In the final episode of this podcast series, we speak to a vital link that makes up the building blocks of the solar power ecosystem - the Solar Engineering, Procurement, and Construction, or EPC vendors.  How can solar consumers make choices based on the best return on investments, features, capacity and brands? It is crucial that we follow this kind of due diligence as consumers, and to help us comb through these choices, this episode will delve into the perspective of Mr. G. Rajaganesan,...

Tamil Nadu is one of India's most industrialised states with commerce and industries making up nearly half (45%) of its power consumption as per the state's statistical report 2020-21. Decarbonising this sector is therefore critical to the success of Tamil Nadu's energy transition. In this episode, we speak to Mr. P.G. Karthick Babu, the proprietor of Karthik Enterprises, a small textile business in Madurai. Karthick talks about his experience in solarizing his enterprise's operations and...

While homes make up 35% of TN power consumption, rooftop solar installations in the state are only at 386 MW (as on March 2023), accounting for nearly 2% of total RE power capacity. Therefore, more initiatives are required from various categories to attain complete energy transition. In this episode, we speak to Mr. D. Suresh, who goes by the moniker Solar Suresh – for his early experience in installing a solar power plant at his Chennai residence a decade ago.   This episode is anchored by...

Trailer How do cities – the nerve centres of economic activity that contribute the most to the global carbon footprint transition to cleaner forms of energy? We at The Energy Pod, attempt to look at this question at a local level, with conversations with residential and industrial consumers. We also speak to solar PV vendors in the state of Tamil Nadu in India.  Tamil Nadu’s renewable energy (RE) capacity has been estimated as 17920 MW (as of March 2023). This includes 10017 MW of wind and...

The India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) estimates the potential for offshore wind along the coasts of Tamil Nadu and Gujarat alone to be over 70 GW. While India had released a National Offshore Wind Policy in 2015 with targets of 5 GW by 2022 and 30 GW by 2030 to tap into this potential, development has been slow.   To increase investor confidence, MNRE has suggested supporting developers by setting up the evacuation and transmission infrastructure from offshore to onshore...

Offshore wind can play a significant role in helping India achieve its 2030 climate action plans and in responding to the rapidly rising energy demand, by offering multiple advantages such as higher plant load factors and lower variability when compared to onshore. Offshore wind can also contribute towards electricity security and is more stable over time than solar PV.    However, the costs associated with offshore wind are much higher that onshore wind and funding these projects is a...

India has a vast and favourable coastline with a potential to produce over 70 Gigawatts of offshore wind energy off the coasts of two states alone – Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, and yet there is not a single windmill in the Indian Ocean. There are multiple challenges that need to be addressed for setting up of offshore projects.   In this first episode of the offshore wind podcast series at WRI India's The Energy Pod, we discuss the technical and financial aspects involving the setting up of...

A renewable energy future has been a major global theme for developing countries across the world, including at many recent COPs. However, transitioning to sustainable and renewable energy for India requires several important factors to work in tandem, such as technology transfer, reduced costs of production, an enabling policy framework, and the industrial and entrepreneurial base to catalyze the energy transition. The offshore wind energy sector holds immense untapped potential in this...

In the India's southern state of Kerala, the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) is the main power utility that supplies electricity, but there are smaller, state-run players like KINESCO, which focuses to serve commercial and industrial consumers in the textile, food processing and information technology parks in about three districts. As C&I consumers increasingly seek renewable energy to achieve their sustainability goals, discoms like KINESCO must strategise to cater to them. As a...

India's Electricity Act, 2003 allowed large power consumers to begin buying energy directly from generators, circumventing the distribution companies, or discoms. This led to a steady erosion of commercial and industrial consumers for discoms. Initially, these direct purchase contracts were with thermal generators. But with the steep decline in the cost of renewable power, particularly solar reaching price parity with coal, and as companies look to green their supply chains, these contracts...

Electricity has long been a political issue in India, and one of the sops that political parties often promise during election campaigns is free power particularly for farming and low-income communities. But this has long posed a challenge for Indian utilities, or, discoms as they are called in India. This has led to bulk power purchasers in India, typically big industries, whom we call 'commercial and industrial' consumers being charged a premium for the power they consume to compensate for...