Renewable energy on India-EU agenda

India-EU Energy

At the 10th India-EU Summit in Delhi today, the production of clean and renewable energy will be high on the agenda, where an agreement will be signed between India and the European Atomic Energy Agency to promote research in fusion energy.

In 2006 India joined the EU-led International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, which is being built by a consortium of six other countries at Cadarache in France. The purpose of the project is to research and replicate the fusion process by which the Sun and the stars generate energy, and the new agreement is aimed at taking both the partnership and the project forward.

Furthermore, India and the EU recently joined forces for a research programme on solar energy systems, as reported by AsianAge.com. The project has received five million euros in funding from each country and hopes to undertake research in development of novel materials, device structure and fabrication methods and Organic Photovoltaics; development of new concentrator modules and small scale steam engine powered by Linear Fresnel Reflector system.

Both parties are short on domestic energy

India and the EU are both short on domestic sources of conventional energy, so the synergy between the two in finding new clean energy solutions seems inevitable.

The EU has made huge strides in recent years in its development of renewable energy sources. Europe is the world leader in solar energy with more than 1500 large scale PV power plants currently operating, of which 800 were set up in 2008 alone. Of the 27 EU member states, Germany and Spain have emerged as the world champions in solar energy installations.

Spain, in particular, attracted huge solar installations totaling up to a mind-boggling 3.1GW in 2008 owing to an attractive subsidy regime. Worldwide, new solar PV manufacturing plants came up, especially in China, to feed this huge demand. But then recession struck and the Spanish subsidy too was scaled back.

Solar getting cheaper

As solar power gets increasingly cheaper and more accessible for consumers, the industry looks set to keep growing at a significant rate. Europe is making great strides and the US solar market should also develop well in 2010 and beyond on the back of the US$100 billion allocated in the US bailout plan for renewable energy.

Having less developed countries like India join the race for renewable energy is a huge step towards meeting global carbon-cutting targets. So it will be all eyes on them as they launch their solar energy mission next week.

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