Sustainability Outlook Headlines

Mission to promote electric vehicles to be launched this month

A mission plan to promote electric and hybrid vehicles in the country is expected to be formally unveiled by the government by the end of this month.

"In the next fortnight, I hope, I am sure, that the Prime Minister will officially launch the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020, " Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Praful Patel said here today.

He was speaking at the annual convention of Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).

The government wants to promote electric and hybrid vehicles in the country. According to industry, the... Read more..

Mahindra seeks to take lead in electric vehicles segment

Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, the only manufacturer of electric cars in India, plans to introduce at least five such vehicles in the next three years to take advantage of a government plan to spend Rs. 14,000 crore to boost the popularity of electric and hybrid vehicles in the country.

“We have already invested in our electric vehicle plant in Bangalore to produce 30,000 units per annum. We will be launching NXR (electric car) next month,” said Pawan Goenka, president of the automotive division at Mahindra, which sells electric cars through a company called Mahindra Reva Electric... Read more..

Global Environment Fund names Sridhar Narayan as principal to India team

Global Environment Fund (GEF), an environment and energy focused PE fund, has appointed Sridhar Narayan as principal. Narayan will be based in Mumbai, where he will be part of the team that is executing GEF’s private equity investment programme in India and South Asia, the firm said in a statement.

As part of strengthening its India team, it had hired Luis Miranda as senior advisor for its Mumbai office in April this year.
Prior to joining GEF, Narayan was working with JRE Partners, Mumbai, where he was responsible for growth capital investments in a host of rapidly growing... Read more..

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike is set to go green

If all goes well, the much hyped project of generating power through naturally available wind and solar light would lit BBMP and Utility building.

BBMP is mulling over to install wind mill and solar panels on its head office at NR Square and generate energy through the same. Out of several companies that have demonstrated their project on these lines, Luminous renewable energy solutions private limited, a Pune based company seems to have bright chances. On Wednesday, when the company representative M K Naryan demonstrated the project to BBMP, impressed were the Mayor D Venkatesh... Read more..

India to be a huge market for solar power soon

xperts on Monday stated that the country was set to add more than 10 Giga Watts (GW) of solar photo voltaic power every year in the next 5-6 years.

 “The past three years have seen more than 1 GW added to the grid in the country,” said Pashupathy Gopalan, MD, SunEdison South Asia.

 He was speaking at the inaugural session of Solarcon 2012, an exhibition and conference showcasing the Solar PV sector in the state.

 Gopalan said, “The cost of a solar panel has decreased from more than $2 to less than 70 cents. There is room for reduction in prices.”

He added that... Read more..

President Pranab Mukherjee flags off DTU's solar passenger car

President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday flagged off the DTU passenger solar aar at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The solar passenger car has been designed and developed by a team of Delhi Technological University (DTU). The team comprises of an interdisciplinary group of under-graduate students headed by Dhiraj Mishra of the Electronics and Communication Engineering Department of DTU.

With a top speed of 120 km/hr, the solar car is a zero carbon emission completely eco-friendly car and has a sedan shape with a seating capacity of 2 and option of adding 3 seats more. The body is made of... Read more..

Karnataka may get first solar city

If everything goes as planned, Karnataka will soon be housing India's first solar city. Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar on Monday said the state is aiming to add 200mw of solar energy by 2016.

"The state has a capacity ranging between 4.5 and 7 kWh per sqm . We are looking at establishing the country's first solar city in Karnataka . We shall adopt the Gujarat model of using irrigation canals to install solar panels ," Shettar said .

The CM was speaking at the inaugural session of Solarcon 2012, an exhibition-cum-conference , which will showcase solar photovoltaic (PV) sector... Read more..

India looking to sell 500 MW electricity to Pakistan

India is looking to sell 500 MW of electricity to Pakistan by establishing a transmission link between the two countries.

"A Group of experts of India and Pakistan met in Islamabad last month to explore the possibility of a 500 MW cross border transmission inter-connection between India and Pakistan for transmission of power that may be sourced by Pakistan from the Indian electricity market on commercial basis," Minister of State for Power K C Venugopal informed the Rajya Sabha today.

Electricity from central and state generating stations supplying power to discoms is not... Read more..

Baring Private Equity Partners, Aditya Birla Private Equity eye 20 per cent stake in Anu Solar Power

Baring Private Equity Partners and Aditya Birla Private Equity are in the running to buy a 20 per cent stake in Anu Solar Power in a transaction which could value the Bangalore-based company at Rs 500 crore. The deal to invest Rs 100 crore is expected to close by the end of September, a person with direct knowledge of the negotiations said. Anu Solar Power, which makes solar inverters, water heaters and provides off-grid power solutions, reported revenue of Rs 60 crore in the financial year 2011-12. Advisory firm Ernst & Young is the lead arranger.

Baring Private Equity Partners... Read more..

US professor building sustainable town model with ideas for entire world

When I read the newspapers in Bangalore this morning," says David Orr, distinguished professor of environmental studies at Oberlin College in the US, "I see at least a dozen stories that deal with environment. The issues in southern India are the same as in the US or in Europe. And that gives me hope that we are part of a global movement." Orr is inspiring a sustainability project in his university town that he believes can become a model for the entire world.

Oberlin, situated near Cleveland in northern Ohio, has been building a town that practises 'full-spectrum sustainability'.... Read more..

Centre asks local bodies to complete JNNURM projects

The central government has asked urban local bodies to speed up work on infrastructure projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) launched in 2005.

The mission completed its seven-year tenure in March 2012, but the government has extended it till 2014 for completion of ongoing projects and implementing reforms. No fresh projects will be sanctioned during the extended period.

In a communique to urban local bodies through the respective state governments, the Union urban development department (UDD) has stated that the municipal bodies should... Read more..