Renewable Sources of Energy

[bala]

From Waste to Fuel! IIT Bombay Scientists Turn Dry Leaves into Clean Cooking Energy

In a breakthrough for sustainable living, researchers from IIT Bombay have developed an innovative method to convert dry fallen leaves into clean cooking fuel — offering a smart, eco-friendly alternative to traditional fuels like LPG. This cutting-edge solution not only helps manage organic waste but also significantly reduces dependence on fossil fuels. By transforming discarded biomass into usable energy, the technology addresses two major challenges: urban waste management and affordable clean cooking.

The innovation could be a game-changer, especially for rural and semi-urban areas where access to clean fuel remains limited. It also aligns with India’s broader sustainability goals, promoting circular economy practices and reducing carbon emissions.

[vera_k]

Still need power during the monsoon somehow.

Solar energy, cheap battery storage can meet 90% of India's power demand at affordable costs

[Amber G.]

X from PM Modiji:

A major boost to clean energy and development in the Northeast! The approval of the Kalai-II Hydro Electric Project in Arunachal Pradesh will strengthen power supply, generate sustainable energy and bring infrastructure and opportunities to the region.

Link: Cabinet approves Investment Proposal for construction of 1200 MW Kalai-II Hydro Electric Project in Anjaw District of Arunachal Pradesh with an outlay of Rs.14105.83 crore

[Amber G.]

India pulls off a power miracle. A big thanks to the Sun

When India's power demand surged to a record high, it wasn't only the coal-fired plants that kept the lights and fans on. The Sun quietly blessed and delivered its share. Amid the searing heatwave, the country saw power demand soar to an all-time high of 256 gigawatt (GW), which was achieved without a shortage. Even as thermal power dominated with a 66% contribution, solar stepped in a big way with a 21% share. The country's energy story is beginning to reflect a subtle but significant shift towards cleaner, daylight-driven power

[bala]

How Adani Turned Khavda Desert Into World's LARGEST Solar Farm | $18 Billion Mega Project

Discover how India is building the world’s largest solar and wind park in the Rann of Kutch. This $18 billion Khavda project will generate 30 GW clean energy - enough to power entire countries. Learn why this desert location was chosen, the challenges of extreme climate, and how advanced tech like TOPCon solar panels, wind turbines, and robotic cleaning systems are transforming energy production.

[A_Gupta]

Josh Marshall at talkingpointsmemo.com opines:

But the deeper impact of this crisis, one entirely of Trump’s own making, has been to convince many countries, especially but not only in East Asia, that oil and gas are too vulnerable to price shocks and supply instability. Meanwhile, renewables like solar and wind have now crossed the threshold where they are not only simply cheaper than fossils fuels but, as a tech product, will continue to get cheaper over time. Wind and solar energy can be produced entirely within your sovereign borders. So the Strait crisis is looking like it may be a turning point in the climate/renewables energy transition.

As is often the case with such transitions, the building blocks are already in place. The economics of renewables are already unstoppable just on a cost basis. They’re cheaper. You also have a superpower, China, heavily, heavily invested in electro-power and eager, both for economic and geopolitical reasons, to export the technology around the world. So the building blocks are there. But a crisis can force everyone to consider the matter afresh, with the new facts of the Strait crisis, coming just a few years after the start of the Ukraine war, to spur different energy strategies for cost and supply stability into the future.

The key dimension to all of this is that none of this debate or conversation outside the United States, so far as I can tell, is driven by climate. It’s there in the background of course. But Egypt isn’t on a crash course to shift from 10% to 45% of its electricity from renewables in two years because it’s concerned about the future of the planet. Its government is focused on reliability and cost. Beyond what I’m gently calling climate concerns, none of this global conversation is embedded in what in the U.S. we might call “woke” politics, either for or against. That’s all a U.S. thing. Or, the U.S. is the only place where culture war politics trump the nuts and bolts of which source of energy is cheaper and more reliable.

AI says that Egypt today depends on natural gas, and has been badly hit by the current crisis. The plan is to get to 45% renewables with huge help from China.

[Vayutuvan]

IOW,

1. China will continue to build coal-fired power plants
2. Germany will restart their nuclear power program (if it is possible at all). There were solid scientific studies on the effects of windmills in Germany. The empirical evidence points to parts of Germany (NE, IIRC) turning semi-arid. So windmills have unintended consequences. The same is probably true with Solar. We will know in a few years.
3. The way out for India is twofold - short term through increasing the efficiency of current power plants, improving the grid to reduce transmission losses, solar, wind, and biogas, and long term Biogas replacing NG, hydrogen through nuclear power and nuclear power itself, and possibly new renewable sources due to some breakthrough in basic sciences.

[Cyrano]

By what definition are solar and wind renewables? The only ones to me are hydro and biomass.

[Jay]

By what definition are solar and wind renewables? The only ones to me are hydro and biomass.

Hard to say without knowing what your definition of renewables is. Can you please expand on this?

[Amber G.]

By what definition are solar and wind renewables? The only ones to me are hydro and biomass.

Solar and wind are defined as renewables because they rely on replenishable natural flux—the sun’s fusion and atmospheric pressure gradients—which aren't depleted by use. While hydro and biomass store this energy in matter (water/carbon), solar and wind capture the same "income" energy directly from the source.