Sustainability Outlook Headlines

World Bank group launches devt marketplace in three NE states

In a major intervention to boost the social business, the World Bank Group has launched development marketplace (DM) initiative in the three Northeastern states of Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram . The overall funding for the projects is over $1 million. 

The India development marketplace initiative is a competitive grant-based programme that identifies and supports nonprofit and for-profit organizations that effectively deliver crucial services to the poor. Development Marketplace 2014 will award approximately 10 organizations with... Read more..

Praj Industries expects water-treatment to be India business growth story

 Praj Industries Ltd, backed by billionaires Vinod Khosla and Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, plans to sell more water purification and waste-treatment plants to pharmaceutical companies and textile makers in India.

The Pune-based company known for its ethanol plants expects to earn as much as a fourth of revenue in India from its water business in five years, chairman Pramod Chaudhari said in an interview. Praj reported Rs.726 crore in net sales in fiscal ended March 2013.

“The Indian industry is under pressure to reduce water consumption,” he said from New Delhi. And this is creating... Read more..

Power equipment manufacturers reduce prices to attract deals

 Power equipment makers have reduced prices and are making aggressive bids to grab projects in a desperate attempt to cap their losses on under-utilised capacity at a time when very few new projects are coming up in the sector. 

Sector players believe that companies have slashed rates by 10-25 per cent for core equipment supply and even for ancillary equipment and engineering work in a bid to keep their manufacturing units working. "Nobody in the industry is bidding to make profits now . We are all bidding to reduce losses," said MS Unnikrishnan, managing director and chief... Read more..

State to Unveil New Solar Power Policy Soon

The State government is soon expected to announce a new solar power policy which will seek to increase solar power production in the state to 2,000 MW by 2020. The policy, which, is in its final draft stage, will be submitted to the government on Wednesday.

Speaking at a meeting of the ‘Climate Parliamentarians’, Managing Director, Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited (KREDL), G V Balaram, said, “We are looking at commissioning around 500 MW of solar power projects every year till 2020. We also want to promote smaller... Read more..

Mahindra Reva to launch Verito Electric in Bhutan first

 Mahindra Reva will start exporting its electric midsize sedan, Mahindra Verito Electric to Bhutan as early as September this year, even before the electric carmaker launches it in India as the company seeks clarity on government's ambitious National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP). 

Mahindra Reva, part of $16.2 billion Mahindra Group, believes it would further scale-up its presence beyond Bhutan to other Indian subcontinent countries, including Sri Lanka and Nepal, as it looks to aggressively shore-up its exports. 

Chetan Maini, founder of Mahindra Reva, however,... Read more..

Efforts at reducing non-revenue water yielding results

 As the Goa government strives to provide 24 x 7 water supply to citizens by reducing its non-revenue water from the present 40% to about 20%, pilot projects to reduce wastage is certain areas, have yielded positive results.

This was revealed at a workshop on Tuesday organised by Japan Internation Cooperation Agency (JICA) and PWD on "capacity development project for non-revenue water (NRW) reduction" in Panaji.

According to an official press release, in the technical cooperation project, 3 pilot sites (Curtorim, Khadpaband and Moira) were selected, where several activities... Read more..

A Boost to Energy Companies

 The finance minister made two significant announcements that will provide a fillip to companies in the energy business.Firstly, he re-affirmed government’s support for the decontrol of diesel prices, a process that started in January last year. Diesel continues to be priced lower than its import-parity price, by about Rs 10 per litre.

Oil companies have been allowed to gradually increase prices by about 50 paisa every month. For this, oil marketers like Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum are provided subsidy by the government. The finance minister has also... Read more..

Tata Power commissions 10kW micro hydro project

 Tata Power announced the successful commissioning of a 10 kW micro hydro project. 

The low-head micro-hydro turbine, installed in the tailrace of the 150 MW Bhira hydro power station in Maharashtra, utilizes the existing flow rate available to generate supplementary clean energy to manage its auxiliary loads. 

The micro unit was successfully synchronized to the grid.

The successful installation and commissioning of the 10kW micro hydro turbine is a new breakthrough for the Bhira Project, officials said. "The micro turbine is connected to the 415 V auxiliary network.... Read more..

Proper implementation of agroforestry policy a big challenge

 Though India's first National Agroforestry Policy (NAP) announced by finance minister P. Chidambaram in the interim budget on Monday will help natural resource management and improve forest cover, experts say it is a damage control measure for the Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006, which envisages distribution of forest land to tribals.

The maiden policy comes following the World Congress on Agroforestry held in New Delhi from February 10-14. It aims to include agroforestry in the mainstream of agricultural policies and strategies, by promoting it in integrated farming systems. The... Read more..

‘Solar power unviable under current tariff structure’

 The Maharashtra Government can ill-afford to harness solar power with the current tariff structure that cross-subsidises low-end consumers by charging high-end users more.

Speaking at a discussion on grid connected solar rooftop systems, Ajoy Mehta, Principal Secretary, Energy, Maharashtra, said that against a procurement cost of ₹3.30-3.50 a unit of conventional energy, the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport Undertaking at the lower end charged ₹3.50/unit and for large commercial consumers, ₹11/unit.

Across the State, the tariff for agriculture is ₹1 a unit.... Read more..

German bank to fund Green Energy Corridors project

 The Rs.1,593-crore Green Energy Corridors project of the Tamil Nadu Transmission Corporation (TANTRANSCO) will be the State’s first power project to be funded by the KfW, a German development bank.

Announced in the State budget tabled in the Assembly a few days ago, the project will cover essentially southern and western districts of the State, where most of the wind mills have been established.

It will take care of transmitting power from wind mills, the point of generation, to sub-stations.

Originally, the State government had sought the Centre's support for the... Read more..

Michael Bloomberg named UN Chief's special envoy for climate change

N chief Ban Ki-moon has appointed former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg as the first special envoy for cities and climate change.

Bloomberg will assist the Secretary-General in his “consultations with mayors and related key stakeholders, in order to raise political will and mobilize action among cities as part of his long-term strategy to advance efforts on climate change,” a statement issued by Ban’s office said.

He would also help in bringing concrete solutions to the 2014 Climate Summit... Read more..