Time to Warm Up to the Sun - An interview with Shekhar Dutt

BWSC caught up with Shekhar Dutt to get his views on smart cities, solar power and the need to optimise the use of precious natural resources . He talks about the need for more focused R&D and why India must look to global best practices but still find localised solutions that meet the country’s peculiar needs. How do you envision Smart Cities? The percentage of our population that derives its income from agriculture should be lower than those deriving their income from industry and services but we can’t do this without a huge shifting of human population from rural to urban areas. We need to create urban markets in rural areas even as we talk about ‘Make in India’ with manufacturing and economic activities that are envisaged as part of the Smart Cities vision. Cities need to be smart about everything – energy, transport, way of living, housing, occupations, to name a few. Also, Smart Cities should be vertical instead of horizontal. Take the example of the US, which is three and a half times the land area of India. New York was built vertical three hundred years ago, but if you go 30 or 50 km outside Delhi you will find one- or two-storey buildings over a horizontal spread, eating into precious land and spreading resources even thinner. Building vertical would demand a smarter and more efficient energy plan. A large number of people staying in a small space would push up the demand for energy during the daytime and a part of this energy could be generated using solar. Why must we pay more attention to developing solar power in the country? India is blessed with over 300 days of sunlight. One of the reasons that some countries have done better than others, I feel, is that their rich make the dollar go longer. Similarly, we also need to find a way not to squander away meagre resources, and utilise them better. In the creation of assets, the first to focus on is human resources, followed by others like land, water and energy. Smarter utilisation of all is required. 300 days multiplied by at least 10 hours a day gives us an availability of 3000 hours of sunlight. This can help with meeting peak demand, especially of cities, during the day. The target that the government has set is 100GW of capacity by 2022. How do we make that happen? First of all, our R&D should be according to the needs of the country. Other nations that do not have a problem with energy shortages, or an abundance of sunlight, will not concentrate their R&D on solar but will use that spend on something else. The western world has not opted for harnessing solar energy in a big way, albeit some countries that have done it for purposes other than providing energy, like for powering and sustaining a spacecraft or missile – complementing conventional sources. The 21st century cannot run on solutions for 20th-century India or those designed outside. Our research institutions need to do better to tailor solutions to Indian problems. Our R&D should be based on application need. As for technology already available, you can now have sensors embedded in things like walls and public benches, which will alert any attempt to deface or damage such public property, a common problem in the country. How far have we come with regard to solar power? What do you think is required to boost the sector? The key requirement for driving progress in a country is education, first, followed closely by energy – be it for farming or industry. Solar energy needs promoting, through a mix of rewards, education and punitive measures, where required, to promote adoption and use. Anybody can burn coal and produce steel and let the boilers do the trick to generate power. The solar energy sector, on the other hand, requires a lot of involvement and needs to be promoted in mission mode to meet national objectives. You require imaginative and committed people to be involved. We have come far enough for anyone to be able to say that the target of 100 GW from the current capacity of 3.3GW is not too long a way. Educating people about the benefits of solar power will go a long way as well. Easily available statistics and information will help. Some of it can be promoted by the industry and some by the government and the two can meet half-way. People should be able to clearly see the benefits they derive from something. A lot of people seem to think that switching to solar energy requires large initial investments and may appear to be prohibitively expensive. Is that true? Those of us who live in gated communities get round-the-clock power but at a heavy cost to the environment, based on diesel-generated energy. Keeping in mind the resultant pollution and environmental impact, its fair to mention that life expectancy of Indians is ten to eleven years less than China and a person born in Japan will perhaps live 20 years longer than one in India, with better quality of life, though this varies among states. Is this the price we must pay? How can Smart Cities promote better quality of life? We can’t have Smart Cities if our energy security is obtained through diesel-generated power. Energy falls under the Concurrent List but the bulk of generation, distribution and usage is under states. Also, it is state governments that are answerable to the people for their welfare. Smart Cities, too, fall within the purview of the same state ecosystem and all states will have to come out with a plan that suits their needs. The outcome has to be agreed upon at the national level but you will find that some states are already outpacing the national vision. Also, one size will not fit all, and different states or cities will have to decide and prioritise accordingly. Just like the mauka muayna (a situational, ground report filed by administrators) of yore, only one solution is not good enough for a country like India, till we talke a clear account of ground realities. Awareness of specific requirements is important. A compendium of best practices can help. It can be a compendium of all the things that, say, a developer would like to know before going into a small state to better understand local needs. There are numerous examples of how some of our states and cities are meeting their requirements innovatively and with recourse to local solutions. Can you share an example with us? Years ago, I had travelled to Patna, where someone turned my attention to the lights by the side of the road from the airport till Raj Bhawan. It was lit by energy from Sulabh Shauchalaya waste. Fifteen thousand rickshaw-pullers of Patna were using the toilets, paying 10 or 25 paise for its use or for water and soap, and the excreta was being used for generating electricity to power a 15 km road– a good stretch of about 15 kilometres! Why can’t we replicate this elsewhere? Similarly, all we need in terms of infrastructure for solar is the old lamp post and 2x2 feet solar panels. Do you feel that the Smart Cities and AMRUT Missions bring with them new and exciting opportunities? The outcomes we expect from these Smart Cities should be obvious from the start. For example, say, all houses should be given a tap in the kitchen and one in the toilet linked to a solar geyser. Its sixty degrees Celsius temperature would require a very small amount of additional heat to make pulses boil, without wasting precious energy. We should also figure out all that can be done without using conventional sources of energy. Take transportation, for example. Intra-city and intra-building transport can easily run on clean, pollution-free solar energy. This also offers an opportunity to apply some of the ideas and best practices from other countries. For example, why can’t we have floating photovoltaic solar panels, to maximise land and space use, something already being done in Spain? Is there a solar-power industry wish list right now, in terms of promotion of solar power or an empowering legislation that may be required, in your view? Only when you wear the shoe do you know where it pinches. I think that in order to make the industry stronger there is a lot of promotion that the industry itself needs to do among private or government consumers. There is a lot of new research being undertaken in developed countries, including comparisons between land and water waste and how some of this can be used for generating cheaper power. If you change your approach just a little in this field, you will find that it becomes thriving, action-oriented stuff. And its time has come.