India invests $7.7bn towards renewable energy projects

Indian Government has formulated an INR 430bn ($7.7bn) ‘green energy corridor’ programme to sync the energy produced through renewable energy sources into the country’s power grid.

The move is said to be in the wake of massive grid failure on 30 July 2012, which left the entire North, East and North-East without electricity for more than six hours.

Government is keen to strengthen the distribution network of the country by enabling it to tackle fluctuations through this initiative.

Meanwhile, the authorities have submitted their plan seeking approval from the Power Ministry submitted through Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL).

Green energy corridor is planned to facilitate the energy produced from the renewable energy sources such as solar and wind to the national grid alongside conventional power stations.

A senior Power Ministry official was quoted by The Hindu as saying that the feeding of renewable electricity in the national grid is facing difficulties.

"The transmission system would be made dynamic to handle the variations leading to an integrated grid across the nation," added the official.

The programme is expected to be split into two categories – intra-State and inter-State, with PowerGrid taking up work at intra-State grid and state utilities developing the inter-State network.

India is currently seeking assistance from Germany for manufacture of a grid that is compatible for distributing renewable energy.

"Germany has committed developmental and technical assistance of €1 billion for the project," revealed the official.