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It is equally important to talk about developing smart grids

India’s ambitions of boosting solar and wind power generation manifold by 2022 will face a transmission challenge, said Ibrahim Baylan, the Swedish minister for energy and policy coordination, who is on a visit to India. The challenge can be overcome by developing a smart grid, which he said is as important as boosting renewable power generation.In the ’70s, we decided to become independent of foreign oil. At that time, our plants were basically using oil 100%. Today, we are down to 4-5% maybe at most and mostly coal. In in three years, we are becoming 100% renewable. One of the reasons is that we have found ways to use waste from the households, from our pulp and paper industry.  Technologies and Experiences are also available. It is also an important area. We are now importing waste from Norway and Italy. I think the landfills in Sweden are down to 0.5%... that is, of course, a boost not just energy-wise and climate-wise but also a boost for our population’s health.

Both generation and energy efficiency are most important in smart grids. Because when you have very ambitious targets for renewable 175GW in a few years it will also create challenges. it is an admirable ambition to make it possible for India’s millions who don’t have access to energy. But it will also create challenges in the transmission system, and smart grids could be a solution.