Solar power is the future of energy

Former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India and former director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Anil Kakodkar has called solar energy (photovoltaic, concentrating solar power) the future source of energy looking at the ever-growing demand for energy.

Kakodkar, member of the Solar Energy Research Advisory Council, waswith his team for detailed discussions with the IIT-J on the experimentation and demonstration of different technologies and plan the future course of action for promotion of solar energy research.

It may be recalled that IIT-J has set up a center for excellence to further the research and experimentation on the solar energy in western Rajasthan and has set up a solar thermal plant there. Kakodkar said that after developing a demonstration facility of the concentrated solar thermal set-up, we will start research on it.

Terming the demand-supply gap of energy eternal, Kakodkar said the need for energy will always exceed the supply and for this we will have to keep looking for alternative sources of energy. “And solar energy is a big hope in meeting this ever-growing need of energy”, he added.

IIT Rajasthan has earmarked a 200-acre land on its campus for creating a solar park, comprising various technologies under one roof. A cluster of R&D labs for solar thermal research will be established in the park with the help of the research grant obtained from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (GOI).

An international centre for solar energy technologies is planned to be set up at the IIT Rajasthan campus with technical assistance and grant from Asian Development Bank for capacity-building and promoting innovation and entrepreneurship.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/