Rural India Will Shine When Renewable Energy Is Produced At Village Level: TERI Chief

Spotlighting that the big metros are swelling beyond their capacities as farmers unable to get a decent income are moving away from agriculture and moving to cities, TERI chief Vibha Dhawan said that the moment the country is able to produce renewable energy at the village level, rural India is going to shine.

"Let's also look at rural India. It's very nice that today we are talking about how every village is electrified. But till a few years back, that wasn't the case. And with the result, what is happening is that our metros are swelling beyond its carrying capacities. We repeatedly say we have to double farmers' income, but we are not able to achieve that," TERI chief said at NDTV's 'India Sustainability Mission 2.0: Powering a Greener Tomorrow Together' conclave.

"The farmers' income is much lower than an average Indian's income, and they are moving away from agriculture and coming to cities. They are forced to live in slum-like situations. Their wives, children are back home. The entire social fabric is getting impacted. The moment you are able to produce renewable energy, maybe in a decentralised way, at the village level, rural India is going to shine," she underlined. 

The TERI chief cited the example of its 2008 campaign, 'Light A Billion Lives', and how it changed lives at the rural level.

"We didn't stop at giving solar lamps, we actually gave them solar panels to small and medium enterprises. When you talk about decarbonisation, in a country where 60-65% production is from SMEs, unless and until you clean those, you can never achieve a net zero target. If you take solar to the next level, and it is renewable for generating livelihood. So it is skilling at the village level, it is giving them energy and it is also cold storage facilities and many other things which will also help," she said.

"So it is skilling at the village level. It is giving them energy and it is also cold storage facilities and many other things which will also help them. Like we talk of food getting wasted, so if we have 30-35% more food in the kitty, I think we are also solving a bigger problem of malnutrition," she said. 

The TERI chief said there is a growing focus on the renewable energy sector and that's helping the country. 

"We are still using coal. We are compelled to use more and more coal because of the (Iran) war. Now one good thing the country has done, we have invested adequately in renewable energy, be it solar energy, be it wind, hydro, and so on," she said.  

When pointed out that renewable energy faces a storage problem, the TERI chief said, "Yes, especially when we talk of solar, it can only be produced under certain hours. Therefore, storage plays a very important role. And a lot of research is going on storage batteries, the minerals that are used for preparing those batteries, so on. The cost of batteries has already come down by 80% or so."

She urged the country to invest in new technologies to tide over the high costs. 

"Now, what is also important is what we are perhaps missing on the new technologies that are coming up, such as building integrated photovoltaics, so the entire facade of the building, the tiles that you use, are of solar panels, beautiful panels. Right now cost is what is prohibiting you from really popularising it."

Asked about the dilemma of growth along with green energy, she said, "Let's also realise what has happened in the past. We are an energy-starved country. And the result is that every drop of oil, more or less it is, to be imported. And we therefore are not competitive in the international market.