A remote hamlet In Ladakh finally gets electricity for first time after 73 years of darkness

 Photoksar village in Leh district, nestled between two major high altitude passes of the Union Territory of Ladakh, finally got electricity for the first time since independence.

The life-changing event has triggered tremendous joy among the residents of the village.

ladakhzanskartrekking

As cities across the country adopt the latest technological advancements, residents of this hamlet are celebrating the advent of electricity for the first time since Independence.

Chairman and Chief Executive Councillor (CEC) Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Leh Tashi Gyalson inaugurated the NHPC powergrid line for Photoksar village on Sunday, Power Development department (PDD) officials said.

A village resident, whose joy knew no bounds, said the electricity supply will help his children do well in their studies.

"We are very happy now that we finally have electricity in our village. Now our children can study well and progress in life," he said.

Tashi Gyalson said it is because of the visionary initiatives of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who launched the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana, and the energetic efforts of Ladakh MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal that after 70 years of darkness, a village like Photoksar got electrified.

After seventy long years of darkness, finally Photoksar village is light up and connected with northern grid under DDU Gram Joyti Yojna.

Thank you Hon'ble Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi Ji and also to MP Ladakh JTN. #Thanks PDD officials and TATA project.

Tashi Gyalson
CEC pic.twitter.com/PaMS7SWTT7

— Tashi Gyalson (@tashi_gyalson) November 30, 2020

"We thank PM Modi and our MP for electrifying this remote village. I feel very lucky to inaugurate this power line within one month of becoming the councillor of the area and later CEC," he said.

He also assured to electrify five more hamlets - Yulchung, Nyraks, Skyumpata, Lingshed and Dipling - in the coming years.

(Source: India Times)

Renewable energy may be switched off as demand plummets

National Grid may ask suppliers to stop generating electricity due to record low consumption

Hundreds of renewable energy projects may be asked to turn off this weekend to avoid overloading the grid as the UK’s electricity demand plummets to record lows.

Britain’s demand for electricity is forecast to tumble to a fifth below normal levels due to the spring bank holiday and the shutdown of shops, bars and restaurants mandated by the coronavirus lockdown.

National Grid is braced for electricity demand to fall to 15.6GW on Saturday afternoon – a level usually associated with the middle of the night – and continue to drop even lower in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Meanwhile, the sunny weather is expected to generate more renewable electricity than the UK needs. “Bank holidays see reduced demand for electricity, and even more so with the current lockdown measures in place,” said Amy Weltevreden, a manager at the energy system operator.

Demand for electricity usually falls during bank holidays but, combined with the coronavirus crisis, record lows are now being predicted. Photograph: Vickie Flores/EPA

The National Grid control room plans to use a new scheme this weekend that will pay small wind turbines and solar installations to stop generating electricity if the UK’s renewable energy sources threaten to overwhelm the energy system.

About 170 small-scale renewable energy generators have signed up to the scheme, with a total capacity of 2.4GW. This includes 1.5GW of wind power and 700MW of solar energy. Other companies have also signed up to boost their electricity use when demand falls too low.

“If we’re anticipating the wind blowing at a given time when we’re also expecting low demand, we’re now able to instruct these smaller-scale distributed generators to reduce output to help balance the system,” Weltevreden said. “Much of the renewable electricity generated in Great Britain comes from these smaller units – what we call distributed or embedded generation. Because they’re not connected directly to our transmission system, in the past we haven’t had as much ability to control the power they’re producing to balance the grid.”

National Grid warned last month that the low demand for electricity could mean that renewable energy is turned off to avoid overloading the grid with more electricity than the UK can use.

Roisin Quinn, head of National Grid’s control room, said: “The assumption will be that lower demand makes it easier for us to do our job, with less power needed overall and therefore less stress on the system. In fact, as system operator, it’s just as important for us to manage lower demand for electricity as it is to manage the peaks.”

Electricity demand fell to record lows of 15.2GW over the Easter weekend, well below National Grid’s forecast lows of 17.6GW for this summer.

(Source: The Guardian)

Offshore windfarms 'can provide more electricity than the world needs'

Supplies from turbines will prove to be the next great energy revolution, IEA predicts

Erecting wind turbines on the world’s best offshore sites could provide more than enough clean energy to meet global electricity demand, according to a report.

