Nuclear and solar -India’s energy options

As per reports, only the nuclear and the solar power can meet the mammoth energy requirements of India, former chairman of Atomic Energy Commission Dr Anil Kakodkar said who was attending the second convocation at Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar.

“If India has to emerge as an economic power then per capita electricity production has to be brought on par with that in the advanced countries,” he said.

“Today the scenario is such that compared to advanced countries we are 14-15 times behind. The average per capita electricity production in an industrially advanced nation is at around 10,000 units, where as in India it is at around 800 units per person,” Dr Kakodkar said here speaking to reporters.

He was responding to a question about agitations against nuclear power plants in the country.

Nuclear power however has safety issues. Read more on it here while Solar power is still at a nascent level in India. Some solar power producers have struggled to meet deadlines. Four of the five concentrated solar power CSP projects in Rajasthan with a total capacity of 470 MW, are running behind schedule. Read more on it here. Even though the days of sunshine are good enough, DNI (Direct Natural Irradiance) levels are affected because of dust and lack of adequate data also affects projects.

Reference and further reading;

The Hindu

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