Solar Power Energy

Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar power to generate electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating), and solar architecture. It is an essential source of renewable energy, and its technologies are broadly characterized as either passive solar or active solar depending on how they capture and distribute solar energy or convert it into solar power. Active solar techniques include the use of photovoltaic systems, concentrated solar power, and solar water heating to harness the energy. Passive solar techniques include orienting a building to the Sun, selecting materials with favorable thermal mass or light-dispersing properties, and designing spaces that naturally circulate air.

In 2020, the International Energy Agency said that "the development of affordable, inexhaustible and clean solar energy technologies will have huge longer-term benefits. It will increase countries' energy security through reliance on an indigenous, inexhaustible, and mostly import-independent resource, enhance sustainability, reduce pollution, lower the costs of mitigating global warming .... these advantages are global."

Wind Power Energy

Wind power Energy is the use of wind energy to generate useful work. Historically, wind power was used by sails, windmills and windpumps, but today it is mostly used to generate electricity. Today, wind power is almost completely generated with wind turbines, generally grouped into wind farms and connected to the electrical grid.

In 2021, wind supplied over 1800 TWh of electricity, which was over 6% of world electricity and about 2% of world energy. With about 100 GW added during 2021, mostly in India, global installed wind power capacity exceeded 800 GW. To help meet the Paris Agreement goals to limit climate change, analysts say it should expand much faster - by over 1% of electricity generation per year.

Wind power Energy is considered a sustainable, renewable energy source, and has a much smaller impact on the environment compared to burning fossil fuels. Wind power is variable, so it needs energy storage or other dispatchable generation energy sources to attain a reliable supply of electricity. Land-based (onshore) wind farms have a greater visual impact on the landscape than most other power stations per energy produced. Wind farms sited offshore have less visual impact and have higher capacity factors, although they are generally more expensive. Offshore wind power currently has a share of about 10% of new installations.

Wind power Energy is one of the lowest-cost electricity sources per unit of energy produced. In many locations, new onshore wind farms are cheaper than new coal or gas plants. Regions in the higher northern and southern latitudes have the highest potential for wind power. In most regions, wind power generation is higher at nighttime and in winter when PV output is low. For this reason, combinations of wind and solar power are suitable in many countries. Hybrid power systems are combinations between different technologies to produce power. In power engineering, the term 'hybrid' describes a combined power and energy storage system. Examples of power producers used in hybrid power are photovoltaics, wind turbines, and various types of engine-generators – e.g., diesel gensets.

Hybrid Power System

Hybrid systems, as the name implies, combine two or more modes of electricity generation together, usually using renewable technologies such as solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind turbines. Hybrid systems provide a high level of energy security through the mix of generation methods, and often will incorporate a storage system (battery, fuel cell) or small fossil-fueled generator to ensure maximum supply reliability and security.

Hybrid renewable energy systems are becoming popular as stand-alone power systems for providing electricity in remote areas due to advances in renewable energy technologies and subsequent rise in prices of petroleum products. A hybrid energy system, or hybrid power, usually consists of two or more renewable energy sources used together to provide increased system efficiency as well as greater balance in energy supply.

Hybrid power plants often contain a renewable energy component (such as PV) that is balanced via a second form of generation or storage such as a diesel genset, fuel cell, or battery storage system. They can also provide other forms of power such as heat for some applications.

Power Transmission

The transmission system plays an important role in the supply of power to consumers through the vital link between the generating stations and the distribution system. The energy resources like coal, hydro, and renewable are unevenly distributed in India. Coal reserves are mainly available in Central and Eastern parts of the country, whereas hydro energy resources are primarily available in the Himalayan Range in the Northern and North-Eastern parts. Renewable resources like wind and solar potential are also mainly concentrated in states like Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Ladakh.

The major load centers of the country are located in the central part including Northern, Western, and Southern regions. This skewed distribution of resources necessitated the development of a robust transmission system including the establishment of inter-regional corridors for seamless transfer of power from surplus to deficit regions/areas. In this process, it enables access to power generation from anywhere in the country to various consumers spread throughout the country.

