Solar Power: India passed 2 GW mark

India did it again! Just last year, the world's second most populous country announced that it has passed the 1 GW mark in solar PV installation.

At the end of September this year, India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy says grid-connected solar in the country has passed the 2 GW point.


Grid-connected PV projects, like this Gujarat solar park, have passed the 2 GW mark in India.


Renewable Energy on the rise in India 

The Indian government has announced the nation has passed the 2 GW mark for cumulative installation of grid-connected solar power.

In a statement on its website, the Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy said that at the end of September, 395 MW of grid-connected PV had been installed in the 2013-14 financial year, as part of a 1.1 GW target.

With the government recently publishing the guidelines for the 750 MW phase II, batch I of its Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, the installation figures are impressive but remain dwarfed by wind power generation in the country.

A further 808 MW of wind power has been installed in the current financial year to take the cumulative figure to 19.8 GW with a 2.5 GW wind power target this year alone.

Small hydro, with a cumultaive 3.7 GW, and bagasse – or sugarcane pulp – with 2.4 GW, also lead solar. Biomass (with a cumulative 1.3 GW installed) and energy-from-waste (99 MW) complete the list of grid-connected renewable energy sources listed by the ministry.

Solar amounts to 139 MW of off-grid renewables generation, behind non bagasse biomass (491 MW) and biomass gasifiers (163 MW).

Those figures mean solar is the third most important renewable enrgy source for off-grid energy, ahead of energy-from-waste (116 MW), water mills (11 MW) and aero generators/hybrid systems (2 MW).


TheGreenMechanics: Impressive! While not intending to measure ourself up with big and power hungry country like India, we should take cue from their initiatives, particularly with the resources and the favourable climate here - we should have more solar PV system installed in Malaysia.

Note that we have many internationally known solar panel manufacturers in Malaysia.


Source: PV Magazine

3.3 million zero-emission vehicles by 2025

Great initiative by eight US states!


Mary Nichols, chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board, walks between a pair of zero emission vehicles displayed in Sacramento, Calif., following a news conference to announce the signing of an agreement on zero emissions cars. Photo: AP


By 2025, they are expecting to have 3.3 million zero-emission cars on the roads. Governors of the following states have pledged to work together to build charging stations and other fueling infrastructure:

• New York
• California
• Massachusetts
• Connecticut
• Maryland
• Oregon
• Rhode Island, and
• Vermont

In total, they make up about 23% of the US auto market according to the Associated Press. The pledge represents another step forward as officials try to cut down on harmful greenhouse gasses that are regularly emitted from most vehicles on the highway.

"This agreement is a major step forward to reducing the emissions that are causing our climate to change and unleashing the extreme weather that we are experiencing with increased frequency," said Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York, in a statement.

Among their duties, participating states will assemble a task force that to develop strategies on widening the presence of charging stations, seen as perhaps the biggest obstacle in making zero-emission cars and EVs a mainstream success.

In terms of legislation, the states have already adopted stringent guidelines that call for a certain percentage of new vehicles sold to be zero emission by 2025. California is the most ambitious of the bunch, requiring 15.4% of new cars (around 1.5 million vehicles in all) to be free of harmful gas emissions by the target year.

But as the AP reports, that's a very tall order, considering hybrids and EVs currently account for less than 2% of California's auto market.


TheGreenMechanics:  It seems like a very tall order to me, but if they can offer tax breaks to dealers who can meet the percentage, and to the consumers who support this initiative, then that would be incetivising sales which makes sense. Where there's a will there's a way.


Full article by Associated Press here.

Sembulan River Park - A beautification initiative by Kota Kinabalu city

The once neglected river that flows through Sembulan in Kota Kinabalu has now been beautified as part of the City Hall's effort to clean up the area and provide recreational facilities to the city dwellers.

This is the first of a 2-phase project earmarked for Sembulan.


The opening of the River Park was officiated by Datuk Musa Hj Aman, Chief Minister of Sabah on the 24th June 2012.

View towards Sembulan

River side, facing Kg Sembulan

There is a stage suitable for performances. The park is equipped with CCTVs.

View towards Karamunsing, from the stage

Beverly Hotel is facing the river

Other than recreational activities, there are plenty of birds to watch. Just watch out for their droppings

"Bon voyage"

The sensible thing to do next is to restructure the village to rid it of the transient population and give deserving citizens proper basic facilities. It can then become tourist attraction, or at least piece of mind to the folks jogging at this park.