INAUGRAL SPEECH OF MR.

PANDIAN

Dr. Awasthi, Mr. Panda distinguished speakers, my dear students and other dignitaries to attend the conference and my friends from the media. This institute is not new for me and I have come here address many seminars, many sessions and many conferences and it is reflected as you can see I am wearing the same shirt and I am little ashamed and next time I will change it so be prepare to come next time. Renewable energy as we all know it consists of so many energies and there is no need to define all those things. Hydro which has a very long history, biomass which is used indirectly in every village, fire wood is a biomass and we used to use his biomass to heat waters and to some of the small industries even to make the boiler boiling now they call it the modern term which is bio mass which is a modern fuel and environment fellow will come and catch you so because they changed it to biomass and all. Then some of the biomass industry people are very unhappy with me and all those things because last twenty years all of them talk about wind and in this decade renewable energy means solar because it is synonymous with solar and wind somehow I have seen that people from suzlon and kept a big fan there but sometime it is shifting because hydro people did not make it so easier we know that sardar sarovar nigam how we were struggled in getting the approval for environmental clearance because it creates a huge environmental clearance whether it is because we have to inundate lot of people and rehabilitate and RR policy is a big issues and what about the earth quake is the big dam really a big issue so it creates many problems and problems in shimla and the national hydro electric corporation it takes years to conceive all these hydro projects otherwise its a very clean but unfortunately right now when the monsoon

season is in a full swing when my demand for electricity is down and the hydro will be at cheap and it is only 65 paisa and sometimes only 1 rupee but electricity comes then it is not in great demand but still hydro is good and it is a cheaper energy and the harness without anything. We have a huge capacity and few states went ahead and made use of the policy instruments available with them because of the accelerated depreciation and many of the industries they wanted to take depreciation benefits and save tax and invested in wind power and we got a lot of wind power and in Tamil Nadu it is 5000 MW and in Gujarat it is 1920 MW which is closed to 2000 MW and in the current year we would like to go with 400 MW so such states Gujarat, Tamilnadu, Rajasthan these are the states which made use of the policy and some of the cinemas star and every cinema stars are having a wind turbine and real one because they have to invest money and where they would invest money. Similarly with the big industries so black money I am sorry to say this money would find a greenway to investment and hence black has become green which is very good. Solar now 30 years the day I joined I was taken to solar cooker, solar heater all those things we have to market this in the village and government society was 95 per cent and all those things and because of the huge subsidy component these instruments and you seem solar as energy equipments that scheme totally failed. Because any scheme which comes with heavy subsidy in government subsidy is equivalent to corruption at the lower level and it is very difficult to get the instrument delivered so people will supply very quality instruments and it would work on the time of inspection and then it will never function and all those things. One very winter morning in middle of January and I went to Gujarat bhawan, in Delhi and I had a late night flight from Ahmadabad and then I wanted to take bath so I went in that and I opened the shower and it was solar heater and it was peak winter and I got ice chilly water

and all those things. Next time I went for a review in the month of April May again I wanted and it was so hot that solar heater is working so it was working in summer when we dont want and in winter when we need it is not working. Storage of energy and in solar it is a very big problem. In all these then we started giving solar energy in the remote villages in the tribal areas so that nobody can go and test it and all those things and all these villages are given a tribal energy and all the great connected power will be available for Ahmadabad and Gandhinagar and Surat but if you want to go to village in Jambawada and there they input solar and they would work for 1 or 2 weeks and then it would go out. There is no proper maintenance, no proper ownership and no proper people trained in taking care of this so 30 years solar did not take off and that is what Mr. Awasthi told and two policy instruments and in fact even 3-4 years also government of India introduced a policy of 1 MW or 5 MW per state and very good tariff with 18 or 19 rupees. So that tariff in spite of very good tariff viable feasible for bankers it did not take off except for two three places at Rajasthan and in WB 1 MW and in Punjab 1MW and even in Gujarat it did not pick off then government of Gujarat announced the solar policy and as everybody knows that it was the first state to announce solar power policy. At 1-1-09 and at 11-1-09 we signed an MOU because this vibrant Gujarat comes normally around that and we signed MOU worth 50,000 crores and so many people signed MOU and everybody said ok we would sign it. So they all signed all these things and because MOU was signed and government is a party so government has appointed a lot of financial, technical and land experts to go through these MOU and them made presentations twothree times and then 746 MW were finalized out of 5000 MW. Nothing took off for the remaining and at 14th November 2009 after 10 months of government Gujarat policy on Jawaharlal Nehrus birthday so GOI announced

