Towards 100% Renewable Energy

Today, India’s electrical power is primarily produced using coal, though the cost per unit is not less than that produced using renewable sources like solar and wind? This is so, even when it is recognised that coal-power is highly polluting and is severe contributing to green-house emissions. The primary reason is that renewable energy from solar and wind is available is not controllable and the time and extent of availability is God’s will. The power is not necessarily produced when there is a demand and there is no way to match load with generation. The only way to change is to use “electric storage.” A massive amount of storage is needed to store electric energy when generated so as it can be used when needed. The grid-storage, the terms used for grid-level storage of electrical energy, has to be very large, of the order of hundreds of GWh or more. Is this possible? What will it cost today and tomorrow? How much will it add to the cost of renewable energy? Will renewable energy with storage still be competitive to energy from fossil fuels like coal, gas and oil?

The presentation will look at the costs today and the possible costs tomorrow. It will also present a short-term opportunity to have energy-storage at a commercial complex level. The first benefit would be to get rid of the diesel generator. This itself would amount to significant savings of energy-costs. On top of it, considering the costs of electricity in the commercial complex today,  the return of investment on storage would be shown to be very quick.

About the Speaker:

Prof. Jhunjhunwala is considered a pioneer in nurturing Industry-Academia interaction in India towards R&D, Innovation and Product Development. He conceived and built India’s first university-affiliated business park (IIT Madras Research Park). He incubated and nurtured more than 200 companies at IIT Madras. Prof. Jhunjhunwala was a Director on the board of State Bank of India, Bharat Electronics Limited, HTL, NRDC, IDRBT, BIRAC, VSNL, BSNL, Tata Communications, Mahindra Electric and Tejas Networks. He is currently the Chairman of Technology Advisory Group of Securities Exchange Board of India and Chairperson of the Board of Governors of IIIT Kottayam and College of Engineering, Trivandrum. 

Prof. Jhunjhunwala was conferred Padma Shri by the Government of India. He received Shanti-Swarup Bhatnagar Award, JC Bose fellowship, Vikram Sarabhai Research Award, H. K. Firodia Award, Millenium Medal, Hari Om Ashram Award, Ram Lala Wadhwa Gold Medal, Dronacharya Award and Lifetime Achievement Award by TIE. He is a Member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), USA and a Fellow of IEEE and World Wireless Research Forum (WWRF). He is also a fellow of the four S&T academies in India, namely, INSA, NAS, IAS and INAE.