more power than it did in 1957, the number of consumers has increased by a massive 100-fold.
“ At this rate our power deficit will only widen in the future. If we cannot address the issues of energy availability and pricing urgently, we are heading for an even bigger crisis,” he said.“ We have projects with total capacities of around 700MW still awaiting environmental clearances. Environment is a genuine concern and we must do all we can to minimize the impact on it, but it is vital that these energy projects get off the ground if we are to sustain development.”
He said solar and wind energy, as well as other nonconventional sources also needed to be explored, but there are limitations to overcome for Kerala in this area in terms of land availability, population density and financial viability.
“ However, if the 84 lakh domestic consumers in Kerala install rooftop solar power units of at least 1-2 kWh each, we can significantly reduce the load on our grids. These are solutions we must consider seriously,” Shri Aryadan Mohammed added.
At the start of the workshop, Shri. Manu Puri, Principal, Energy and Utilities, Accenture, set the theme for the workshop by listing out the energy options before Kerala including gasfired plants, coal-based stations, hydroelectric power, solar energy, wind power, biofuels, energy from waste and nuclear power.
He said the current overdependence on hydel power which is in turn reliant on seasonal rains can be damaging for Kerala in the future.“ There is a dire need for the state to look at a more diverse mix, particularly sustainable power sources such as solar and biomass,” he said.“ If Kerala utilizes all the resources available and takes advantage of its geography it can have sustained, uninterrupted electricity year-round and become a power surplus state.”
Shri K S Sreenivas, Secretary( Industries) delivered the welcome address. KSIDC Managing Director Shri Tom Jose was among the dignitaries present at the workshop.
In the first session of the workshop, Shri Preman Dinaraj, Director( Finance), Nuclear Power Corporation of India, made a presentation on Energy Security from a national and state perspective. He said India needs to have sustained growth of 7-8 % in the coming years which means power generation has to www. metromartdaily. com July 2013 57