Sustainability Outlook Headlines

IFC May Invest $20Mn In Clean Energy Focused Nereus India Alternative Fund

IFC may invest upto $20Mn in Nereus India Alternative Energy Fund, a newly formed fund for investments in clean energy power generation assets in India.

The target size of this fund is $250Mn. The fund will be domiciled in Mauritius. The fund will be managed by Nereus Capital Management LLC. Northern Lights Capital Group is a strategic investor in Nereus Capital.

Nereus’ anticipated portfolio will comprise seven to ten investments of $15Mn to $35Mn each in equity and equity-linked securities of companies focusing primarily on the development, construction, and operation of... Read more..

Solar Stills tech to be commercialised

Solar Stills, a low-tech way to distill sea water, powered by heat of sun with improvised water output efficiency, will soon be made available to industry for commercial utilisation, a top CSMCRI official said.

“Through innovation we have doubled water output of stills, which earlier used to be 3—4 litre a day. They shall be entering trial phase and soon be available for commercial production,” the Director of Central Salt Marine and Chemical Research Institute (CSMCRI), Dr Pushpito Ghosh, told PTI.

Solar Stills technique is ideal for installation in households falling in... Read more..

Records on e-waste to be open for public

In the year 2010, the CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board) predicted that India’s annual e-waste production will increase to 800,000 tonnes by 2012. E-waste consists of electronic equipment which in the long run may prove to be hazardous to human health.

Most of the times, electrical equipment are discarded in dustbins.

E-waste is also the largest known source of heavy metals and organic pollutants in the waste stream. Today, the highly toxic chemicals have contaminated the soil, ground water and air.

In order to prevent such situations, the authorities have... Read more..

Solar energy farm in Dhule hits eco-clearance hurdle

The world's biggest single-site solar energy farm, to be built in Shivajinagar, Dhule district, failed to meet its March 15 deadline because the state forest department has claimed ownership of the project site.

Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who also heads the energy department, made this revelation in the legislative assembly in reply to a written question by Congress legislator Amin Patel and others.

State generation company Mahagenco is the promoter of the plant.

In his written response, Pawar said work on the state-sponsored project has stopped as the Union... Read more..

State prepares action plan on climate change

The state will send its final draft on the action plan on climate change to the Centre in a few days. The plan includes the government's strategy to address the problems of rising levels of sea water to melting Himalayan glaciers.

State environment secretary RPS Kahlon said the final draft plan had almost been prepared and was now to be submitted. "After the submission of the final draft plan, the Centre will decide which funding agency, be it the World Bank or Asian Development Bank (ADB), to approach for executing the projects," Kahlon said.

The environment department has... Read more..

Gamesa to Invest $60 Million in India State Power Infrastructure

Gamesa Corp. Tecnologica SA (GAM), Spain’s biggest wind-turbine maker, plans to invest 3 billion rupees ($60 million) in power transmission infrastructure in India’s southern Tamil Nadu state, a company official said.

Gamesa, which is the third-biggest supplier of turbines in India, will build a 400-kilovolt substation that will help distribute 750 megawatts of power, Ramesh Kymal, head of its India unit, said in a March 16 interview in Chennai.

Tamil Nadu’s aging power infrastructure is suffering bottlenecks that have been crimping investment in new generation projects and... Read more..

Farmers oppose burning of toxic waste at Pithampur plant

Farmers, living in Tarpura and other villages surrounding Ramky Enviro Engineers in Pithampur, are up in arms against the government's decision to incinerate toxic wastes from the now defunct Union Carbide plant in Bhopal in Pithampur.

The government is planning to incinerate 346 metric ton (MT) of the toxic waste at the Ramky plant.

Interacting with a delegation of an NGO, Lok Maitri, villagers had apprehended damage to crops due to the presence of the plant in the neighbourhood.

They alleged that policemen were hand-in-gloves with the plant's management and hence the... Read more..

India government takes blunt approach to anti-nuclear push

The fishermen, farmers and cigarette rollers sitting on mats in front of the St. Lourdes Church had a few demands: Halt work on the nearby Kudankulam nuclear power plant. Answer our questions. Convince us the technology is safe.

Their concern was hardly unusual: Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant disaster a year ago this month stirred up safety worries worldwide.

A bit more unusual, though, has been the Indian government's response to villagers in this hot, dusty southern fishing hamlet.

Late last month in an American science journal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh... Read more..

Ashden report to boost rural electrification

The Ashden Indian Collective - a team comprising Ashden awardees from India - has prepared a report recommending ways to develop off-grid renewable energy in the country. The report will soon be submitted to the Britain's Department of International Development (DFID) to get funds for framing policies on developing renewable energy in the country. The group's chairman is Ashden award winner and former West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation's managing director, SP Gon Chaudhuri.

The recommendations primarily focus on two aspects - developing rural electrification and... Read more..

Budget 2012-13: Green revolution in the East to intensify agriculture research

The budget proposal to hike the allocation for green revolution in the East from Rs 400 to Rs 1000 crore under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana will intensify agriculture research in the area. It follows the success of last year's move in which FM provided Rs 400 crore to six states has boosted rice production by an additional seven million tonne.

A task force constituted for this purpose had recommended for promoting efficiency in water management and encouraging innovative precision farming practices in consultation with the state governments of Bihar, Chhatisgarh, eastern Uttar... Read more..

Budget 2012: Rs.200 crore for climate change research

With climate change posing one of the biggest challenges, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Friday announced Rs.200 crore for research to develop plant and seed varieties that yield more and can resist climate change.

"Food security and agricultural development in the coming decades would depend upon scientific and technological breakthroughs in raising productivity. We have to develop plant and seed varieties that yield more and can resist climate change," Mukherjee said in his budget speech in the Lok Sabha.

"I propose to set aside a sum of Rs.200 crore for incentivising... Read more..

Shivanasamudra soon to host solar power plant

Apart from bearing the tag of being home to one of the first hydro-electric power projects in Asia, Shivanasamudra is now set to host a 5 MW solar power plant, which would be fully functional by mid-April.

The installation of the solar plant located near the Gaganachukki Waterfalls in Belakawadi village of
Mandya district was awarded by Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited to Bharath Heavy Electricals Limited.

The solar power plant project is being executed by Bangalore-based Eversun Energy Private Limited (EEPL). Work on the project started in October last... Read more..