10 ms·

Rich men throwing their weight behind renewable power to make money. Good. Public infra wise, it would be great if the government spends money in several direc

Rich men throwing their weight behind renewable power to make money. Good. Public infra wise, it would be great if the government spends money in several directions 1. Setting up solar farms in the deserts of North west - Gujurat, Rajasthan where the land is obviously not being used for agriculture or industrial buildings. The industrial footprint of Gujurat will no doubt be thankful for the renewable power during the operational hours of the day coinciding with solar power generation. 2. Set up solar panels atop irrigation canals which not only generate power for agriculture, but also reduce fresh water evaporation. 3. Strengthen the power grid in populated areas to handle power generation from roof tops and let people make money by sending solar power into their grid. The Indian entrepreneurial public will find creative ways to generate power and make some money for themselves. 4. Add buffers that can absorb bursts in power production that can be used for later(or would have used peak power unnecessarily). Example - run drinking water pumping and filtration systems, sewage treatment systems, seawater desalination plants etc during peak solar production times of the day. Easier said than done I know. But that’s what leadership should look like. Not triggering political divisions and trying to exploit emotions to stay in power.

prashantsengar 5y ago
Interestingly, current PM said in one of his election speeches in 2014 (when he was the CM of Gujarat) what you mentioned in point 1 (not exactly the same). I don't think there has been any progress there. Otherwise, a lot of focus has been put by the current government towards renewal energy.
eldaisfish 5y ago
there's an important element of this that rarely gets mentioned - demand growth in India. At the moment, the per capita electrical energy consumption of India is between 20% - 25% that of China. What this means is that if India is to continue to grow, this energy must come from somewhere. Bear in mind, this is 4x - 5x as much energy as is delivered today to get to where China is today. While more renewable energy is a good thing, the fact is that no gigawatt scale power grid anywhere has managed to do this i.e. meet demand growth solely through renewable energy. You mention strengthening the power grid - this is one of India's biggest choke points to domestic energy generation. their transmission grid is truly world-class but their distribution grid is regularly on the verge of collapse and power cuts are frequent. Before someone chimes in with "batteries" those are expensive and the Indian government already subsidises fuel - something that already works well. Batteries are not a solution to rickety distribution infrastructure in the developing world.
- pwarner 5y ago
  Long term we need a lot more energy globally than we have today. Think like 2x USA per capita total energy consumption, but all as electricity. Take that model global, and we need a lot more electricity.
  - hazza_n_dazza 5y ago
    Why? My 7nm CPU consumes heaps less power than my old 28nm CPU. What we need is a shift to fully renewable that dosen't eat the planet on the way.
  - soperj 5y ago
    Why? Cars? Think about how much less traffic a city like Mumbai would have if it was all electric bikes instead of electric cars.
HWR_14 5y ago
> Rich men throwing their weight behind renewable power to make money. Good. I mean, it's good that he's doing this. Whether one person should have the financial resources to make that decision by himself is a different question.
- xibalba 5y ago
  > Whether one person should have the financial resources to make that decision by himself is a different question This implies 1) a belief that wealth accumulation is zero sum, which is false, and 2) a scary conception of how property rights should work.
  - smt88 5y ago
    > a scary conception of how property rights should work I didn't interpret it to have anything to do with changing property rights. We just shouldn't have a single, unelected person who has the power to make decisions at the level of a major nation-state. Regardless of the reasons it happens, no individual should accumulate that much power. If that means we need to reduce the amount of power someone has based on the amount of property they have, fine. There are many solutions to it. It's still a problem though.
    - spoonjim 5y ago
      Why does “elected” make it better? If you had a problem you needed solving would you rather have Elon Musk on the case, or any of the last 4 American presidents?
      - HWR_14 5y ago
        Wait, is this a real question? With one exception, I would prefer to have any of the last four US presidents or their major party opponents solve problems instead of Elon Musk.
      - dragonwriter 5y ago
        > If you had a problem you needed solving would you rather have Elon Musk on the case, or any of the last 4 American presidents I mean, it depends on the problem and alignment of interests, but if I had to make a blind choice knowing only that it was a public policy problem then any of the last 4 American Presidents (though Trump is a close call), any of their major party opponents, any of the top 3 primary opponents to any of them in the season in which they were nominated. Also, any of the members of the US Senate, and any but about dozen members of the US House of Representatives, and any of the 50 US Governors, any of the chief executives of US Territories, and most mayors of major American cities.
stayfrosty420 5y ago
green != renewable
nmridul 5y ago
Just outlining few of the developments from the various (state /central) governments. 1. Solar plant planned in Desert, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhadla_Solar_Park https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhadla_Solar_Park Mostly organised by https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Energy_Corporation_of_India https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Energy_Corporation_of_... and installed by private players. 2. Floating solar power on top of dams. https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/in-other-news/300416/kerala-solar-panel-atop-dam-a-reality.html https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/in-other-news/300416/... 3. This is also for state of Kerala. grid connected systems are available. "Consumers have the option of choosing from two models of power generation. In the first model, the energy generated is fed into the grid for 25 years and 10 per cent of the energy is given to the premises owner. In the second model, the energy generated is sold to the consumer at a fixed tariff for 25 years. In both models, the total cost of the installation is borne by KSEB, while the premise owner gives the rooftop for installation. " https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/kochi/2020/feb/29/kseb-to-install-solar-panels-from-next-month-2109968.html https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/kochi/2020/feb/29/ks...
Shadonototra 5y ago
- givemeethekeys 5y ago
  I think your interpretation of what he said is out of line. Certain efforts take a lot of capital. There's no "waiting" - that's just the reality of the situation.

