The Energy Pod

In the final episode of this podcast series, we speak to a vital link that makes up the building blocks of the solar power ecosystem - the Solar Engineering, Procurement, and Construction, or EPC vendors.  How can solar consumers make choices based on the best return on investments, features, capacity and brands? It is crucial that we follow this kind of due diligence as consumers, and to help us...

Tamil Nadu is one of India's most industrialised states with commerce and industries making up nearly half (45%) of its power consumption as per the state's statistical report 2020-21. Decarbonising this sector is therefore critical to the success of Tamil Nadu's energy transition. In this episode, we speak to Mr. P.G. Karthick Babu, the proprietor of Karthik Enterprises, a small texti...

While homes make up 35% of TN power consumption, rooftop solar installations in the state are only at 386 MW (as on March 2023), accounting for nearly 2% of total RE power capacity. Therefore, more initiatives are required from various categories to attain complete energy transition. In this episode, we speak to Mr. D. Suresh, who goes by the moniker Solar Suresh – for his early experience in inst...

Trailer How do cities – the nerve centres of economic activity that contribute the most to the global carbon footprint transition to cleaner forms of energy? We at The Energy Pod, attempt to look at this question at a local level, with conversations with residential and industrial consumers. We also speak to solar PV vendors in the state of Tamil Nadu in India.  Tamil Nadu’s renewable energy (RE)...

The India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) estimates the potential for offshore wind along the coasts of Tamil Nadu and Gujarat alone to be over 70 GW. While India had released a National Offshore Wind Policy in 2015 with targets of 5 GW by 2022 and 30 GW by 2030 to tap into this potential, development has been slow.   To increase investor confidence, MNRE has suggested supporting...

Offshore wind can play a significant role in helping India achieve its 2030 climate action plans and in responding to the rapidly rising energy demand, by offering multiple advantages such as higher plant load factors and lower variability when compared to onshore. Offshore wind can also contribute towards electricity security and is more stable over time than solar PV.    However, the costs assoc...

India has a vast and favourable coastline with a potential to produce over 70 Gigawatts of offshore wind energy off the coasts of two states alone – Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, and yet there is not a single windmill in the Indian Ocean. There are multiple challenges that need to be addressed for setting up of offshore projects.   In this first episode of the offshore wind podcast series at WRI India&#...

A renewable energy future has been a major global theme for developing countries across the world, including at many recent COPs. However, transitioning to sustainable and renewable energy for India requires several important factors to work in tandem, such as technology transfer, reduced costs of production, an enabling policy framework, and the industrial and entrepreneurial base to catalyze the...

In the India's southern state of Kerala, the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) is the main power utility that supplies electricity, but there are smaller, state-run players like KINESCO, which focuses to serve commercial and industrial consumers in the textile, food processing and information technology parks in about three districts. As C&I consumers increasingly seek renewable energy...

India's Electricity Act, 2003 allowed large power consumers to begin buying energy directly from generators, circumventing the distribution companies, or discoms. This led to a steady erosion of commercial and industrial consumers for discoms. Initially, these direct purchase contracts were with thermal generators. But with the steep decline in the cost of renewable power, particularly solar r...

Electricity has long been a political issue in India, and one of the sops that political parties often promise during election campaigns is free power particularly for farming and low-income communities. But this has long posed a challenge for Indian utilities, or, discoms as they are called in India. This has led to bulk power purchasers in India, typically big industries, whom we call 'comme...