bidding mechanism enabled qualified bidders to benefit from declining global prices for solar components, thereby reducing the purchase price of both solar PV and Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) for the utilities. :thumb:
"In a short span of three years, India has made impressive strides in developing its abundant solar power potential. With more than 300 million people without access to energy and industry citing energy shortage as key growth barrier in India, solar power has the potential to help the country address the shortage of power for economic growth," said Onno Ruhl, World Bank country director in India.
"However, while India is clearly emerging as a global leader in the area of solar power, to achieve its target of adding 20,000 MW of solar capacity by 2022, it needs to address the key barriers and constraints that could come in the way of scaling up the solar program," Ruhl added.
The report highlights several challenges that could act as a barrier to India achieving its solar targets by 2022. These include lack of access to low cost financing; inadequate solar infrastructure; lack of raw materials for several solar PV manufacturers; and an underdeveloped supply chain leading to high inventory costs.
"Building on the success of Phase 1, the program now needs to focus on promoting financing of solar projects by commercial banks, developing shared infrastructure facilities such as solar parks and identifying comparative advantage of Indian manufacturing across the supply chain", said Ashish Khanna, lead energy specialist and one of the authors of the report.
Key challenges
Under Phase I of the program, financing for solar projects mainly came from export credit agencies, multilateral financial institutions, and some nonbanking financial institutions and not from scheduled commercial banks. However,
with limited availability of unallocated thermal generation, India may no longer have the option of bundling with cheap power. In such a scenario, unit cost of solar power will rise significantly. Given that most infrastructure lending in India has been led by commercial banks, India will need the active participation of commercial banks to scale up to the levels envisaged. The government needs to design risk reducing financing instruments such as subordinated public finance in order to attract long-term commercial lending to ensure long-term viability, the report says.
The report recommends publicly developed infrastructure such as solar parks to help increase efficiency and lower costs. A Solar park in Charanka (Patan district) in Gujarat is today the largest solar park in Asia. Such shared infrastructure facilities helps in developing critical infrastructure, including facilities for power transmission, roads and water, thereby ensuring the rapid development of solar projects as well as local employment generation, the report adds. In addition, India's plans to develop ultra-mega solar projects will help showcase the potential for large scale grid connected solar projects to the entire world, it says.
Currently India's solar PV manufacturing capacity is limited because India's manufacturers lack the raw materials, do not have access to low-cost financing, and face underdeveloped supply chains. In solar thermal, where local manufacturing is more complex, India has not been able to manufacture some critical components for these projects. According to the report, either technology suppliers are limited and their products patented or the lack of natural resources poses an impediment. India should develop its manufacturing capabilities in specific parts of the value chain where it enjoys a comparative advantage and can emerge as a globally competitive producer, the report suggests. :ranger:
Facilitating public funding, creating an enabling environment for manufacturing and focusing on cluster-based project development will go a long way in achieving the outcomes of JNNSM during the subsequent phases, the authors conclude.
India Poised to be a Global Leader in the Development of Solar Power, Says New World Bank Report
India needs $13 billion investment to meet solar power target
Dec 19, 2013
MUMBAI:
India requires investment of over $13 billion in the next three years to meet the target of adding 9,000 MW of solar power in the second phase of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, the World Bank said. :ranger:
In a report titled `Paving the Way for a Transformational Future: Lessons from JNNSM Phase I,' the World Bank said the investment needs to come largely from scheduled commercial banks.
"Investments to the tune of over $13 billion are required in the next three years to fund phase two of the mission. Of this, nearly 70 per cent, or $9 billion, should come through debt financing," Ashish Khanna, Lead Energy Specialist at the World Bank, told reporters here.
He said financing was a key challenge during the first phase and will continue to remain so during phase two.
In the first phase, finance came mainly from export credit agencies, multilateral financial institutions and some non-banking financial companies, not from commercial banks.
"Though the installed capacity of solar power rose from around 30 MW to more than 2,000 MW in three years, financing has been a serious impediment...Given that most infrastructure lending in India has been led by commercial banks, India will need the active participation of commercial banks to scale up to the levels envisaged," he said.
"Government needs to design risk-reducing financing instruments such as sub-ordinated public finance in order to attract long-term commercial lending to ensure long-term viability. It should also facilitate appropriate technology deployment," Khanna said.
The report suggests the government could offer financial solutions involving viability gap fund, generation-based incentives, credit guarantees, concessional credit lines to banks to lower interest rates and subordinated public finance to extend loan tenors.
Using public financing to extend the tenor of a loan and providing subordinated debt is the least expensive option to meet the objective of reducing the solar tariff to Rs 5.50 per unit, he said. :thumb:
The World Bank is keen to financially support the government's plan.
"We wish to financially assist the government, especially in ultra solar projects," Khanna said.
The government plans to set up large solar parks and has identified regions in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Kargil and Ladakh for this purpose.
India needs $13 billion investment to meet solar power target: World Bank - Economic Times