Industry urged to adopt solar technology

Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, September 27

The Chambers of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings (CICU) in association with the United Nation Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) organised a workshop to promote concentrating solar thermal (CST) technologies for the industrial sector.

The workshop was organised with cooperation of the Punjab Energy Development of Agency (PEDA) and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India.

While addressing participating members of the industry, the CICU general secretary, Upkar Singh Ahuja, emphasised the importance of such workshops to learn about innovation in the renewable energy sector and to interact with experts with the objective of transition to solar energy.

In his presentation, Ahuja highlighted that the CICU had organised several national and state-level activities in the form of seminars, training programmes, exhibitions and interactive discussion to encourage innovations in industries.

The UNIDO National Project Manager, Anil Misra, demystified barriers associated with the technology adoption. He also shared details on the most suitable solar thermal technologies, including parabolic troughs, dish collectors and linear fresnel systems.

“The UNIDO has partnered with the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) to develop a financial package bundling the subsidy from the MNRE and soft loan to support the installation of the CST project for industrial applications of heating and cooling,” he added.

The PEDA, District Manager, Anupam Nanda, said the lack of reliable supply of energy was a major problem faced by industries in Ludhiana.

“The CST technology will help make balance sheets of organisations greener as it makes perfect business sense by helping save energy, thereby costs incurred on conventional power sources,” he said.

“Ludhiana with its dynamic industrial sector is a suitable place not only for application of the CST technology, but is also suitable for the CST manufacturing. It can become a hub where all components of the CST systems could be manufactured,” he added. He said a few CST systems had been adopted by NGOs, institutions and religious places as well.