1) India faces challenges of rising energy demand, environmental pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions that threaten sustainable development, so alternative energy strategies are needed. 2) Sustainable development aims to meet present needs without compromising future generations' ability to meet their own needs, and India has significant coal reserves but also potential for renewable energy like solar and wind. 3) The document discusses India's current use of coal, oil, gas, and nuclear power and potential for increasing hydroelectric, wind, solar, geothermal, tidal, and biomass energy to promote sustainable development through a balanced energy strategy.

1. Alternative Energy for Sustainable
Development
By
Harinarayan Tiwari
M-Tech
Department of Water Resources Development and Management
IIT Roorkee, 247667(Uttarakhand)
haribit31@gmail.com
7669298985

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With a remarkable and rising energy demand, environmental pollution, and increasing
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the development of India has attracted widespread awareness
both internally and worldwide. Indian scientists have acknowledged that an appropriate
alternative energy strategy is vital if India is to realize its national target of sustainable
development.
Sustainable development is an outline of augmentation in which resource use aims to meet
human requirements while preserving the condition so that these needs can be met not only in the
present, but also for generations to come. Basic definition given by UN in 1987 is “Sustainable
development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs." It contains within it two key concepts:
 The concept of 'needs', in particular the essential needs of the world's poor, to which
overriding priority should be given; and
 The idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the
environment's ability to meet present and future needs
India has coal reserve of 60600 million tones with Reserve production ratio 106. It means at the
same rate if we are using coal it will last up to 106 years. Distribution of total energy
consumption 524.2 in the terms of million tons oil equivalent is oil (155.5), Natural gas (55.7),
Coal (277.6), Nuclear energy (5.2), Hydro electricity (25.2) and Renewable (5.0) as reported by
World Energy Council 2011 report.
Renewable energy is an alternative to fossil fuels, and is commonly called alternative energy. In
2011, about 19% of global final energy consumption came from renewable, with 13% coming
from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.2% from hydroelectricity. New
renewable (small hydro, modern biomass, wind, solar, geothermal, and biofuels) accounted for
another 2.7% and are growing very rapidly. The share of renewable in electricity generation is
around 18%, with 15% of global electricity coming from hydroelectricity and 3% from new
renewable. New renewable (small hydro, modern biomass, wind, solar, geothermal, and biofuels)

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accounted for another 2.7% and are growing very rapidly. Scientists have advanced a plan to
power 100% of the world's energy with wind, hydroelectric, and solar power by the year 2030.
By J. W. Tester it is the "Dynamic harmony between equitable availability of energy-intensive
goods and services to all people and the preservation of the earth for future generations." The
trend is towards eco-friendly developments. However, the reason for going green is not only
ecological. There are stronger indicators forcing us to indulge in renewable technology, one
particular factor is the depletion of fossil fuel. There is also a rising world demand for energy.
The supply of energy cannot be sustained through natural gas and oil, given the risk of price
volatility. The government is already contributing extensively for renewable energy to be more
than only a dream for the future.
Hydro power is a renewable economic, none polluting and environmentally benign source of
energy. Hydro power stations have inherent ability for instantaneous starting, stopping, load
variations etc. and help in improving reliability of power system. Hydro stations are the best
choice for meeting the peak demand. The generation cost is not only inflation free but reduces
with time. Hydroelectric projects have long useful life extending over 50 years and help in
conserving scarce fossil fuels. They also help in opening of avenues for development of remote
and backward areas. India is endowed with enormous economically exploitable and viable hydro
potential assessed to be about 84,000 MW at 60% load factor (1, 48,700 MW installed capacity).
In addition, 6781.81 MW in terms of installed capacity from small, mini and micro hydel
schemes have been assessed. Also, 56 sites for pumped storage schemes with an aggregate
installed capacity of 94,000 MW have been identified. However, only 15% of the hydroelectric
potential has been harnessed so far and 7% is under various stages of development (Ref:
National Hydro Policy). In the past various factors such as the shortage of adequately
investigated projects, environmental concerns, resettlement and rehabilitation issues, land
acquisition problems, regulatory issues, long clearance and approval procedures, power
evacuation problems, the dearth of good contractors, and in some cases, inter-state issues and
law and order problems have contributed to the slow pace of hydropower development. There
have been large time and cost overruns in case of some projects due to geological surprises,
resettlement and rehabilitation issues, etc. However, considering the large potential and the
intrinsic characteristics of hydropower in promoting the country’s energy security and flexibility

