Workshop on Concentrating Solar Thermal Technologies in Industries

Hyderabad hosted the workshop organised to promote Concentrating Solar Thermal (CST) Technologies beneficial to various industrial sectors. Global Environment Facility and United Nations Industrial Development Organization (GEF-UNIDO) in partnership with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) are implementing the project ‘Promoting business models for increasing penetrations and scaling up of solar energy’.

A series of workshops and site visits are being organized under this project to create awareness about the technology and its potential for application in the industrial sectors. Wide participation and support from industry have been ensured through close cooperation with the State Nodal Agency Telangana New and Renewable Energy Development Corporation Ltd. (TNREDCL) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for the workshop.

The workshop focusing on the promotion of “CST technologies for Industries” provided a platform to a large number of senior industrial representatives in and around Hyderabad to have open discussions with the consumers and manufacturers of CST systems.

Dr. Anil Misra, National Project Manager, UNIDO in his welcome address demystified the barriers associated with technology adoption, and also shared details on the most suitable solar thermal technologies namely, Parabolic Troughs, Dish Collectors, and Linear Fresnel systems. UNIDO has partnered with Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) to develop a financial package bundling the subsidy from MNRE and loan funds from IREDA at reduced interest rate using the funds of the project. Mr. K P Phillip, Assistant General Manager, IREDA shared a detailed presentation on the financial package being offered under this project.

Mr. Mahesh Desai, Convenor, CII Telangana MSME and EXIM Panel and Chairman, Meera Group in his remarks shared that with Telangana rapidly climbing the ladder of industrialization, the consumption patterns of energy are changing increasingly. He hailed the consistent support and growth strategy adopted by the Central and State Government as it is with their encouragement that the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) are increasing year on year and CST applications for the industrial sectors with a special focus on MSME present a great opportunity to see penetration of renewable technologies in the industrial sector.

He highlighted that the adoption of CST technology will help make balance sheets of organisations greener as it makes perfect business sense by helping save energy as well as costs incurred on conventional power sources. On behalf of CII, he shared that a circular on the potential sectors present in Telangana which could adopt CST technology would be prepared and circulated to all members and workshop participants.

According to Mr. G V S Prasad, General Manager, Telangana New and Renewable Energy Development Corporation Ltd. CST is a highly effective solar technology which can be utilised in the best manner possible as Telangana is a solar-rich state and has a few notable installations already in place.

He said that the State government has taken CST as one of the top priority sectors and that they are targeting to achieve all targets by 2018 and currently district-wise targets are being ascertained as a step in this direction. Of the 2000MW target, the state has already achieved around 180 MW in solar and the remaining is being aimed to be achieved by FY 2017-18. 9.76 MW has been achieved in net-metering projects as well, he stated.

According to him, Renewable energy comprises around 8% of the total installed capacity in the state. He also cited that wind energy projects are also picking up pace with NIWE indicating that 4200 MW would be the state potential in this regard. He said that the scheme introduced by MNRE and UNIDO has definitely made CST technology accessible at highly affordable rates. Mr. Hemanth Kumar, Executive Engineer, TNREDCL shared a few details on the projects commissioned and underway in different locations in Telangana.

Dr. R P Goswami, Director CST, MNRE in his address placed a great emphasis on the fact that industry should be proactive and come forward to contribute through projects. He also mentioned that now is the time for industries who have implemented these technologies in their facilities to join hands in spreading the benefits of adopting CST technologies so that the pace of adoption and project implementation goes up thereby substantially helping in achieving the national renewable energy targets. According to him, energy savings is the greatest advantage of using this technology. MNRE has empanelled 27 technology providers under this scheme and with the funds that the Ministry is allocating for projects, he said that it is the right time for entrepreneurs to join the renewable energy brigade and aim to strengthen the CST industry.

Mr. Vibhash Garg, Director, PwC shared a roadmap on CST being developed under the aegis of the ministry, which has found that the Solar thermal market has the potential to achieve around 6.45GW of which 200MW could be targeted by CST alone.

The workshop also saw presentations from CST manufacturers showcasing the different CST technologies present in the market and the range of applications they are suitable for. Their presentations included technical specifications of their system and some case studies based on their installations in the country.

The manufacturers included Oorja Energy Engineering Services, Thermax Ltd., Megawatt Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Luit Renewables and Sunbest Technologies. The workshop also saw best practises and experiences being shared by few players who have already installed and adopted CST systems in their facilities namely Honeywell Technology Solutions and Devnar Blind School. The workshop saw huge participation and active interactive dialogue with the industry representatives across different sectors, therefore, giving a tremendous boost to the possibilities of implementing CST projects in Telangana.