National solar mission but it was formally launched on 11th January 2010 by the honourable Prime Minister in Ahmadabad. Now after the policy was announced various state governments were called and asked for consultation and when I went for consultation to the central government so they were just framing policy as what should be given and what should be the tariff how is the fixed and so many consultations were coming and making the presentations stake holders and state government and making presentations so nothing was taking place and I called them and told that I have already issued LOR for 700 MW why dont you take it and take it forward because you have to fulfil 20,000 MW and you dont have much time and at least you have to implement and the solar radiation is very good in Gujarat, Rajasthan and may be one or two states like Karnataka and Orissa so in any case because of solar radiation that it comes why dont you acknowledge and it has been refused because GOI policy you need to announce and you cannot give everything to one state and this is the federal government so other states may complain. I said you are right so give a target to every state for 2000 MW by 2022 and whoever comes first give some incentive so having understood that we are not going to get anything from GOI policy so I came and briefed my minister and chief minister so this is the GOI goal so you are talking everything solar, solar and solar and we are likely to get nothing and all those things so we should do something and Government of Gujarat modified the policy and in 2009 we further announced in public that anybody who wants to put up solar power can come and sign PPA with government of Gujarat this are the conditions and what are the conditions and everything comes and tell me that sir you have given LOR for 746 MW and nobody is coming forward and because they dont have money, technology and people so they think we have everything and see this is 2000 crore balance sheet and give me 25 MW and all those things and I said ok you

deposit 10 lac per MW so giving a bank guarantee they have to give for 50 lac per MW if you get an allocation so many people submitted applications and all of them were scrutinized and one fellow came and told that I want to place 7000 MW of energy and that was just one fellow. So we scrutinized and analyzed so we gave LOR for 968 MW including the phase 1 and out of 740 only 100 were given. So this 968 was history and as Mr. Awasthi told they are supposed to commission by 31st December 2011 and not 2012 if they want to avail this preferential tariff of 15 rupees for first 12 years and 5 rupees for the next 5 years. Out of 967 MW and I think two days ago we called everybody for every meeting and it looks that 800 out 960 around 820 MW people have issued EPC contracts so they were signed and that is a lot of obligations on their part and out of 800 MW if I remember correct around 820 or 830, 367 MW people have come to get auda that is a certification agency for customs to take and the EPC contractor has proceeded in an advanced state and project is likely to be completed and when the custom exemptions come for various balance of equipments like invertors, cables other things and when they import they come here and get the exemption so 367 MW is in the advance stage of implementation. If they implement by 31st December then they are likely people because this 15 rupees they are not going to get underlined and they are not getting 15 rupees after 31st December 2011 already GOI when they called for tender in their own policy it has come down to 10.5 or 10.6 it is the lowest and now what next to be done if they have started something and have not completed so that is the question to be answered in the next 100 days. Anybody who starts the business and you start with certain risk and bankers knowing all these things only they finance and if you do not implement in time and I think you cannot blame the government and the government has given long back the LOR and they have already given that so it

