Sun, wind for energy: first draft of new law is ready

Solar heating to be made mandatory in cities by 2012, solar rooftop lighting in 10,000 government buildings by 2010, solar heating in indust...

Solar heating to be made mandatory in cities by 2012, solar rooftop lighting in 10,000 government buildings by 2010, solar heating in industries, wind-powered systems to generate 25 KW. These are among the radical reforms towards what President A P J Kalam called ‘‘energy independence,’’ contained in the first draft of a renewable energy law for the country.

Besides giving for the first time a legislative backing for commitment to renewable energy—wind, solar and biomass—the law is meant to impose on the Government legally-binding targets for converting a percentage of energy into renewables. It would also make it obligatory for fuel companies to use a certain amount of biofuels.

Though Minister for Non-Conventional Energy Sources Vilasrao Muttemvar was present at the one-day seminar organised by Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and backed the Bill, the draft is expected to go through several rounds of revision before it’s ready to be presented to Parliament.

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Also putting their weight behind the effort were former Supreme Court ‘green judge’ Kuldip Singh and former judge Ashok Desai.

The draft has been prepared by World Institute of Sustainable Energy (WISE) based in Pune with the help of National Law School in Bangalore. It borrows heavily from the Chinese, the German and Czech law on renewables.

There is a debate in the government if a law is needed when the country has done well on this front: India already has 6000 MW of installed capacity from renewables. However, it is still way below the estimated potential of 100,000 MW, say experts.

Plus, it was the Electricity Act 2003 that has resulted in setting in motion a process of reform in the sector.

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The law proposes to increase the target for electricity generation from renewables to 10% by 2010 and 20% by 2020 of the total electricity generated in the country.

It will introduce modern concepts of Renewable Transport Fuel Obligations whereby it will become obligatory on the part of gasolene producers and suppliers to mandatorily procure and blend biofuels with gasolene in fixed percentages. There has been a lot of talk on ethanol and biodiesel but there is no obligation on anybody to adopt it.

A separate chapter of the law deals with accelerating biofuel development and transportation energy to displace fossil fuels. A time-bound programme involving ethanol and biodiesel has also been proposed. Among the best practices that have been documented include international certification systems.