Nuclear, renewable energy are complementaries: Govt

Kochi, Jan 21 (UNI) The focus on nuclear power generation was not at the cost of renewable energy and there was no confict between the two areas, Union Secretary for New and Renewable Energy V Subramanian said today.

Talking to newspersons on the sidelines of an international conference here on solar cells (IC-SOLACE 2008), Mr Subramanian said the two were complementary as nuclear power generation was meant for the basic 24-hour supply, while renewable energy was meant to augment the peak load supply.

However, there was a need to enthuse the policy makers about renewable energy sources, he added.

Renewable energy sources at present accounted for eight per cent of the total installed power generation capacity in the country.

This would increase to 32 per cent if large hydel projects were also included, he said.

Stating that the high cost of solar power generation was the main factor impeding the growth of the sector, he said that a new demonstration project scheme launched by the Centre had elicited good response.

Under the scheme, the Centre would offer an incentive of upto Rs 12 per kWh to private sector players for setting up grid interactive solar photovoltaic plants of a capacity of one MWp and above.

He hoped that this would help to increase the installed capacity of solar power generation to 50 MW in two years from the current 200 KW.

Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, which had good sunshine for at least 300 days, were the main foci for solar power generation, he said.

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