March Revised guidelines under UNDP-GEF support for CST systems

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1 March 2014 Revised guidelines under UNDP-GEF support for CST systems Under the UNDP-GEF Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST) project revised guidelines have been announced by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). It will be effective on 12 th February The support for demonstration projects will remain 15% of the project cost but the maximum limit will be Rs. 75 lakhs, which was earlier Rs. 30 lakhs. The project cost will, also be taken as the bench mark cost of MNRE and not the actual cost which was there in the earlier support pattern. The support of above Rs. 30 lakhs will be restricted to a few projects only. As regards replication projects, the support has been increased to Rs. 5 lakhs fron Rs. 4 lakhs earlier for projects up to 500 m 2. and beyond this it will be Rs. 10 lakhs per project. Minimum area for demonstration & replication projects remain 250 m 2. Systems based on Scheffler (16 m 2 single axis tracked) & Arun (169 m 2 ) dishes for all applications will be considered as replication projects. Other CSTs projects with different sizes for various applications in different sectors/ type of establishments will be considered as demonstration projects. Replication projects with newer applications or improved version of existing technologies and innovative ideas leading to improved performance/ durability/ user friendly techniques or reduction in cost etc will also come under this category. Whereas the limit for supporting demonstration projects to manufacturers is 15,000 m 2 on first come first served basis till October 2014, there is no limit for replication projects. As regards release of UNDP-GEF support, 50% of the sanctioned/ approved support could be released in advance based on Bank Guarantee of same amount (valid till 3 months of commissioning of project) to beneficiary. It could also be released to the manufacturer if the beneficiary desires so against the manufacturer s consent letter. Rest will be released on submission of related documents and after observing the performance. For projects sizes below 250 m 2 the support of Rs. 2 lakhs has been retained but it will now be available for projects up to 64 m 2 of Scheffler dishes & 45 m 2 of other concentrators but not below that. Support for repair & renovation of 5 years old systems is also available and the limit of 10% support has been increased to 20% of proposed cost with a cap of Rs. 15 lakhs. It is however subject to the condition that equal amount is spent by the beneficiary.

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3 India s largest number of Solar steam cooking systems at IIT Roorkee Indian Institute of Technology - Roorkee (IITR) will be equipped with largest number of concentrating solar steam cooking systems for meeting their heating needs for cooking. It is expected to be operational by May, It will be set up at an estimated cost of Rs crore. IITR has received 60% capital subsidy from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) on this cost. The system will be supported with 5 year warranty. It is estimated that on an average it will save about 170 kgs of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) daily. There are 61 parabolic dishes each of 16 m2 area that will be automatically tracked. In order to optimally use the limited roof area and reduce the number of components, the supplier Taylormade Solar Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (TSSPL) will deploy the 16m2 reflector which makes the installation of a sleeping dish optional. On an average nearly 5,400 students take three meals per day at IITR. Out of these three meals, two (lunch and dinner) involve preparation of items like rice, dal, vegetables which is requires steam cooking technology and will benefit from the solar energy system. The reflector area required and the corresponding number of collectors is provided in Table 1. Mess Name Reflector area (m2) Number of collectors each 16m2 Ganga RKB/Cautley Rajendra Azad 80 5 Ravindra 96 6 Govind Jawahar Sarojini 48 3 Table 1: Area installed per mess with number of collectors The system is hooked up with the conventional LPG based cooking system. The pressure reducing station is designed to reduce the pressure of steam generated in the header from 10 Kg/cm2 to 1-2 Kg/cm 2 so as to ensure safety of the user while using the steam. Dharmendra Gor of TSSPL said the company will maintain the system for a period of 15 years beyond the warranty period at an additional cost of Rs crore to ensure un-interrupted operations. This solar cooking system is likely to inspire other institutions in the country to consider meeting their cooking energy needs for fuel savings.

