Kalam's call for bio-diesel action plan

Hyderabad, June 9 (UNI) President A P J Abdul Kalam today called for a national Bio-diesel Policy Action Plan with new energy avenues.

''This was imperative for realising the objectives of Bio-diesel Mission like achieving energy security by 2020 leading to energy independence by 2030 and beyond, he said speaking at the inauguration of Bio Diesel Conference Towards Energy Independence at Rashtrapati Nilayam, the official residence of the President in South India.

''This meet should help farmers gain confidence in Jatropha cultivation, seed extraction and crushing, oil esterification, blending and marketing.'' the President said.

Achieving energy independence has to be the nation's first and the highest priority, he said. ''Our Mission should be to realise 60 M tonne per year of bio-diesel by 2030,'' the President added.

''As a first step towards reaching this capacity, let us plan for six million tonnes of production by 2010, that is five per cent of the present oil import,'' Dr Kalam said.

He said in the present scenario of dependability of fossil material based systems with its uncertainty, it is essential that an energy policy is evolved with new energy avenues.

The President said the strategic goals for achieving energy independence by 2030 would call for a shift in the structure of energy sources.

The most significant aspect, however, would be the power generated through renewable energy technology which needs to be increased to 25 per cent from the present five per cent, he said.

Transportation sector in India is growing fastest. It now consumes nearly 120 million tonnes of oil annually and was critically important for Indian economy and security, he added.

''We produce only 25 per cent of our total requirement. The cost of the total oil import is over US 25 billion dollar.

''The price of oil is on the rise and presently is over 70 USD per barrel,'' he added.

Referring to biofuel, the President said India had nearly 60 million hectares of wasteland, half of which could be made available for energy plantations like ''Jatropha''or other bio-fuel plants.

Once grown, the crop has a life of 50 years.''Our aim should be to produce minimum two tonnes of bio-diesel per year per hectare, which will result in the production of 60 million tonnes per year in full capacity in an optimistic environment,'' he said.

MORE UNI ASJ VV AK ND1604