A detailed study of the world’s coastlines has found that offshore windfarms alone could provide more electricity than the world needs – even if they are only built in windy regions in shallow waters near the shore.

Analysis by the International Energy Agency (IEA) revealed that if windfarms were built across all useable sites which are no further than 60km (37 miles) off the coast, and where coastal waters are no deeper than 60 metres, they could generate 36,000 terawatt hours of renewable electricity a year. This would easily meeting the current global demand for electricity of 23,000 terawatt hours.

“Offshore wind currently provides just 0.3% of global power generation, but its potential is vast,” the IEA’s executive director, Fatih Birol, said.

 A sailing boat passes the Kentish Flats offshore windfarm. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

The study predicts offshore wind generation will grow 15-fold to emerge as a $1tn (£780bn) industry in the next 20 years and will prove to be the next great energy revolution.

The IEA said earlier this week that global supplies of renewable electricity were growing faster than expected and could expand by 50% in the next five years, driven by a resurgence in solar energy. Offshore wind power would drive the world’s growth in clean power due to plummeting costs and new technological breakthroughs, including turbines close to the height of the Eiffel Tower and floating installations that can harness wind speeds further from the coast.

The next generation of floating turbines capable of operating further from the shore could generate enough energy to meet the world’s total electricity demand 11 times over in 2040, according to IEA estimates.

The report predicts that the EU’s offshore wind capacity will grow from almost 20 gigawatts today to nearly 130 gigawatts by 2040, and could reach 180 gigawatts with stronger climate commitments.

In China, the growth of offshore wind generation is likely to be even more rapid, the IEA said. Its offshore wind capacity is forecast to grow from 4 gigawatts to 110 gigawatts by 2040 or 170 gigawatts if it adopts tougher climate targets.

Birol said offshore wind would not only contribute to generating clean electricity, but could also offer a major opportunity in the production of hydrogen, which can be used instead of fossil fuel gas for heating and in heavy industry.

The process of making hydrogen from water uses huge amounts of electricity but abundant, cheap offshore wind power could help produce a low-cost, zero-carbon alternative to gas.

In the North Sea, energy companies are already planning to use the electricity generated by giant offshore windfarms to turn seawater into hydrogen on a floating “green hydrogen” project, backed by the UK government. The clean-burning gas could be pumped back to shore to heat millions of homes by the 2030s. The UK has committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The overlap between the UK’s declining oil and gas industry and the burgeoning offshore wind sector could offer major economic benefits for the UK, Birol said.

“Offshore wind provides a huge new business portfolio for major engineering firms and established oil and gas companies which have a strong offshore production experience,” he said. “Our analysis shows that 40% of the work in offshore wind construction and maintenance has synergies with oil and gas practises.”

(Source: The Guardian)

China's solar power is now cheaper than grid electricity, scientists reveal

In just 25 years China has gone from having no solar panels to 100 per cent more than any other country

Solar power is now cheaper than grid electricity in cities across China which could drive a surge in uptake, according to new research.

Some experts thought China would have to wait decades until solar generation cost the same as electricity from the grid. However, thanks to a combination of technological advances and support from the government, “grid parity” has already been reached.

Scientists found that all of the 344 cities they looked at could have cheaper electricity powered by solar energy, according to the study published in the journal Nature Energy. Twenty-two per cent of cities could also have solar systems that would generate lower cost electricity than coal, according to the researchers, led by Jinyue Yan from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

Pictured is an aerial view of solar panels in Hai'an, Jiangsu Province of China ( Getty )

As the price of clean energy technology plummets and China’s electricity demands rapidly rise, investing in renewables is becoming more appealing.

Kingsmill Bond, an energy strategist at Carbon Tracker who was not involved in the research, told Carbon Brief: “The conclusion that industrial and commercial solar is cheaper than grid electricity means that the workshop of the world can embrace solar. Without subsidy and its distorting impacts, and driven by commercial gain.”

In just 25 years China has gone from having no solar panels to at least 100 per cent more than any other country.

It is already home to several vast solar farms including the Tengger Desert plant, which is the world’s largest. In 2017, China was by far the world’s largest investor in renewable energy, accounting for nearly half of the new infrastructure commissioned.

However, coal is still dominant and has around 60 per cent share of the market compared to five per cent for solar.

Investment in solar power requires long-term thinking as installation costs are expensive and policymakers often don’t feel it is in their benefit in the short term. Also, because the price of solar is continuing to fall, many companies will look to wait until prices fall further.

