Time
to retool our economy through renewable energy
Director
Nimbkar Agricultural Research
Institute
(NARI),
Phaltan-415523
E-mail:
nariphaltan@gmail.com
Obama’s
recent budget in
However
for a
vibrant and sustainable
The
biggest
problem in
Production
of electricity
via renewable resources can really boost the economy by providing much
needed
energy (an engine of development and growth) and jobs. Worldwide data
suggests
that renewable energy can provide more jobs per MW of electricity
production as
compared to fossil fuels or nuclear.
For
example data
from worldwide installations show that solar energy can provide 50-100
jobs per
MW through photovoltaic (PV), solar thermal power production and hot
water
heating technologies. Similar data is for wind energy production
whereas for
power production from biomass (agricultural residues or energy
plantations) the
job creation potential is 1200-2000 per MW. This high number is because
of
biomass growing, harvesting, collection and delivering it to the power
plant.
Besides the high job potential, power production from agricultural
residues
will also give an extra income of Rs. 2,000-4,000/acre per year to the
farmers
by their sale to the power plant.
In
Normally
for the well being of the soil
it is necessary that most of the agricultural residues should go back
to the
soil. However in absence of any large-scale program of converting them
into
organic fertilizer they are normally burned in the fields as a means of
waste
disposal. This causes a loss of a valuable resource besides creating
large-scale environmental pollution in rural areas. Hence a major
national
effort should be to incorporate these residues in the soil. Nevertheless it is safe to assume that around
50% of the residue may be available for power production. Thus 40,000
MW
produced via biomass can create about 48 million jobs.
With increased agricultural production this
number will increase.
According
to the
eleventh 5 year plan document
Hence
the power production from
renewables can create 50 million jobs in
Renewable
energy
like solar, wind or biomass is distributed in nature and hence allows
construction of decentralized and modular power plants. Thus 20-40 MW
solar,
wind or biomass power plants can be constructed in a matter of couple
of years
as compared to fossil fuel or nuclear plants which take 8-10 years for
completion. Modular nature of renewable power plants also allows rapid
scaling
up.
Solar
PV, wind
and biomass power plants are well-established technologies. Recently
solar
thermal power plants running on concentrating collectors are becoming
popular
and cost effective. The concentrated
solar energy heats a high temperature oil or molten salt which after
passing through
suitable heat exchangers produces steam for running the turbines.
Presently
about 1000 MW power in
We
should therefore thank President Obama
for reducing the H1B visas so that qualified engineers and scientists
either
remain in
Published as an Opinion
piece in Sci.Dev.net, April 1, 2009.
©
Anil K Rajvanshi. March 2009