The Government of India has set a target of installing of installing 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by the year 2022, which includes 100 GW from solar, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from bio-power and 5 GW from small hydro-power.https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/partnership/?p=34566
Its true, the target of 175GW planned in 2015-16 for 2022 was taking shape however CORONA hit not only us but the stats against this target too. Multiple industries which had come in this expo expressed their concerns on two fronts:
1) Future of subsidy with State Governance, heavier interest on loans for the sector and
2) Future of Power Economics in Renewable sector.
I attended the conference on 17th September which was the last day and most of the exhibitions were coming to an end however I did get some insights and information on the status of various industries participating here.
Nature had planned a great weather this evening for the event and I did feel elated visiting it on that Friday. The arrangements were made along with self-declaration for COVID concerns and they even had an isolation room in case a positive case was reported on site.
On talking to a few leaders on the concerns on Power Economics front, certain things were obvious.
The products be it solar pumps, solar lighting, inverters to even e-bikes they were all being invested upon and apprised visitors on their maximum efficacy which could be derived, that's the way to go.
I decided to tap into the details on efficiency of the various products and the reality came forth that the efficacy has been noted in states where sunshine is abundant like states of Rajasthan, Gujrat and some South Indian states as well however when I asked them about the efficiency which could be achieved from these higher North like in Punjab, Himachal or even Delhi, the efficiency sure took a tumble due to sun time available.
The renewable sector as of today is dominated by solar and Government is trying in earnest to promote it as much as possible however we are still far off from the actual 100GW capacity mark, I believe we are still close to 43GW of installation only.
As if this wasn't enough, the subsidies provided by Government are now controlled by State and I was a bit astonished to find that industries established in Gujrat have fewer subsidies compared to other states perhaps the business in Solar is doing good there compared to other states.
To that I would say buck up India ... if the "Gujjuz" are investing into it perhaps its a worthwhile investment.
Another topic which drew my attention was classic Electrical vs Hydrogen debate, the current investors into Solar are now watching Hydrogen based development closely as it has already taken good shape in Europe and good amount of research is already going into it. So from an Investor's PoV, both EV and H2 driven technology are worthwhile and the investment has to be made in either one of them ... so the question is which way to go ?
I really liked the fact that a huge number of concerns within India participated in this expo alongside some of the foreign ones and technology wise we as industry are slowly sizing up to the global pace in renewable offerings under "Make in India" program.
Just for an example, I had a chat with Mr. Bhavesh Dholaria, MD of URATOM India Pvt. Ltd. who was kind enough to tell me a brief history of his concern and the products that they had brought forward. One of the key take-aways was improved efficiency in his products and end to end manufacturing within his plant hence no dependence on Chinese products.
The independence of manufacturing for remotest of the raw products really caught my eye and I as an Indian, thought this is really great for economic independence and self-reliance of our country.
Mr. Dholaria, showcased a recent innovation from his own company which was an e-bike which caught attention of many people in the exhibition.
I was also told that the electrification can be done on any bike and end to end product involved even the Lithium Phosphate batteries and its casing as seen here are completely home built. The features found in smart bikes abroad are very much compatible which makes it quiet relevant at least from technology perspective. Video.
Amongst various participants, biogas has been a consistent participant over the years in the REI expos as far as I can tell. Biogas has been represented by Indian Biogas Association(IBA)always and they have been playing a major role in terms of sustainability especially in rural areas. IBA has been setting up multiple training camps and educating manpower and doing really well when it comes to biogas eco system within India.
Around 5PM, it was time to call it a day as the expo was only running from 10AM to 5PM and getting a break from IT industry ain't that easy. I had only part of second half with me to explore it but I was able to scan through all the 3 halls of the expo and get a good view of various exhibitions in these halls.
Last time, I attended the expo it had a larger presence but then this one was good and insightful too.
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