In the paper, researchers suggest policy changes that would encourage more people to use solar energy.

According to a UN report, global investment in renewable energy shot up in 2017, far outstripping investment in fossil fuels.

In just over a decade, concerted investment has increased the proportion of world electricity generated by wind, solar and other renewable sources from around 5 per cent to 12 per cent.

Despite the apparent progress, the International Energy Agency has warned much more investment in renewables across the world is required to prevent more than 1.5C of average global warming as set out under the terms of the Paris climate agreement.

(Source: Independent)

Electric scooters aren't as eco-friendly as they seem, study finds

Materials used in manufacturing and companies’ efforts to collect and charge scooters create significant greenhouse gas emissions

At first glance, the assertion that dockless electric scooters are more environmentally friendly than other modes of transportation seems sound. They don’t emit greenhouse gases. They don’t add to vehicle congestion. “Cruise past traffic and cut back on CO2 emissions – one ride at a time,” touts Bird, one of the most popular scooter companies in the US.

But scooters are not as eco-friendly as they may seem, according to a study published on Friday.

Researchers at North Carolina State University found that traveling by scooter produces more greenhouse gas emissions per mile than traveling by bus, bicycle, moped or on foot.

 People ride shared electric scooters in Santa Monica, California, last month. Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

The team discovered that while the scooters themselves were not particularly environmentally unfriendly, the materials it took to manufacture the frame, wheels and battery, as well as the companies’ efforts at the end of each day to round up the scooters, charge them and then return them to the streets, had significant impact when it came to greenhouse gas emissions.

“They claim that they’re Earth-friendly and potentially carbon-free,” said the study author Joe Hollingsworth. “What we found is while they might have zero tailpipe emissions, there are definitely upstream and downstream processes that definitely do not make the processes carbon-free.”

The researchers took apart the same model of scooter used for the first generation of Birds, and calculated the greenhouse gas emissions associated with putting it together. They determined that the materials and manufacturing made up about half of the scooter’s global warming impact, something that is only exacerbated when the scooters are vandalized or destroyed.

And scooters, in particular, are targets for vandalism and destruction. Bird Graveyard, an Instagram account started by three friends in west Los Angeles, has more than 99,600 followers who subscribe to their documentation of scooter vandalism. One of the founders of the account, who has never disclosed his name because of the nature of the material, told the Guardian on Friday that while he has always supported the concept behind the scooters – a transportation alternative to environmentally unfriendly cars – the rollout of the scooters has made them targets of vandalism.

“It’s a great idea, but it’s carried out very poorly,” he said. “People are going to do people things, and destroying it is just going to be part of it. They should have accounted for that at least somewhat and had something to counteract that.”

Bird and Lime did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In 2018, people rode scooters on 38.5m trips, according to the National Association of City Transportation Officials.

Hollingsworth and the other researchers encouraged the scooter companies to “reduce collection and distribution burdens by incentivizing or requiring the use of efficient automobiles”, and centralizing management or “allowing chargers to ‘claim’ e-scooters to eliminate unnecessary and competitive driving during daily collection”.

“I hope that our paper helps consumers consider what they’re actually replacing with the scooters,” he said. “Hopefully, it will help these companies to better manage how their employees are driving around to pick these scooters up to make them more efficient.”

(Source: The Guardian)

Britain passes one week without coal power for first time since 1882

Landmark follows government pledge to phase out coal-fired electricity by 2025

Britain has gone a week without using coal to generate electricity for the first time since Queen Victoria was on the throne, in a landmark moment in the transition away from the heavily polluting fuel.

The last coal generator came off the system at 1.24pm on 1 May, meaning the UK reached a week without coal at 1.24pm on Wednesday, according to the National Grid Electricity System Operator, which runs the network in England, Scotland and Wales.

Coal-fired power stations still play a major part in the UK’s energy system as a backup during high demand but the increasing use of renewable energy sources such as wind power means it is required less. High international coal prices have also made the fuel a less attractive source of energy.

The latest achievement – the first coal-free week since 1882, when a plant opened at Holborn in London – comes only two years after Britain’s first coal-free day since the Industrial Revolution.

Twilight for coal: Rugeley power station in Staffordshire, which is now being demolished. Photograph: Northern Nights Photography/Alamy Stock Photo

Burning coal to generate electricity is thought to be incompatible with avoiding catastrophic climate change, and the UK government has committed to phasing out coal-fired power by 2025.

Reductions in coal use in the UK have been responsible for halving electricity generation emissionssince 2013, according to the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), whose report last week called for the UK to pursue a target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Fintan Slye, the director of National Grid ESO, said he believed Britain’s electricity system could be run with zero carbon as soon as 2025.

He said: “Zero-carbon operation of the electricity system by 2025 means a fundamental change to how our system was designed to operate – integrating newer technologies right across the system – from large-scale offshore wind to domestic-scale solar panels to increased demand-side participation, using new smart digital systems to manage and control the system in real-time.”

Greg Clark, the business secretary, hailed the achievement. He said the UK is “on a path to become the first major economy to legislate for net-zero emissions” in the wake of the report.

However, the government has also faced criticism over some of its policies. The CCC’s chief executive, Chris Stark, said on Wednesday that proposals to impose higher VAT on solar panels and its failure to give its full backing to onshore wind generation would make meeting a net-zero emissions target more difficult.

“We will need to throw everything at this challenge, including onshore wind and solar,” Stark told MPs on the business committee. “Anything that makes it harder is really not in line with the net-zero challenge overall.”

(Source: The Guardian)

400 electric car charging stations by 2022 in Qatar

Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) is planning to set up 400 electric car charging stations by the end of 2022 to encourage the use of electric and hybrid vehicles in Qatar.  Kahramaa, represented by the National Program for Conservation and Energy Efficiency (Tarsheed), inaugurated 8th electric car charging station, yesterday at Qatar Scientific Club.

The inauguration is a continuation of the first phase of the launch of electric car charging stations in Qatar as part of the green vehicles initiative to provide a clean, healthy and safe environment for future generations.

An electric vehicle charging station was opened yesterday at Qatar Scientific Club in the
presence of Kahramaa officials. Pic: Abdul Basit / The Peninsula

On the occasion of the inauguration, the Conservation and Energy Efficiency Department Manager in Kahramaa, Eng. Abdulaziz Al Hammadi, said the station is a continuation of the efforts of Kahramaa, represented by Tarsheed, for the preparation of the necessary infrastructure for electric vehicles in the country, where 400 stations are planned to be established in cooperation with the private sector by the end of 2022 in the context of encouraging electric and hybrid vehicles in Qatar.

Managing Director of Qatar Scientific Club Fatima Al Mohannadi said that since the announcement of Kahramaa that it has started to install the electric vehicle charging stations in Qatar, the club worked on being one of the first to support of this positive initiative.

Siemens Qatar, the partner of this technology initiative, delivers electric charging stations that provide ease of use, safety and energy management.

Siemens Qatar will also provide training in operation and use as well as maintenance of vehicle chargers stations.

Kahramaa launched seven electric vehicle charging stations in 2018 in the areas of Kahramaa Main Building, Kahramaa Awareness Park Building, Al Fardan Towers, St. Regis Hotel, and Kempinski Pearl Resort. In addition, two electric car charging stations for buses have been inaugurated at the headquarters of Mowasalat, and two electric car charging stations will be inaugurated at Qatar Foundation.

(Source: The Peninsula)

Does the moon hold the key to the earth’s energy needs?

Tidal power is the only renewable source derived from the moon. Now an extraordinary array of devices promise to unlock this vital energy potential

Using giant kites, blades and paddles, and mimicking pogo sticks, blowholes and even the human heart, groups around the world are on the cusp of harnessing the colossal power of the oceans.

The challenge is huge - seas have been battering coasts and sweeping sailors to their doom for millennia - but so is the prize: huge amounts of clean, reliable and renewable electricity for an energy-hungry world.

Flying with the tide: Minesto’s giant kites swoop in a figure of eight, driven by underwater currents, and powering a turbine. Photograph: Minesto

Taking on the challenge of operating in this savage, corrosive environment is not for the faint-hearted, and the costs remain worryingly high, as demonstrated by the government’s rejection on Monday of a £1.3bn tidal project at Swansea. “There is no doubt – shit happens during marine renewable energy projects,” says François Renelier at Bessé, a French insurance broker.

But the ocean energy sector is frothing with ideas, with hundreds of companies developing an extraordinary array of devices and backed by billions of dollars of investment. Among the serious contenders tapping rapid tidal flows are 12 metre-wide underwater kites that soar and swoop.

“We fly with the tides,” says Martin Eklund, at Minesto, which is installing a £25m array off Anglesey, north Wales. “The main advantage is we can harvest energy from very low currents. This resource is abundant – it is everywhere.”

Tapping that resource is vital, say ocean energy supporters. Global temperatures continue to rise and the world’s nations need to increase clean energy production fast. Although wind and solar power increased 75% between 2013 and 2016, they still only provided 10% of the world’s electricity and even less of total energy demand.

“We will need every kind of renewables we can get out hands on, including marine, to move us around, heat our homes and so on,” says Declan Meally, at the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland.

A coalition of 25 ocean-faring nations, called Ocean Energy Systems, estimates a global potential for wave and tidal energy of 750GW by 2050, almost twice today’s global nuclear capacity. The EU projects 100GW in 2050, providing about 10% of the bloc’s electricity.

An Ocean Energy buoy 1/4th scale wave energy convertor during testing in Galway Bay. Photograph: Courtesy Ocean Energy

Many nations, from Ireland to India to Korea, are now making moves and tidal and wave energy capacity doubled in 2017, albeit from a very small base. China has invested $200m since 2010 in ocean energy, and the EU €3bn in combined public and private money in the last decade.

Tidal energy is most advanced. Bladed turbines are being deployed, which harness fast tidal flows in the same way wind turbines catch the wind. The world’s first large-scale tidal array, the Meygen project built by Atlantis Resources in the Pentland Firth, is now sending power to the grid. But, unlike the wind industry which has settled on a three-blade design, underwater designers are also testing four and six-bladed versions too.

OpenHydro, already deployed in Canada’s Bay of Fundy, use giant 16m hoops with inward-pointing blades that resemble the mouth of a giant lamprey fish. Its makers opened the world’s first tidal turbine manufacturing plant in Cherbourg last week.

There are also vertical turbines that spin like a fairground carousel, such as Hydroquest in France and LHD in China, and one company is even making an undulating membrane inspired by swimming fish.

Capturing wave power is even more challenging than tapping the tides – “survivability” is the key term in this sector. “The cost of building something to withstand these extremes is the only thing that has held it back so far,” says Tom Denniss of Wave Swell in Australia. His company’s device works like a blowhole, with waves blasting air up a tube and out through a turbine.

He compares developing wave technology to his own record-breaking feat of endurance running: “I ran 622 marathons in 622 days and it was a lot easier than developing marine energy technology - at least it took less time.”

Other wave devices, such as Wedge Global, use buoys that bounce up and down on a pole, like a pogo stick, then duck underwater when storms rolls in. Another, Corpower, uses a hydraulic system inspired by the human heart to dampen the impact of the worst weather. “That has been the big challenge for wave energy – how to turn it on and off in big storms,” says chief executive, Patrik Möller.

The Penguin wave energy converter has survived for over a year at sea during tests. Photograph: Jan Oelker/Wello

A strange-shaped vessel called the Penguin takes a very different approach, gyrating with waves to capture power in a spinning weight. It has proved particularly robust, says Ali Pekcan, at Wello, its Finnish makers: “It has survived many storms. It is a great achievement to keep a device in [the sea] for over a year without maintenance.”

Paddles are being deployed too, such as WaveRoller, which uses long seafloor flaps that are washed back and forth by swells. Another, Wave Piston, uses paddles strung along a 185m pipe to push pressurised water through a generator.

The Wave Piston’s biggest challenge to date was a big industrial trawler ramming into the system, despite the deployment having been cleared with the marine authorities. “We have had a lot of adventures, some good, some bad,” says Martin von Bülow, at the company.

One technology that is not being widely pursued is tidal lagoon power. Here, large, expensive walls are constructed to trap seawater at high tide, which is released through turbines at low tide. But those constructed so far, such as in France and Korea, took advantage of sea walls being built for other purposes such providing a transport link.

Which technologies make it into mass production remains to be seen, but the sector is backed at the highest levels, from Europe to China to Canada. “Clean renewable energy from the sea ticks all the right boxes,” says Karmenu Vella, European Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries.

“It is a groundbreaking industry with plenty of potential for new jobs and economic value, and in a world facing the devastating spectre of climate change, it also helps us supply homegrown energy while drastically cutting our greenhouse gas emissions,” he said at the International Conference on Ocean Energy in Cherbourg, France, last week.

One of the world’s largest underwater turbines, made by Navel Energies, in Brehec bay, Plouezec, France. Photograph: Courtesy of DCNS

The way Denmark captured the wind turbine manufacturing market by moving early is inspiring many of the leading nations. “Everyone is trying to be the next Denmark, but for another technology,” says Bruce Cameron, the former director of renewable energy in Nova Scotia, which hosts the bay with the biggest tidal range in the world.

However a major obstacle to ocean energy commercialisation has loomed into view: the stunning drop in cost of offshore wind power in the last year, as huge farms are rolled out. “While offshore wind in Europe has clearly come of age, ocean energy is still learning how to take the first steps,” says EU environment commissioner, Karmenu Vella.

This has led some governments, such as the UK, directing their subsidy support to marine windfarms. This has left wave and tidal energy developers stranded between successful testing and the full-scale production that would then start driving costs down. “They call it the valley of death - we’re there,” says Marcelle Askew, at Swedish wave energy firm Seabased.

However, some nations are still offering support: Canada has a feed-in-tariff and France, despite concerns at the finance ministry over costs, is expected to offer a major tender within months.

Ocean energy supporters say it is essential in addition to offshore wind to drive progress towards a zero-carbon world. Tidal energy in particular has the advantage of being precisely predictable, years ahead.

“As long as the moon circles around the Earth, you will always have tidal energy. But you can have no wind for days and days,” says Laurent Schneider-Maunoury, CEO of Naval Energies, the makers of OpenHydro.

Insertion of Navel Energies’ OpenHydro turbine rotor at EDF’s Paimpol-Bréhat project. Photograph: Courtesy DCNS

His company is also exploring another ocean energy technology which provides power 24/7, by exploiting the temperature difference between surface and deep waters to generate electricity. Like other ocean energy technologies, this may well already be competitive with the expensive diesel generators used in many small or isolated communities.

The seasonal timing of the biggest waves can be good too, says Arnie Roblan, a senator from Oregon in the US, which is strongly backing ocean energy. “The winter storms bring a lot more power than in the summer, which exactly matches [heating] energy use,” he says.

Cost is not the only challenge to be overcome, such as ensuring coastal communities themselves benefit from projects and ensuring marine life is not endangered, though dolphins, seals and fish all appear to avoid the devices deployed so far.

The big question remains undecided: will ocean energy will provide a major new wave of renewables in the years to come? Some have doubts, like Prof AbuBakr Bahaj, at Southampton University in the UK, and who has analysed the sector for 25 years. “I’m not really sure,” he says.

Others, like Drew Blaxland, from developers Atlantis, says with many technologies now proven to work, it is simply time to scale up production and drive down the costs. His message is blunt: “Wake the hell up, grab it by the nuts and get on with it.”

(Source: The Guardian)

How a Tamil IAS officer lit up a Meghalaya region

It was the September of 2015. I was fresh out of my year-long probation as a new IAS officer, and was working in Delhi as an Assistant Secretary. I had recently been told that I was going to be posted to Sohra (aka Cherrapunjee) in Meghalaya as the Sub-Divisional Magistrate. I felt ready and prepared for the journey and had sent my luggage to a service provider to be couriered.

Almost at the last minute though, I got a call from Shillong saying that I wasn’t going to Sohra, but to Dadenggre in Garo Hills. Strange, I thought to myself when I first heard about it. Because even though I had spent two months training in Meghalaya during my probation, I hadn’t come across a place called Dadenggre!

Anyway, it meant that I had to change the delivery address for my luggage. But try as I might with variations of different spelling and keywords, even Google drew a blank for this mystery place. The closest it came was to asking me if I meant ‘Davangere’, a city in Karnataka. But no, that wasn’t it.

Ramkumar S

The journey
When I boarded that flight to Guwahati in December 2015, I still didn’t have much clue about where I was going. All I knew was that Dadenggre was a three-hour drive from the Guwahati airport.

Once the driver arrived to pick me up, I attempted to ask him in broken Hindi about the place. I asked if there were any restaurants around, any shopping centres, any big departmental stores. No, no, and no, he told me. Honestly, his answers were getting on my nerves, because according to him, the place didn’t even have a petrol pump.
Now, it was a winter evening that we arrived in Dadenggre, and the sun had set by 4pm. The winding roads leading to Dadenggre had no other vehicle, human or even animal movement. So, I went back to the internet, determined (despite the sketchy mobile network) to get some idea of the place I was venturing to. The first and only online reference I found after considerable research was that a kidnapping in Dadenggre a couple of years ago.

Meanwhile, my driver completely focused on the route so it was after a lot of hesitation that I brought up the topics of militancy in the area. I asked him if it was safe to drive down from here after dark. Although my vehicle had a beacon and he kept saying we should be fine, he didn’t sound very confident.

Dadenggre
The winding roads were really starting to get to me when the driver suddenly announced, “We’re here!”

I sat up straighter, startled, and I asked, “Where?!”

“This. Right here.”

There were trees around, a few signs of habitation. But no lights on the road except a few dim ones I could see from a village. We went to the circuit house where I was supposed to stay temporarily before moving to my official quarters.
The place seemed so remote that the existence of the circuit house itself was a surprise to me. One of the first questions that came to my mind was, “Why so much darkness?” I had always seen streetlights in every place I grew up. Well lit streets were a big part of my social life. It was hard for me to digest that a place was completely helpless against the dark once the sun set.

Lighting up
Try as I might, the question of darkness would not leave my psyche. So by February, I pulled up a proposal submitted by the then Secretary to Govt of India, Shri Upendra Tripathy. It allowed for an automatic approval route for 500kwp power plants or street lights for any officer of 2013 batch, which was also the year I graduated.

I was super enthused about it. I found some people who could educate me about solar power, making proposals, submitting necessary documents etc. The sanction was accorded very swiftly by the Centre.

There were a few complications along the way – like the fact that for street lights, the expenditure is cut 60-30-10 percent between the centre, beneficiaries, and the state. This meant that about Rs 40 lakh had to come from the 60,000 odd residents of Dadenggre.

Now, Dadenggre is poor, but not how we, as people living in tier-1 and tier-2 cities understand ‘poor’. It is poor because it’s backward. There is no ATM; just a bank where you can withdraw money using a withdrawal slip. The area was known for militant activity until 3-4 years ago. And the driver wasn’t lying that day, there really isn’t a petrol pump here. The nearest one is about 30 kilometres away.

These people are backward and the last time they had something new was probably over a decade ago. So when I told them that there was a proposal to have their streets light up after the dark, it took six months, but they turned up to deposit money.
We also had to figure out a way to provide power without causing serious ecological damage to this quaint place. The solution was simple: going solar. After multiple meetings with various stakeholders, we were fortunate to receive the beneficiaries’ financial share from them too.

And about two months ago, Dadenggre’s streets shone with the light of brand new street lights.

A total of 700 solar panels are spread across the sub-division and 250 kilowatts of solar energy power many public buildings, including our office, residential quarters, police station, and the Community Health Centre.

What’s more, the solar power has ensured that the power outages and fluctuations we faced in the monsoon are a thing of the past too!

Self-sustenance
There is always ‘who waters the plant’ mentality at work when it comes to government matters. It is not possible for us to do it every time. Hence, we roped in many village level committees and trained them in some basic maintenance so that they aren’t completely dependent on technical persons.

It’s not always been easy. I do miss Tamil Nadu, and my home. Evenings have been very lonely until recently – my wife, baby and in-laws came here last month. Things have been slightly better but I do fear if the time comes when they have to go back.

I take casual walks in the evening to see what changes the lights have brought to the life of people. People are not very expressive here but they show their warmth by offering handshakes, tea, poori… anything they have when I walk by these days. My walks often get delayed due to these stops but I’m not complaining at all.

I find many young boys and girls sitting under the light chatting into the evening. My only wish is that someone who looks up the streetlight and wonders what is the science behind it, may come to redefine how we use energy in future.

(Source: TNM)

Bengaluru man can run an AC house without paying a rupee in electricity bills

Ugadi is one of the biggest festivals in Karnataka, and marked with holiday and merriment. Bengaluru resident Dinesh Pagariya has more than one reason for celebration.

His new house is slated for a housewarming and pooja on the day, but that isn’t the only reason. Even before its formal inauguration, Dinesh’s house has captured attention for its completely eco-friendly initiative.

Dinesh’s new house has successfully harnessed solar energy from scratch, and did not seek even a temporary Bescom connection.

