Monthly Archives: August 2012

Why the Indian Grid failed

Posted on August 27, 2012 by Ritesh Pothan

The massive grid failure in India last week affected over 600 million people. With speculations abound as to the reasons for the failure, we decided to talk to engineers working at the load despatch centers on the ground to get … Continue reading →

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Generating power from geothermal induced CO2

Posted on August 27, 2012 by Ritesh Pothan

In August 2012, two nondescript shipping containers will be installed in a field in Cranfield, Mississippi. They’ll house turbines designed to generate electricity in a way that’s never been done before. If initial tests go well, the technology could lead … Continue reading →

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How solar power can help the billion people without electricity

Posted on August 27, 2012 by Ritesh Pothan

Sharan Pinto installs a solar panel on the rooftop of a house in Nada, a village near the southwest Indian port of Mangalore, India. Photograph: Rafiq Maqbool/AP After the Durban talks last month, climate realists must face the reality that … Continue reading →

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Is solar panel manufacturing in India on its way out

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Ritesh Pothan

Source: Down to Earth Author(s): Kushal Pal Sing…, Jonas Hamberg About 40 kilometres from Delhi, in the bustling real estate market of Noida-Greater Noida, lies the biggest irony that the renewable energy industry faces. Indosolar, the country’s largest manufacturer of solar photovoltaic cells, … Continue reading →

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Solar lights for Himachal shepherds subsidized by 95%

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Ritesh Pothan

The state government, through an announcement, has said that sheep breeders in Himachal Pradesh will be provided highly subsidised solar lights to make life easier for them. The chief minister, P K Dhumal, said each solar light after being fully … Continue reading →

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Off-grid power shines in India’s solar village

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Ritesh Pothan

Life in the remote village of Meerwada used to grind to a standstill as darkness descended. Workers downed tools, kids strained to see their schoolbooks under the faint glow of aged kerosene lamps and adults struggled to carry out the … Continue reading →

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Solar ATMs are helping spread banking in remote areas

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Ritesh Pothan

In January 2010, State Bank of India was about to open a branch in Sannyasidanga village near Jangipur, West Bengal — the Lok Sabha constituency of Pranab Mukherjee, then finance minister and now president of India. It would be the … Continue reading →

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Draft UP Solar Policy envisages 1 GW by 2017

Posted on August 10, 2012 by Ritesh Pothan

Uttar Pradesh Solar POWER-POLICY-DRAFT-Ver 2 2012 Electric power and its easy availability is an established benchmark of development and an essential prerequisite for all-round prosperity. No major economic activity can be sustained without adequate and reliable source of power. The economic development of … Continue reading →

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Tokelau atoll to shed complete diesel dependence by replacing with solar

Posted on August 7, 2012 by Ritesh Pothan

Diesel-dependent Tokelau is still on track to become the first entirely solar-powered places on Earth in a project led by a New Zealand solar company. All three atolls in the South Pacific dependency, a New Zealand territory, will have their … Continue reading →

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Lessons to be learnt from one of the world’s worst energy blackouts of the decade

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Ritesh Pothan

  India just had the mother of all blackouts in the last week of July, causing the most populated northern half of the nation to come to a halt, without a viable recourse to an alternate source of energy for … Continue reading →

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