What Cost Effective Green Technologies Can Businesses Install in India Today?

Some of what I have learned while looking for green technologies to deploy across various businesses:

1. Rooftop Solar PV: Cheaper than grid electricity if there is enough open area. For instance, we got an offer for a 20-year PPA for a 500 kWe system from one developer starting at Rs 6.50 in year 1 and escalating by Rs 0.50 every fifth year (less than 2% annual average escalation). Our current grid cost is Rs 7.39 and annual escalation for the past 5 years is 8.9%. There are enough developers who offer projects on a RESCO basis where there is no up-front cost to the customer, only a PPA. 

2. Concentrated Solar Thermal: Cost of steam from solar system can be cheaper on a levelized basis than cost of steam produced using diesel or gas boilers, especially in case gas cylinders are used and diesel cost is high. Trick is to size the system correctly to make sure no steam from solar system is wasted. There are no developers who offer projects on a RESCO basis where there is no up-front cost to the customer. There is not a single successful example of such execution. However, there are developers interested in this concept if the customer pays a portion of the costs up front. 

3. Alternative Fuels: RDF made from MSW is usually a 50%-20% cheaper on a Rs / kCal basis than coal. There are a few plants in the country (Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Allahabad) that make large quantities of decent quality RDF. This should all be utilized by thermally intensive processes (cement, power plants, etc.).

4. Energy Efficiency Improvements: These typically offer the best economics as customers typically ignore such cost saving opportunities and prioritize investments elsewhere. Investment amounts can range from less than a lac of rupees for lighting retrofits to a hundred crores for a waste heat recovery power plant. There are a handful of ESCOs in India who are willing and able to cover the entire capital cost up-front and recover their investment through getting a portion of the energy savings resulting from their retrofits. Typical examples are lighting replacements, chiller / boiler replacements, installing variable frequency drives for variable loads, changing out old equipment, etc.

I will elaborate on these and add to the list in future posts.