Abdullah flags grid balancing issue for renewable energy use

Increasing renewable energy supply requires a favourable policy environment which can encourage private investment, New and Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah said here today.
"In fact, in India much of the renewable energy development - especially that which is grid-connected -- has taken place with private sector investment.
"There are issues such as effective integration of renewable energy in the grid, use of smart grids, and a market design that fosters the further addition of renewable energy in the grid," the Minister said inaugurating the National Workshop on 'Grid Integration of Renewable Energy Sources and Energy Efficiency'.
Explaing the efforts of the last decade, Abdullah said that renewable energy technologies have leapfrogged at the global level.

"A series of policy initiatives and technology improvements have helped create a substantial supply base of renewable energy. Renewable power excluding large hydro power (which is hydro power projects more that 25MW) represents around 13 percent of the total installed capacity of electricity generation on India," he said.
Abdullah said wind power is the fastest growing renewable source and it constitutes around 70 percent of the total renewable energy installed capacity in India.

"Our 12th five year plan proposals for the period 2012-2017 seek a capacity addition of 30 GW. A federal outlay of around USD4 billion has been earmarked for undertaking renewable energy activities during the next 5 years," he said.

Flagging the grid balancing issues, he said that at present most of the renewable electricity generated within a state has to be absorbed within that state and grid balancing issues limit addition of more renewable electricity beyond a certain limit.
"Therefore evacuation from resource rich states to other parts of the country where load centres are located is essential for further growth of renewable power," he added.