'Renewable energy could address India's energy needs'

Harnessing of renewable energy like wind, solar and biomass could address India's energy needs, a senior Indian official averred here Monday.

Speaking at a National Conference on "Nano Technology and Renewable Energy", organised by Jamia Millia Islamia, Dr. Alok Shrivastava, additional secretary in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, emphasised that the field of renewable energy, which has witnessed rapid growth in the last few years, could offer a solution to India's energy security needs.

He observed that one of the major concerns of the government was that one-third of India's population was bereft of any kind of energy. He said the ministry was seeking to address this major concern through generation of non-conventional energy that included wind, solar and biomass.

He observed that one of the challenges before the scientific community and society at large was to find ways to produce cost-effective renewable energy which could operate on de-centralized generation mode. Since the efficiency of renewable energy was not high, there was a necessity to "exploit nanotechnology for storage of variable energy" to prevent, among other things, destabilisation of grid on account of asymmetric frequency.

Exhorting scientists and young researchers to seek direct funding of projects in regard to nanotechnology and renewable energy from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, he said a lot of research and development in application of technology was mandatorily required in India in conjunction with R&D in pure sciences.

Speaking on the occasion, Jamia Milia Islamia Vice-Chancellor S.M. Sajid stressed upon the importance of research and development in the university system for addressing issues of social and scientific relevance.