‘National lab policy must for renewable energy projects’

A National Lab Policy is needed for testing and certification of renewable energy projects, New and Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday. “National Lab Policy is needed to address the testing, standardisation and certification of renewable energy projects in the country,” Goyal was quoted as saying in a statement by his ministry. Such a policy document should bring out a clear work plan identifying the need of equipment and infrastructure, including funds requirement, said Goyal, who also holds the coal and power portfolios. Inaugurating a national workshop on lab infrastructure for Renewable Energy Deployment Programme here, the minister said indigenous technology development and standardisation is essential for the growth of the renewable energy sector.

There is a need to pay more attention on ensuring quality and reliability of renewable energy systems for <g data-gr-id="62">effective</g> promotion of renewable energy, the statement added. Goyal emphasised on maintaining consistency in manufacturing and confidence in <g data-gr-id="61">reliability</g> of these technologies to ensure that systems installed function properly. The minister also stated that biogas needs to be given more attention to <g data-gr-id="60">make</g> it a well-organised industry. “Improved biomass cook stoves should be promoted for clean cooking solutions, thereby addressing both fuel saving and health hazards concerns of rural women and children,” he said.

He further stressed that proper standardisation will facilitate financing options for deployment. “We need to strengthen test facilities for proper testing to maintain <g data-gr-id="54">quality</g> of products. Also, training, proper inspection for checking the quality of systems installed is needed, ensuring effective utilisation of renewable energy,” Goyal said.

The ministry’s Secretary Upendra Tripathy emphasised upon the need for proper testing of renewable energy systems, following standardised procedures to ensure reliability. To ensure better capacity utilisation of wind energy projects, the government is developing a framework for repowering wind farms from 200-300 watt to 2-5 mega watt units that are available in the market, Goyal said at an Assocham.

It plans to use off-grid power in certain villages, he said as per the industry chamber’s statement. “We are creating a framework that whenever the grid reaches there, the off-grid guy can supply that power like net metering into the grid, so we are creating that framework to encourage people to go off-grid,” Goyal said.

“<g data-gr-id="50">Discom</g> resolution is on the cards and we are very confident to have been able to create a sustainable robust framework in consultation with states,” the minister said. It is imperative to make the renewable energy sector self-sufficient and self-reliant by cutting back on subsidies, Goyal added.

“Subsidy for the renewable energy sector is a sensitive issue. Ideally, now <g data-gr-id="48">time</g> has come we should move out of <g data-gr-id="49">subsidy</g>,” he said.

Goyal also held the Uttar Pradesh government responsible for the bad power scenario in the state, saying that it had failed to exploit the resources in the right way. “The UP government can’t properly utilise resources due to which power scenario in the state is bad. The Centre is giving its due support to the state to ensure power in the state,” Goyal said. “The state government has sought 300 metric tonnes of coal for power generation. However, the Centre is providing 900 metric tonnes of coal.”