University of Delaware
Office of Public Relations
UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 32, May 22


                  UD helps India develop energy plan
                                   
     By 2010, the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency
(IREDA) wants to add 3,000 megawatts of electricity to its
power mix, all of it in renewables, and the agency is asking
the UD Center for Energy and Environmental Policy (CEEP) to
help.
     "If India makes its goal, it will be the largest
addition of solar and wind energy projects by any society in
the world," John Byrne, director of CEEP, said.
     CEEP just signed a memorandum of understanding with
IREDA, located in New Delhi, to perform financial and
economic analyses of projects to determine whether or not
the benefit of having solar-and/or wind-generated
electricity will be worth the cost of the loan for the
devices. CEEP also has agreed to train IREDA's clients and
staff to do the same analyses and to provide that agency the
information it needs to compare India's experiences with
that of China's Inner Mongolia, which is involved in a
similar project. That will allow India to use the best of
both experiences for new programs and facilitate similar
information sharing with other countries working with
renewables.
     "We will be looking at electricity generating projects
for small villages to individual households to sugar
factories or electric utilities to see if there is a good
resource match with the energy needs of each user. We'll be
asking if the use of wind and photovoltaic devices in any
number of ways will be cost effective," Byrne said. He added
that CEEP and IREDA are now in the process of selecting the
projects.
     Even though this project is being carried out in India,
Byrne said it is of interest to all nations that are serious
about incorporating the use of renewable energy resources
into their power mix as they industrialize. For that reason,
he said, the World Bank, the International Development
Agency, the Global Environmental Facility, the Danish
International Development Agency and the Asian Development
Bank have provided $400 million in funding with the
expectation that their countries will benefit from India's
experience.
                                           -Barbara Garrison