4 Indian One project on way to successful commissioning The 1 MW Solar Thermal Power Plant named India One developed by the World Renewal Spiritual Trust (WRST) in the year 2011 has progressed rapidly with 500 of the 770 numbers of 60 m 2 dishes commissioned. Until beginning of March 2014 the design and testing of the parabolic reflectors with dual axis optical based mechanism for reflector tracking was successfully achieved although the exact data was not revealed. As per WRST the results were successful and now they will go ahead with the testing of the complete system that also includes the motionless cast iron storage. According to WRST authorities they have also optimized cavity receiver with thermal storage. Indian One is a R&D project of a captive power plant that aims to demonstrate and promote a new technology of solar heat and power generation, 24 X 7 for the first time in the world. It will supply electricity and hot water to Brahma Kumaris headquarters in Abu Road, Rajasthan to 25,000 people. It is executed in partnership of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India and German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservational and Nuclear Safety (BMU) through the GIZ, Deutshe Gesellshaft fur Internationale Zussamenarbeit. The thermal storage operates between 250 O C to 450 O C and can be discharged on demand. By means of total thermal mass the capacity will be sufficient to run the turbine round the clock. The key features of India One Solar Thermal Power Plant are: 770 solar dishes of 60m2 area with the static focus, based on paraboloidal design reflectors, spread across 35 acres of land Fully automatic network enabled dual axis tracking for each reflector 770 nos. of static cast iron cavity shape receivers interconnected with piping network Innovative decentralized thermal storage for continuous 24 Hr. operation Direct generation of super heated steam on demand. Co-generation (hot water generation) for efficient usage of thermal energy. Two stage twin turbine and generator from Siemens The concentrated solar rays from the 60m2 dishes are focused towards the receivers positioned in front of each dish. The receiver has a conical cavity design for perfect black body absorption and solid cast iron body around cavity for thermal storage. The design enables direct steam generation through direct heat transfer. Excellent insulation and an automated shutter avoid substantial energy losses at night or in cloudy conditions. The thermal storage operates between 250 C to 450 C and can be discharged on demand. The capacity suffices for 24hrs run. The plant is designed as a captive power plant (off grid) in co-generation to provide electricity and heat for the campus.

5 Pure recycled zinc using concentrated solar energy The researchers Christian Wieckert and Nikolaos Tzouganatos during work at the solar reactor. Photo: Paul Scherrer Institute/Markus Fischer Researchers from the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) have showcased a solar-thermal method for extracting zinc oxide, a technologically important reusable material, from zinc (Zn) recycling products under laboratory conditions. The solar product s purity level exceeds that obtained via the industrially established route. The dominating Zn recycling process is the so-called Waelz process. Waelz oxide (WOX), containing 55 65% Zn in oxidic form, is mainly derived from electric arc furnace dust produced during recycling of galvanized steel. After its wash treatment to separate off chlorides, WOX is used as feedstock along with ZnS concentrates for the electrolytic production of high-grade zinc. The oxide to be purified was processed in a solar reactor, which was heated with concentrated radiation from the PSI s own high-flux solar simulator, in which ten xenon lamps serve as the radiation source. With the aid of mirrors, the xenon-lamp light is concentrated to several thousand times the solar radiation density that reaches Earth. Exposed to the concentrated radiation from five of these artificial suns, the WOX was heated to 1,300 O C in order to evaporate off the undesired lead and chlorine compounds, thereby purifying the WOX. Novel and environmentally cleaner routes for the purification of WOX and the production of Zn are investigated using concentrated solar energy as the source of high-temperature process heat. The solar-driven clinkering of WOX and its carbothermal reduction were experimentally demonstrated using a 10 kw th packed-bed solar reactor. Solar clinkering at above 1,265 C reduced the amount of impurities below 0.1 wt.%. Solar carbothermal reduction using biocharcoal as reducing agent in the 1,170 1,320 C range yielded 90 wt.% Zn. The result of this solar clinkering was a success: better zinc oxide was produced from the crude WOX than that obtained through conventional industrial washing. In particular, the proportion of undesired lead plunged to under 0.1 per cent compared to around 5 per cent in the washed WOX.

6 Call for lifting of restrictions on renewable energy U.S. Energy Secretary Dr. Ernest Moniz (R) gestures to Deputy Chairman of India's Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia after their joint news conference in New Delhi, March 11, 2014 Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia stressed on lifting of the restrictions on renewable energy. Addressing a conference on Financing Renewable and Energy Efficient Technologies in New Delhi, Montek said, I think that the biggest problem of getting financing is, first of all getting a revenue model that can be financed, so if there is to be a subsidy it better be explicit and the government better be willing to actually pay the subsidy, and you need to make a very clear case for it. Once you have a revenue model that is actually capable of being financed, I completely agree that we need to little bit bend over backwards to make sure that the regulatory restrictions and other restrictions that affect financing are a little more favourable towards green energy related factors,. United States of America Energy Secretary Dr. Ernest Moniz acknowledged that there has been tremendous progress in the collaborations of India and US in the field of renewable energy and should be further strengthened. He pressed for government, public and private sector to call for green energy. He stated, Clean energy is an essential pillar of the US-India relationship. In September 2013, we launched a new program in our clean energy partnership, PEACE, with the transformational goal of off grid energy access to drive economic growth and improve lives across rural India. The dialogue with Dr Moniz included practitioners in the decentralised energy sector, financiers and government officials, including Dr Satish Balram Agnihotri, Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). It focused on potential areas of joint cooperation, such as technology, reducing information barriers and increasing access to finance. It follows on from the Promoting Energy Access through Clean Energy (PEACE) initiative, an agreement between the governments of the United States and India for improving energy access in India. Under PEACE, efforts are being made to establish a new off-grid clean energy alliance and the PACEsetter Fund for supporting early-stage clean energy access projects.