Renewable Energy India 2008
Fulfilling power needs
Thomex.com
As India is lobbying hard with the NSG nations to get the Indo-US Nuclear deal through, it was a befitting occasion to recognise the contribution of renewal energy in meeting India's energy needs at the Renewable Energy India 2008 Expo. The show is being organised at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi from August 21-23.While inaugurating the show Vilas Muttemwar, Minister of State (Independent Charge), New and Renewal Energy, Govt of India, said that India is among the leading countries which gives a special emphasise to Renewal energy. "India generates 8% of the country's total energy through renewal resources. We have also achieved the remarkable feat of being the 4th country in the world when it comes to generate power from wind energy," the minister said. It is to be noted that the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) in its report released this year said that the country has achieved the level of 12.6 GW of power from renewable resources. The Ministry plans to generate 20% of India's total energy needs through renewable energy by 2020. India has planned a subsidy support system of approximately US$1 billion in government funds to complement US$ 15 billion investment requirement for enhancing the installed capacity. The show, which was organised by Exhibitions India and supported by MNRE, is being held in more than 6,714 sq m floor area with more than 200 exhibitors participating in the show. Exhibitors from countries like Germany, Canada, Spain, China, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Taiwan, Singapore, Hungary and USA are participating in the show. Talking about the huge response from the exhibitors and visitors alike, Hena Ahmad of Exhibitions India said, “We will be celebrating Energy Efficiency Day on August 22 in which a German Wind and Solar hybrid systems designed for Indian market will be unveiled,” she said.Most of the people who came to attend the show felt there was dearth of information and exposure to entrepreneurs who want to start business in renewable energy sector. They felt that the show provided them a much-needed platform and exposure. "The show has turned out to be one of the best of its kind with so many global players coming under one roof. With photo voltaic market showing a 25% annual growth, India is not far behind," said Vinay Shetty of Moserbaer Photo Voltaic who had put up a stall at the show.There were others like Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, Germany, who didn’t want to miss the big opportunity and had put up an attractive pavilion to promote its expertise in hydro, Solar and biomass energy. Gesine Weickert, Project Manager of Leipziger Messe International, who was responsible for erecting the Germany pavilion said that the response was encouraging as people came in hordes to enquire about the product and services German companies could offer in renewable energy.Simon Murray and John Caird of Capri UK Investments had come to the show to understand the ground realities and the potential India offered in renewal energy. Caird said, "It's exciting to know about the industry and the prominent players. We are here to learn about the country and the prospects it can offer."Sanjay Chaturvedi, Strategy Manager - Indian subcontinent, Rohm and Haas (India) however, had another version. "The show was ill-managed and poorly organised. There were no space for people to stand in the reception lobby and people were jostling with each other to get to the counter," he complaint.Uday Waghmare of Trans Tech Turnkey who had come all the way from Pune to participate in the show said that the show offered him some fairly good advantage. "We began our operations one year back and have installed about 40 biogas run generator. We hope that the show will create awareness about our product and we will be able to make some real gains," Waghmare said.Siddarth Bhat of OTB Near-East felt that the Indian solar market was bullish but a definite picture is yet to emerge. He had come to the show last year as a visitor and had decided to participate the next time. "We are expecting some business leads and at least 100-200 visitors a day. We hope the show will not disappoint us," said an optimistic Siddarth. |
