India's Green Energy Transition

A novel approach to determine the non-dimensional heliostat field boundary for solar tower plants.Solar tower technology has gained considerable momentum over the past decade. In a solar tower plant, the power collected by the heliostat field is strongly coupled to the height of the tower and its location with respect to the field. This paper provides a methodology to fix the boundary of the field (non-dimensionalised with respect to the tower height). 

An explicit J–V model of a solar cell using equivalent rational function form for simple estimation of maximum power point voltage

India is targeting an ambitious GDP growth rate of 8 per cent and for that the power sector needs to grow in tandem.This paper makes an assessment of the potential for capacity addition from various energy sources such as coal,natural gas, hydro, wind and biomass and concludes that these sources will be found wanting in closing the gap between desired growth and business as usual growth. In this background, the recent India-US declaration on cooperation in nuclear power provides an opportunity for accelerated growth.

Crude oil prices recently crossed US$ 75/bbl, fuelling serious concerns whether India’s rapidly expanding economy can sustain a high and growing level of crude imports There are also serious concerns of global warming from burning of fossil fuels .It may be time for India to explore options which can substitute petrol and diesel and are climate-friendly In a series of two articles, we examine a few such technology and policy options Part I focus on options for substituting petrol by ethanol from sugarcane: molasses, sugarcane juice and cellulose (bagasse) Part II analyses options for diesel

The Global Energy Landscape and Materials Innovation

The policy note examines the existing status of Waste Heat Recovery (WHR) technology in Karnataka and potential uptake in near future. As the fifth most industrialized Indian state, Karnataka's cement, iron and steel sectors consume 28% of the state's total power (as of 2016) and is expected to be in the same range by 2030 as well.

The study aims to develop a methodology to carry out a technical analysis of a solar tower (ST) technology. The proposed rational approach determines the optimum solar field and the associated tower height for an ST using an external cylindrical receiver, using molten salt as both HTF and storage medium operating with steam Rankine power cycle.

The cumulative number of households waiting for power supply is close to 4 crore. Majority of electrified villages have huge demand-supply gap and access to power is unreliable or of low quality. In many rural areas, electricity is barely available for economic use and development. Grid-tied renewable powered mini-grids can help improve reliability and augment supply to the central grid effectively.

Rooftop photovoltaic (RTPV) systems are intended to contribute 40 GW of India's 100 GW solar target. While the uptake of utility-scale solar PV systems is progressing at a steady pace, their RTPV counterparts are witnessing a slow uptake. The sluggish growth can be attributed to a lack of economies of scale, absence of accurate potential assessment, and complexity in procedures.

Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7) aims to “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” by 2030. India is home to the world’s largest population without access to modern energy – 400 million people do not have access to electricity and 800 million people still cook with traditional biomass. In this context, this study analyses the potential to embed the SDG 7 target of universal access to clean fuels and technologies into India’s national agenda.