Santanu Saraswati
It’s no more just a lip service. The state government has made mandatory for use of green power in the state—especially for the upcoming high-rise apartments, municipal boards and panchayats in rural Bengal.
The state government has formulated a policy that would not only make the real estate developer making arrangements for generating electricity from alternative energy, at the same time would facilitate green power equipment manufacturing companies investing in the state, chairman of Green Energy Development Corporation Limited (GEDCL), S P Gonchoudhury, told Hindustan Times.
The GEDCL, according to the chairman, has taken help from the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management (IISWBM), Kolkata preparing the policy, which would facilitate individuals, independent power producers (IPP), building developers and municipal corporations to switch over to a low-carbon economy. The state would give tax holidays for the first five years to all green power generating companies investing in Bengal. “This would make the power cheaper for the people,” Gonchoudhury added.
Apart from solar, electricity generated from mini hydel and geothermal is feed in the state grid. “The state policy of making the power utilities—both Durgapur Projects Limited (DPL), West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL) and CESC Limited buying green power from the state grid has helped the green power sector growing in Bengal. We are getting responses of fresh investments in this sector even from multinational green power manufacturing majors from countries like Germany, USA, Australia, Norway and Sweden,” Gonchoudhury added.
Apart from multinational green energy generating companies, few city-based companies, too are investing in this sector in collaboration with foreign multinationals. City-based the Clean Energy Resources Pvt Ltd (CERPL) will be making this investment in collaboration with few Australian and one German green power company in generating electricity from new energy resources, the GEDCL chairman said.
The goal of CERPL is to generate electricity from decentralised renewable, clean power systems for the population living in rural Bengal. The CERPL will be installing multiple numbers of independent, self-sustaining and cost effective power generating system so as to reach the rural people living even in the remotest village of this part of the country where electricity is still either scarce or remained a distant dream. “We will make green electricity within the reach of the poor rural people,” CERPL director, Yuvraj Aggarwal, told Hindustan Times.
The company, according to the director, is already in the process of developing electricity from wind in Sagar Island in Sunderbans region. The unit will be having a capacity of generating 5-mega watt of electricity to cater to the need of the people living in these isolated islands. The entire electricity will be fed in the state grid, from where the state board will be supplying power to the villagers.
Apart from wind power generation, the CERPL will be investing in developing small hydel power generation units—both in southern and north Bengal along with northeastern states. These small hydel units would be coming up in Rivers like Teesta, Rangit and few parts of mighty Brahmaputra. The CERPL has tied up with German multinational green power company, Kreig & Fischer, Perth-based Australian companies, Aerogenesis Pvt Ltd., and Rise and Sydney-based multinational renewable power firm, CSLRO to develop electricity from solar, wind, geothermal, and even from the organic wastes, Aggarwal claimed.
The GEDCL will be working in close coordination with CERPL, where experts of green power energy of Madras IIT will provide the indigenous technology, where both the Australian and German experts would need technological support to cultivate new energy generation possibilities in both southern and north Bengal districts.
Like CERPL, the Astonfield Group, has drawn up an extensive plan in generating electricity from green energy resources. The Astonfield Group will be generating 10-mega watts of electricity from biomass at Gangarampur in South Dinajpur district and solar power project already commissioned in Bankura. Both the plants will start commercial generation from 2010. The company is on the negotiation stage for developing country’s largest green power plant at Dhapa. The plant will be having a capacity of generating 54-mega watts of electricity from solid wastes. It is awaiting the government stamp of approval.
However, the prospect of using wind power, unlike the southern states, in West Bengal is very poor. Even companies like Persuas have already investing few crores exploring the possibility of electricity generation from wind resources in East Midnapore district, the chairman confirmed.
santanu_saraswati@hotmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment