Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy felicitated 102 awardees at CST & Solar Cooker Excellence Awards- 2016 here today. Shri Goyal also released 9 knowledge documents collated by several experts to provide information on Concentrated Solar Thermal Technology (CST) on the occasion. Speaking on the occasion, Shri Piyush Goyal said that India now will lead the world towards clean energy rather than follow. “With 21 GW of grid-connected new solar projects out in the market, India has signalled to the world that we're ready to lead” he added. Shri Goyal further said that solar programme will not only ensure energy security of our country but also provide power to the last person at the bottom of the pyramid. Appreciating the awardees, the Minister said that such individual projects have a vital role to play in achieving holistic solar targets.
Shri Goyal reiterated that Indian solar targets are achievable. He said that we have exceeded our solar targets by 116% this year in comparison to last year and already had awarded projects of 11,000 MW. The awards were given to various stakeholder groups including State Nodal Agencies, Manufacturers/Suppliers of the technology and a wide range of beneficiaries to recognize their achievements made in the sector. The Excellence Award ceremony is part of National Workshop on CST and Solar Cookers organised by Ministry of New & Renewable Energy to recognize notable achievement in off-grid and decentralized solar application. The function was attended by Shri Upendra Tripathy , Secretary ,MNRE , Mr Jaco Cilliers , Country Director ,UNDP, Ms Ayumi Fujino , UNIDO Representative & Regional Director and senior officers of the Ministry .
BACKGROUND
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is implementing the programme on Concentrating Solar Thermal (CST) technology under the ‘Off-grid and Decentralized Solar Applications’ programme of the National Solar Mission. The programme aims to promote applications of CST technologies in the industrial sectors, commercial establishments and other institutions. CST technologies can be used to provide steam/ hot oil/ pressurized water in the temperature range of 90 - 300°C for various applications including community cooking, laundry, space cooling etc. While community cooking has become a popular application in both educational and religious organizations, CST technologies are being adopted to meet the process heat requirements in dairying, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, textiles and many other industrial sectors. Over 200 systems covering a total area of around 45000 m2 have already been installed in various parts of the country. The Ministry is also preparing a roadmap to install 100 MW of CSTs by the year 2022. MNRE’s efforts are being supported for CST projects by UNIDO and UNDP to further promote and accelerate the use of these technologies in the country by removing its barriers to scaling up, each by installing 45000 m2 of CST systems within 5 years.