As
part of the ongoing national campaign to generate awareness and
expose the media to the right kind of information on renewable
energy, second training programmes were organised by WISE at Bangalore,
following the first which was held in March 2005 at Pune. The
entire campaign comprising around 10 programmes to be conducted
all over the country, is sponsored by the Ministry of Non-Conventional
Energy Sources (MNES), Government of India.
The
second training programme, held at Bangalore from 7-8 October
2005 at the Nahar's Heritage Hotel, was inaugurated by A M Gokhale,
Secretary, MNES. In his inaugural speech, Mr. Gokhale emphasised
on the need for switching over to alternate sources of energy,
as fossil fuels are predicted to come to an end by 2050! He also
felt that downscaling renewable energy projects would raise efficiency
and shorten the gestation time for projects. K P Pande, Chairman,
Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) who chaired
the inaugural ceremony, said that better technology needs to be
developed to make non-conventional energy affordable. He urged
the participants to present the sector in a more positive way
and hoped that the training programme would help in this endeavour.
Other dignitaries present at the inauguration were D S Malik,
Director, I&PA, MNES, G M Pillai, Director General, WISE,
and R V Kharul, Fellow WISE.
The
eminent speakers at the programme included Ajit Gupta, Adviser,
MNES, New Delhi, A S Karanth, CEO, B F Utilities, Pune, and N
Rajalakshmi, Senior Scientist, Centre for Fuel Cell Technology,
Chennai, etc. The topics dealt with included potential and prospects
of grid-connected renewables, hydrogen energy economy, clean development
mechanism, power sector reforms and renewables, etc. A field visit
to Tata BP Solar, a leading solar equipment manufacturer was organised.
The demonstration of Reva, the car that runs on rechargeable solar
batteries, was greatly appreciated. At the valedictory session,
N P Singh, Adviser, MNES, expressed his appreciation of the high
quality of content and presentations.