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in system operation, the Government is keen to accelerate hydropower development. There has
been continuous improvement with time in the small hydro technology. The equipments used in
SHP projects are now more efficient, reliable and automatic.
The Wind power programme in India was initiated towards the end of the Sixth Plan, in 1983-84.
The Indian wind energy sector has an installed capacity of 14158.00 MW (as on March 31,
2011). In terms of wind power installed capacity, India is ranked 5th
in the World. Today India is
a major player in the global wind energy market. Indian Wind Energy Association has estimated
that with the current level of technology, the ‘on-shore’ potential for utilization of wind energy
for electricity generation is of the order of 65,000 MW. The unexploited resource availability has
the potential to sustain the growth of wind energy sector in India in the years to come. The
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is the nodal ministry for development of all renewable
forms of energy including wind energy. The central government has put in place a set of fiscal
and promotional incentives that are summarized below:
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is the nodal ministry for development of all
renewable forms of energy including wind energy. The central government has put in place a set
of monetary and promotional incentives that are abridged below:
a. Generation-Based incentives of Rs. 0.50/kWh
b. Concessional import duty on specified wind turbine parts.
c. 80% accelerated depreciation in the first year
d. Excise duty reliefs
e. Loans through IREDA
f. Income Tax holiday applicable to wind power as in the case of power projects
India has 189 MW solar power capacity against the world total 39777.8 MW(Source: IEA
Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme, EPIA, Euro server and Solar Buzz).The Ministry of
New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has taken up the following programmes on various New
Technologies, namely: Solar power, Hydrogen energy, Chemical sources of energy, geo thermal
energy, and tidal energy. As part of these programmes, research, development and demonstration
projects have been initiated at various research, scientific and educational institutes, universities,
national laboratories, industry, etc. These projects are helping in the development of indigenous

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research and industrial base, expertise, trained manpower and prototypes/devices/systems in the
country.
The world geothermal power capacity in 2010 is 10906.2 MW (Source: International Geothermal
Association, conference papers presented at various IGA workshops and congresses). National
Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), with the support from Ministry, prepared feasibility
report for development of geothermal fields in Puga, Ladakh region of Jammu & Kashmir and
Tatapani geothermal field in the Surguja district of Chhattisgarh.
The Ministry sanctioned a project for setting up a 3.75 MW demonstration tidal power plant at
Durgaduani Creek in Sunderbans, West Bengal to the West Bengal Renewable Energy
Development Agency (WBREDA), Kolkata. The National Hydro Power Corporation Ltd.
(NHPC) is executing the project on a turnkey basis. The State Government of Gujarat formed a
Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) with public private partnership and sponsored a study for large
scale exploitation of tidal energy across the coastline of Gujarat. This study is based on one of
the advanced technologies developed so for. In this technology kinetic energy of tidal currents
has been proposed to be harnessed under the water and along the flow of water and without using
the conventional methods like water wheel or other types of turbines.
Hydrogen fuelled small power generating sets; motor cycles, three wheeler and catalytic
combustion systems for residential and industrial sectors have also been developed and
demonstrated.
In these developments, CGPL, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore is at the forefront bringing
its knowledge on advanced combustion processes of handling solid biomass fuels to address
power packages up to couple of megawatts. In this context it is necessary that the assessment of
biomass availability is made taking account of the present usages in the existing traditional
practices and socially essential needs such as fodder, domestic fuel, thatching and manure.
From 2009 to 2010 there is 37.3% increment of nuclear energy consumption (world energy
council report 2011).While there is currently a prohibition on FDI for nuclear power plants,
installed capacity is expected to increase tenfold by 2020 to 44,000 MW. By 2050, the
Government of India expects nuclear energy to supply 25% of the country’s power.

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Build a culture and social institutions that are advantageous to energy saving in order to promote
various stakeholders to actively participate in energy saving. Facing great energy challenges and
an energy dilemma, it is essential for India to integrate its energy, economical, environmental,
and social systems to form an integrated energy strategy for its sustainable development. India is
at a point where energy consumption and energy service level are both low. The strategic
position and policy mandate on the level of energy service is essential for managing future
energy demand growth. The policy suggestion as follows:
1. India should insist on energy saving as a fundamental national policy and carefully control its
accumulated total energy consumption during its dynamic development.
2. Encourage a certain amount of expedient alternative energy to meet the urgent needs in the
near-term future through careful planning.
3. Continuously develop desirable alternative energy for the future sustainable energy system.
4. Besides concentrated supply, such as hydropower, wind power, and electrical vehicles,
distributed energy production should also be emphasized.