A city-based real-estate developer and nature enthusiast, Dinesh has always emphasized on living a green life, from running an off-grid office operation to taking an electric-powered car over conventional vehicles. “I keep renewable energy as the criteria for all my activities.” He found himself deeply interested in solar energy and found an opportunity to incorporate the technology when he built his cousin’s house two years earlier.

“We wondered why we should have to keep taking power from the electricity department,” he says. “Why don’t we generate our own power? My cousin’s house was somewhat smaller in size, and I thought that I could fix any errors more efficiently.”

There were no errors and the construction success motivated the builder to take a more ambitious approach. He decided to build his new house, in Bengaluru’s Jayanagar neighbourhood, on the same principles of solar-powered energy.

Built in 12 months, the house has set new standards in green construction, setting up a solar unit at the site from the very beginning.

While installing solar units is becoming popular among many ecologically conscious people, to use solar power during construction remains somewhat rare. Builders and architects remain somewhat sceptical of the process of green architecture. Fortunately, Dinesh found an ally in his architect, Ganesh Kumar of Studio 69, who encouraged him to continue the project despite the initial challenges.

Ganesh says, “I always try to make an environmentally-conscious angle in my building. If there is a tree, I plan the architecture around it. Dinesh approached me after he saw some of my houses. He has a beautiful plot—I kept the solar energy in mind before starting and also the trees. It wasn’t as challenging as it seems because he was clear about what he wanted.”

Construction began with the installation of a small power plant atop the worker’s shed. The plant was upgraded as the building proceeded and eventually shifted in a higher capacity over the completed house.

Further, Dinesh and his team employed thin solar panels, conventionally used for commercial solar power generation, which makes it possible to generate full power on cloudy days. These thin panels can also be stepped on and the engineering team installed over 100 panels on the rooftop to generate all the electricity needed.

The only challenge in undertaking such an ambitious initiative, according to Dinesh, is in the mind.

A self-confessed fan of Elon Musk, Dinesh says that a challenge in his venture was really the hesitation in getting started. “Initially it looked challenging but my architect encouraged me and it gradually got easier. We hoped to finish in one year and that is exactly what we have done. And now we have a fully air-conditioned house, which runs on renewable energy.”

Following the success of his solar ventures, Dinesh has also founded JJJ Solar, a renewable energy firm where he is joined by like-minded experts who he had worked with on previous projects. Invested in eco-friendly principles, they hope to educate people on renewable energy and collaborate to build more solar-powered commercial properties as well as houses.

To contact Dinesh Pagariya’s team at JJJ Solar, click here.

Wanted: Part-time hermit

The Austrian town of Saalfelden in the state of Salzburg is looking for someone to live in a nearby hermitage which was built more than 350 years ago in steep, rocky cliffs.

However, it’s advisable that applicants have a private income or a second job, as the parish website says the position is unpaid. As the hermitage is unheated and without running water, it’s only inhabitable between April and November.

State broadcaster ORF quoted local cleric Alois Moser as saying the search is on for "a self-sufficient person who is at peace with their self, and willing to talk to people, but not to impose”.

The successful candidate should have a Christian outlook and be ready to greet visiting pilgrims and locals. Many people visit the hermitage to enjoy the view, to pray, and to talk about issues that affect or trouble them.

Moser, along with Saalfelden's mayor Erich Rohrmoser, will select the new hermit. The winning candidate will be chosen more on the basis of personality than training and professional experience.

The hermitage and chapel. Photo: ORF

The deadline for applications is March 15th, 2017. Anyone interested in becoming a hermit should send their CV, along with a letter explaining why they want the position, and an up-to-date photo, to Pfarramt Saalfelden, zH. Herrn Dechant Alois Moser, Lofererstraße 11, 5760 Saalfelden.

The hermitage - one of the few such places in Central Europe to still be in use - has been uninhabited since a Viennese pastor and psychotherapist left last autumn, to return to his normal life in the capital after a year. Before him, a Benedictine monk lived there for 12 years.

In 1970 a man fired a shotgun at the hermitage doors, but luckily the resident hermit was uninjured. However, he was so frightened that he went back to his home in Styria. The motive turned out to be jealously - the gunman was a local who had unsuccessfully applied for the job himself.

However, since then the hermitage has been without incident and is reputedly very peaceful. It is built into a natural cave above Lichtenberg castle, and a chapel was built next to it in the 17th century.

(Source: The Local)