prashantsengar 5y ago

Interestingly, current PM said in one of his election speeches in 2014 (when he was the CM of Gujarat) what you mentioned in point 1 (not exactly the same). I don't think there has been any progress there. Otherwise, a lot of focus has been put by the current government towards renewal energy.

eldaisfish 5y ago

there's an important element of this that rarely gets mentioned - demand growth in India. At the moment, the per capita electrical energy consumption of India is between 20% - 25% that of China. What this means is that if India is to continue to grow, this energy must come from somewhere. Bear in mind, this is 4x - 5x as much energy as is delivered today to get to where China is today. While more renewable energy is a good thing, the fact is that no gigawatt scale power grid anywhere has managed to do this i.e. meet demand growth solely through renewable energy. You mention strengthening the power grid - this is one of India's biggest choke points to domestic energy generation. their transmission grid is truly world-class but their distribution grid is regularly on the verge of collapse and power cuts are frequent. Before someone chimes in with "batteries" those are expensive and the Indian government already subsidises fuel - something that already works well. Batteries are not a solution to rickety distribution infrastructure in the developing world.

pwarner 5y ago
Long term we need a lot more energy globally than we have today. Think like 2x USA per capita total energy consumption, but all as electricity. Take that model global, and we need a lot more electricity.
- hazza_n_dazza 5y ago
  Why? My 7nm CPU consumes heaps less power than my old 28nm CPU. What we need is a shift to fully renewable that dosen't eat the planet on the way.
- soperj 5y ago
  Why? Cars? Think about how much less traffic a city like Mumbai would have if it was all electric bikes instead of electric cars.

HWR_14 5y ago

> Rich men throwing their weight behind renewable power to make money. Good. I mean, it's good that he's doing this. Whether one person should have the financial resources to make that decision by himself is a different question.

xibalba 5y ago
> Whether one person should have the financial resources to make that decision by himself is a different question This implies 1) a belief that wealth accumulation is zero sum, which is false, and 2) a scary conception of how property rights should work.
- smt88 5y ago
  > a scary conception of how property rights should work I didn't interpret it to have anything to do with changing property rights. We just shouldn't have a single, unelected person who has the power to make decisions at the level of a major nation-state. Regardless of the reasons it happens, no individual should accumulate that much power. If that means we need to reduce the amount of power someone has based on the amount of property they have, fine. There are many solutions to it. It's still a problem though.
  - spoonjim 5y ago
    Why does “elected” make it better? If you had a problem you needed solving would you rather have Elon Musk on the case, or any of the last 4 American presidents?
    - HWR_14 5y ago
      Wait, is this a real question? With one exception, I would prefer to have any of the last four US presidents or their major party opponents solve problems instead of Elon Musk.
    - dragonwriter 5y ago
      > If you had a problem you needed solving would you rather have Elon Musk on the case, or any of the last 4 American presidents I mean, it depends on the problem and alignment of interests, but if I had to make a blind choice knowing only that it was a public policy problem then any of the last 4 American Presidents (though Trump is a close call), any of their major party opponents, any of the top 3 primary opponents to any of them in the season in which they were nominated. Also, any of the members of the US Senate, and any but about dozen members of the US House of Representatives, and any of the 50 US Governors, any of the chief executives of US Territories, and most mayors of major American cities.

stayfrosty420 5y ago

green != renewable

nmridul 5y ago

Just outlining few of the developments from the various (state /central) governments. 1. Solar plant planned in Desert, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhadla_Solar_Park https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhadla_Solar_Park Mostly organised by https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Energy_Corporation_of_India https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Energy_Corporation_of_... and installed by private players. 2. Floating solar power on top of dams. https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/in-other-news/300416/kerala-solar-panel-atop-dam-a-reality.html https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/in-other-news/300416/... 3. This is also for state of Kerala. grid connected systems are available. "Consumers have the option of choosing from two models of power generation. In the first model, the energy generated is fed into the grid for 25 years and 10 per cent of the energy is given to the premises owner. In the second model, the energy generated is sold to the consumer at a fixed tariff for 25 years. In both models, the total cost of the installation is borne by KSEB, while the premise owner gives the rooftop for installation. " https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/kochi/2020/feb/29/kseb-to-install-solar-panels-from-next-month-2109968.html https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/kochi/2020/feb/29/ks...

Shadonototra 5y ago

givemeethekeys 5y ago
I think your interpretation of what he said is out of line. Certain efforts take a lot of capital. There's no "waiting" - that's just the reality of the situation.