India’s (potential) Solar Explosion

India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh chaired a meeting yesterday to make a decision on the National Solar Mission, a plan to boost India’s solar power generation to become the world’s greatest. The ambitious plan was given the go ahead, with one fairly hefty condition. 

As it stands, the document proposes a dramatic and speedy increase in solar capacity to 20GW by 2020. The current entire capacity of the world is 14GW, so this is significant. And they don’t want to stop there – the vision is to keep increasing to 100GW by 2030 and 200GW by 2040. The current total energy demand in India is 150GW. 

This is music to the ears of critics dismayed at India’s apparent lack of interest in climate issues, and to Indian city dwellers frustrated by regular power cuts.  The plan sets out a holistic approach to the solar industry, aiming to increase design and manufacturing facilities, government building commitments and feed in tariffs for the 20 million homes they hope to switch to solar lighting.  They’re aiming for solar power to become one of their central development tools. 

This huge increase is going to involve a $20 billion investment from the government. You guessed, here comes the condition. Consistent with their statements at the last G8 meeting, The Indian government are suggesting that at least large portions of this finance comes from a fund built by industrialised nations. Those who have become rich from burning fossil fuels must support developing countries if they want them to invest in expensive cleaner technologies, says India.

Dimbleby Changes Tune and Whistles in the Wind

TV nature lover Jonathan Dimbleby has made a welcomed and sensible turn around in attitude towards wind turbines, and is even having one installed in his garden! Famous for being anti-wind energy, Dimbleby has seen the error of his ways and now recognises wind turbines as “wonderfully elegant, like Gormley sculptures, because they are so functional and could literally save our lives.”

Not sure which Gormley sculpture saves lives, but yes Jonathan, we agree. 

Not only is he having a turbine installed at his Devon home, he is attempting to convince his local village to get three more. There’s a great interview with him about it in The Times.

Ofgem Gets Ready for Smart Grids

In an attempt to start modernising our energy grid, Ofgem, the energy regulator, is saving its pennies to invest in smart grid demonstrations. Ofgem intends to spend £500m on smart grid trials in towns and cities to test their effectiveness on a major scale. 

The idea of a smart grid is to make electricity distribution a more dynamic process, in which the energy user has a stronger relationship with the energy generator. The concept works by engaging energy consuming devices with the electricity grid, allowing them to become more compatible with renewable energy technologies. A very basic example:

Wind farms generate electricity regularly, but there are periods when the wind is blowing at gale force and the turbines can operate at peak performance. This means more electricity being generated and available on the national grid. 

If we were to switch to all renewables tomorrow this would be a bit of a problem. What if the wind is not blowing when there are peak demands in electricity? If everyone gets home from work and turns on the telly and the wind is low we’ll have blackouts. Similarly, if the wind is howling in the middle of the night when nobody is using much electricity, there’ll be an overload on the grid. 

The solution is a smart grid. Imagine if your house was fitted with a device that can communicate with the national grid, knowing when there is plenty of energy available or not. Your device could then decide when it is time to start using energy. So you fill your dishwasher up before going to bed, in the knowledge that at some point during the night your local wind turbine will be generating at maximum capacity and your dishwasher will be set to work. Smart meters alleviate the problem of energy peaks and troughs. 

Smart grids will increase the interaction between home energy generators like solar panels with accurate input data on how much electricity they are contributing to the grid and to the home. 

The idea also has applications for electric vehicles. As wind power continues generating through the night, electric cars can be charged at night. The batteries can react with the smart grid as a renewable energy storage point for the house. 

Good Energy welcomes this move and considers it a step in the right direction in terms of modernising our energy industry and paving the way for increased renewables. Well-done Ofgem.

Vestas Protest still going strong

The workers at the Isle of Wight Vestas turbine factory staging a sit in to oppose the Newport factory closure have been there for two weeks now.  Today, they have been given support by an environmental group occupying the other Vestas unit down the road in Cowes.  

The Climate Camp group broke onto the roof in the early hours and have been causing a scene to coincide with the world famous Cowes week sailing regatta.

Government failing to lead by example

It seems that our own government are failing to live up to their policies as it has been revealed that they are missing their own emissions reduction targets across departments. The most worrying thing is that if the government don’t ramp up their efforts it may effect the tax payer, as they’ll have to turn to the private sector and buy carbon credits. 

Full story here.

Do The Green Thing

Lastly, a shout out to our partner Do The Green Thing for their great interview in the Guardian – check it out here.