At a time when places in Punjab (India) like Jalandhar and Chandigarh boast of the maximum number of vehicles per capita and innumerable burgeoning industries thereby contributing their share to the global warming scenario, the departments like Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) have rightly started showing the path that needs to be tread upon if the deals of the Copenhagen summit actually need to be put into practice.
Formed in 1991 as a nodal agency for developing and promoting non-conventional projects in the state, PEDA is striving forward to achieve its aim of a sustainable energy future. Alternatives like hydel power, solar energy, biomass/agro waste have been taken under research and practice.
During the financial year 1999-2000, four small hydel power projects on the Abohar Branch Canal at Chupki, Narangwal, Tugal and Dalla were completed. These projects account for a total power generation capacity of 5.5 MW. Micro hydel power projects on the Bathinda Branch Canal at Khatra, Kanganwal, Bowani and Jagera with a total capacity of 4.3 MW were also commissioned. Apart from this, many private investors have also been commissioned projects in this category.
Research and development in the field of solar energy has been going on at a consistent pace for the past few years now. The main office of PEDA in Sector 33-D, Chandigarh accounts for complete solar energy dependence. Recently when I visited the office, the huge solar panels spread over the entire dimensions of the roof left me amazed. The arrangement of the cubicles is such that sunlight provides a natural lighting for most of the hours till late evening. The computers and all other machinery depend solely on the power driven from the awesome solar panels overhead. The office even has a custom made elevator which, like every other thing present there, draws power from the very same panels. It is a set example that even heavy machinery can be smoothly operated using non-conventional sources of energy, provided that a careful blend of technology and design is used. The various solar powered appliances developed by the PEDA for commercial availability are displayed near the main counter with detailed information available on each of them.
Today, the PEDA took a giant leap with the inauguration of India’s first ever 2 MW solar power plant in Awan, a village newar Amritsar. Set up by the US based company Azure Power in the independent power producers mode, it will subsequently be expanded up to a capacity of 5 MW. With the Centre’s target of producing 20,000 MW of solar power under its solar mission, this initiative by the Punjab Government is quite laudable. By attracting entrepreneurs in the clean power sector, PEDA is indeed performing a pioneering role. The aim of setting up more such plants in the near future will surely bring in more such companies belonging to the renewable energy sector. Increase in competition would account for even better research leading to more efficient and productive plants. This, coming rightly at a time when the Copenhagen Summit is in full swing, has surely shown the concern and understanding towards the international cause.
Apart from this, Punjab possesses a capacity to shift 1000 MW of its needs to biomass. Currently, the exploited potential lies at a meager 20.5 MW. PEDA is constantly working in this field. The lectures and workshops conducted by PEDA all the year round aim at pressing the need of this renewable energy source along with the others it is researching in.
Through these acts of initiating numerous small hydel power project on various canals, encouraging biomass energy production, setting up the nation’s first ever solar power production facility and turning its own office into a state of the art modern complex by using the latest technologies and yet deriving them solely from the sun, PEDA has made a mark through example which even the other agencies need to aim for if the global warming problems need to be curbed.
This initiative of the Punjab Government depicts that the responsibility of all State Governments should complement the drive of the Central Government in accordance with the emission cuts which will be filed in the Copenhagen draft. Working on the same lines can indeed make this problem comparatively easy to be dealt with. Cooperation will play an important factor to frame the result of the deal coming out of this world summit. If all the world powers are planning to cooperate, why not start from the innermost unit and buildup to national cooperation and thereby to an international one?