is up to you to find out land and they have given a guarantee that we are doing our best but if it is not to be implemented and if the rain continues till December then we have to consider that but rain stops in September that is normal so 30th September is officially declared that monsoon season is over so till September you have to accept monsoon so some people are coming and saying that sir it is raining so please postpone so you dont want rain. So we are telling that out of 365 days 65 days it would rain and you have calculated in your project report also 300 days and you are getting sunny days for 300 days and it is more or less 365 days raining then I can understand. If there are more rains then 365 days then we have to really consider that but that time is not over so initially as soon as government of Gujarat announces the solar policy so it is the dating time and I would sign the MOU in some date and when I call for a marriage proposal only few came and all those so 968 MW got married so after signing the marriage they had honeymoon so how long they can do the honeymoon you have some obligations and at the end of the day you have to deliver so there is a time period and all those things so to deliver by 31st December 2011 you should have conceived 10 months in advance and all those things. So if it is not then how are you going to deliver and some people they enjoy only honeymoon and used all contraception and now they want to adopt somebodys baby and just want to buy, buy and buy. Not permitted for the first child and so you have to deliver and some of them give a premature delivery and all those things so that is also we are going to inspect whether it is mature or not and whatever you have to deliver you will get. So I would keep Dr. Awasthis request into mind because he might have been influenced by my friend sanjeev gupta so lot of developers are there and they are asking for this extension but you know tariffs is fixed by the regulators and we have to go as per things and in the PPA position if you cannot deliver on time there is a

penalty also and all those things but what is the tariff is open but now the government of India very good they realize that what can we do if we do not work with Gujarat they will not be able to achieve the target and they have to work with them so we have to work together and the 12th plan target is too big but if you have to achieve you have to work together and commission 3000 MW in the next two years to commission 3000 MW you have to issue LOI for at least 5000-6000 and if you see only 6000 there can be many failures so this will not come so you have to thing little advance because in any case you have to fill up 20000 MW so my request to GOI is to deliver this they should issue LOI for 5000 and Gujarat as the honourable chief minister of Gujarat announced in the presence of minister of renewable energy MR. FAROOQ ABDULLA and GOI cannot achieve the target Gujarat can complete it so Gujarat is ready to complete the target and that is why we are going for solar power 1 and we have identified land for solar power 2 and anybody who wants to come and put up an appropriate price and that would give confidence to evacuation and in other states evacuation is the responsibility of the developer but here we spend money on evacuation so if anybody wants to apply for GOI policy and government of Gujarat policy would come up with a policy for providing land and evacuation and 350 MW they are going to bid September 29 but with our assurance of land and we hope that we see that 200 MW will come to Gujarat and out of next 3000 MW in next three years at least 50 per cent would come to Gujarat so right now 1000 MW which you have signed is through GOG money and if the government of Gujarat comes in then the payment is paid by GOI and the investment will come to Gujarat and that is why we are preparing for manufacturing policy solar and if renewable energy equipments and we are working on it to take some time to come to attract manufacturing

equipments to come here so that they dont go out and import and definitely

this decade is the decade of renewable energy and earlier the faster the pace takes place the quicker we would be able to achieve it and if you take proper steps the REC and the RO and the panel would discuss the difficulties to get this into and once these are sorted out there wont be much problems on financial closures and most of the people around 216 have achieved the financial closures and it had been difficult earlier but now it is not. So I assume in the days to come the prices of this renewable energy will fall and you have to do with great parity and coal is not available and also gas is not available sun is available but land is a problem so technology is a problem so you need to have technology and concentrated solar power instead of 5MW per acre it can be 2 or 3 acres and if somebody was telling me that we have put 3 acres in Italy and somewhere and all those things so if 3 acres per MW will be there so land requirement will be reduced and there are people telling that dont give me land but give me sea I want to put solar and wind into sea and we have to test on the offshore and any way we have to test the technology and then the allocation is a problem so technology improvement is a problem financial institutions they have to come forward and interest rate is a thing so I dont know how much GOI will give to once the buy the power and also the subsidized rate and whatever it will be so lot of policy initiatives are needed to promote the renewable energy but we are on the right track but Government and states have ensured and learned a lesson and they are on the right track and enlarge wisdom of people both in GOI and GOG that soon will give the renewable power and the solar power so that we will free our nations and our states and country from the highly polluted fossil fuel so will get a green and thing so by this we would be able to conclude and I would thank all the people and delegates who come and as I pointed out that you have come here more than once so you have seen our boys and girls many smart enough so at the

end of the conclave recruit them and use them for your achievements. Thank you. Thank you very much sir. I would also like to mention that the presentation give my Pandain Sir gave are present in the publication that are given to the dignitaries and I would know request professor Panda to felicitate Pandian sir with the memento.