Indian government approves 1,000 MW solar power projects (plans 20 GW by 2020)

[jpak]

http://www.pv-tech.org/news/_a/indian_government_approves_1000mw_solar_power_projects/

India's new and renewable energy minister, Farooq Abdullah, has revealed that the government is targeting 1,000MW of solar power by 2013, 500MW of which will be solar photovoltaic and 500MW solar thermal, reports the Hindu.

The first installation will begin in West Bengal, where a demo tidal wave power project of 100MW will be executed, shortly followed by switching 100 telecom towers from diesel to solar power for cooling, Abdullah said.

The government is aiming for 20,000MW of solar power by 2020 through the Solar Mission. The total potential for renewable energy output is estimated to be 85,000MW.

"Due to huge interest, the government will have to go for reverse bidding in September for the proposed grid connected 500MW photovoltaic solar power projects", said Indian renewable energy development agency CMD Debashish Majumdar.

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[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. Why use 1000MW when 1GW will do?

horrible, terrible, waste of space

3 whole wasted spaces!

:cry:

[old mark]

2. So we are now behind Germany and India in renewable energy planning...

and I am sure, several other European nations and China as well...

Great work, Administration - it's a shame we have so few people looking for jobs - we might have a great public works project for the next few decades.
We could maybe to the bridges and railroads, too...

mark

[jpak]

3. yup - and they are taking our green jobs too

we coulda been a condendah

[Vehl]

4. They are taking those jobs cos US doesnt want to invest in anything long term

Ive noticed this trend for quite a while now...any public infrastructure/energy project that would yield dividends(huge ones) in 5 to 10 years is voted down by republicans and others every single time. meaning that we are stuck with the crumbling infrastructure we have now.


a Manhattan project/mission to moon project style government/private cooperative project that is done on a national scale would create millions of jobs and also secure better energy/transportation sources for the future...but i really dont see this happening here nowadays.


everyone is looking to make a quick buck...not willing to think about long term benefits. if even only 10% of the money spent on the IRaq war was spent on renewable/new fuel sources research, there would surely have been many breakthroughs...not to mention the creation of a ton of jobs.

its no use blaming other countries for not being short sighted like the us is right now. the pioneering spirit of the 40-70 is long gone...with many stuck with a mentality that is never willing to act out of the box. To be fair...there are many here who call for such projects/endeavors...but the political will is sorely lacking.

[OnlinePoker]

5. They are taking those jobs because they pay their people nothing.

I just looked up minimum wage laws. Each state has their own standards so it probably varies dramatically. I picked one area and the highest pay was for people crushing rock to 1 inch stone levels. They make the equivalent of $20 per day. In the Punjab, the upper limit for highly skilled workers earns a grand total of $3.88 per day. There is no way U.S. or any industrialized country can compete against wages like that. When I was in Goa 3 years ago, they had ship building going on right on the beaches...full sized cargo ships. Maybe half of the workers had shoes on, most only having open toed sandals. There are no standards for worker safety and shit is dumped everywhere. The country is a real hole.

[jpak]

6. I disagree - solar and wind manufacturers in Europe & Japan can compete India and China

Building and operating a modern automated GW-scale PV manufacturing plant requires skilled labor and management - not shoeless illiterate rock bangers.

The same is true for solar thermal electric and wind turbine components.

The differece between the US and the rest of the world is that the US does not support these industries with FITs, financing and tax policies.

The US - quite literally - invented solar hot water, PV cells and electric wind turbines.

But successive republican presidients and congresses went out of their way to kill these industries in the 1980's - so now we import these things from Europe and Asia.

GOP = green job killas

yup

[Vehl]

7. i'm saying that the lack of big ticket projects in america is due to lack of interest..

how can India building power plants in their country affect American Green Jobs??

Why cant America gear up for say a 10 year, or 20 year plan to renew its transportation/energy infrastructure? We all saw how much the republicans moaned about the money Obama set aside on the recent stimulus bill for renewable energy/mass transist options?


There are some fundamental flaws in the way things are currently run here..for starters...why does anyone need those massive trucks to transport goods across the nation? Why not have a lot of rail lines connecting the major centers of commerce...

transporting goods over rail is many times cheaper/efficient/environmentally friendly than transporting them over gas guzzling trucks. Why don't we change that for instance? the money invested in a national grid dedicated for commerce/goods transport would more than pay for itself in the long run. and drastically cut the fuel consumption as well. better yet...goods would also be cheaper.

if i rem correctly, GE has a locomotive that costs 1/100th of the cost per ton/mile it takes to transport the same thing over trucks. Why not do that? and the trucks can still transport the goods from the rail stations to the factories/stores..but they need not do the wasteful cross continental runs.

http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/rail_transportation/visions/index.html
http://www.getransportation.com/na/en/evolution.html


as jpak already mentioned, High tech green jobs need highly skilled workers...pls don't confuse the ones working in the docks/shipbreakinng yards with the ones working the high tech jobs.


As for why the US government is not initiating any big ticket green job projects...blame the republicans, and the culture of "I want results now...not 10 years down the lane"

[NickB79]

8. Better hurry up, because India is building coal-fired plants almost as fast as China

For example: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Energy/IFC_to_lend_Rs_1800_crore_to_Tatas_power_project/articleshow/2937878.cms

"NEW DELHI: International Finance Corporation (IFC) on Wednesday said it will lend $ 450 million (Rs 1,800 crore) to Tata Power for setting up the 4,000 MW Ultra Mega Power Project at Mundra in Gujarat."

And that's just ONE plant to be built over the next couple of years. 20 GW of solar may be a drop in the bucket for India's booming energy demand.