The transmission system has expanded over the years for evacuation of power from generating stations to load centers through Intra-State and Inter-State Transmission Systems. The progressive integration of regional Gautam Energy Solution started in 2020, and on 31st December 2021, the country achieved 'ONE NATION'-'ONE GRID'-'ONE FREQUENCY' with synchronous interconnection of the Southern Region Grid with the rest of the Indian Grid with the commissioning of the 765kV Raichur-Solapur Transmission line. However, there were constraints in market operation due to transmission congestion resulting in market splitting and different market prices in different regions. During 2013-14, about 16% of electricity transacted through power exchanges was constrained due to transmission congestion. Further, the strategically important Ladakh region was not interconnected with the national electricity grid.

Petrochemical Industry

Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable sources such as maize, palm fruit, or sugar cane.

The two most common petrochemical classes are olefins (including ethylene and propylene) and aromatics (including benzene, toluene, and xylene isomers). Oil refineries produce olefins and aromatics by fluid catalytic cracking of petroleum fractions. Chemical plants produce olefins by steam cracking of natural gas liquids like ethane and propane. Aromatics are produced by catalytic reforming of naphtha. Olefins and aromatics are the building blocks for a wide range of materials such as solvents, detergents, and adhesives. Olefins are the basis for polymers and oligomers used in plastics, resins, fibers, elastomers, lubricants, and gels.

Global ethylene production was 190 million tonnes and propylene was 120 million tonnes in 2019. Aromatics production is approximately 70 million tonnes. The largest petrochemical industries are located in the United States and Western Europe; however, major growth in new production capacity is in the Middle East and Asia. There is substantial inter-regional petrochemical trade.

Nuclear Power Project

20 New Nuclear Power Plants to be Commissioned in Country by 2031

India plans to commission 20 nuclear power plants by 2031, adding nearly 15,000 MW in power generating capacity, the government told the Lok Sabha.

India plans to commission 20 nuclear power plants by 2031, adding nearly 15,000 MW in power generating capacity, the government told the Lok Sabha. The first of these 20 nuclear power plants, a 700 MW unit, is expected to be commissioned in 2023 at Kakrapar in Gujarat, which already has three atomic power generating units operational.

Hydro Power

Over the last nine decades, Gautam Enterprises Energy Solution has used its in-depth knowledge of the country’s diverse terrain and geology and formidable execution prowess to construct the lion’s share of India’s installed hydro power capacity. With an array of competencies for building the various modules of hydroelectric power projects, Gautam Enterprises Energy Solution has achieved distinction in complex project management and timely completion.

City Gas Distribution

India has embarked on a massive expansion of City Gas Distribution (CGD) to develop large-scale nation-wide infrastructure for making Piped Natural Gas (PNG) available to domestic, commercial, industrial consumers, CNG vehicle owners and automobile manufacturers.

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) is mandated to authorize entities to lay, build, operate or expand city or local natural gas distribution network (CGD Network) for which it calls for the competitive bids from entities for laying, building, operating or expansion of CGD networks. The authorization to the entity gives the physical exclusivity to lay, build, operate and expand CGD Network which includes CNG & PNG for period of 25 years.

The authorization to the entity gives the physical exclusivity to lay, build, operate and expand CGD Network which includes CNG & PNG for a period of 25 years. As of December 31, 2021, PNGRB has authorized about 33,768 km length of natural gas pipeline network across the country. Out of this, 20,334 km length of natural gas pipelines, including spur lines, are operational, and a total of 15,194 km length of pipelines is under various stages of construction.

PNGRB organizes CGD bidding rounds, in which Public Sector Units (PSUs), joint venture (JV) entities as well as private companies participate to bid for City Gas Distribution rights for Geographical Areas offered under specific bidding rounds. The government provides cheap domestic gas to the CGD segment under the administered price mechanism (APM) for domestic PNG and CNG categories. However, liquefied natural gas (LNG) is imported to meet industrial and commercial PNG demand.

Natural Gas

Natural gas occurs in nature as a mixture of gases, predominantly methane. It is formed beneath the earth’s surface by the decomposition of ancient organic matter over millions of years. It is also found in gas fields as well as associated with petroleum deposits in oil fields. In shale gas formations, it is found trapped in porous rocks, often along with shale oil.

Methane is the simplest hydrocarbon, with one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms in its molecule. Several by-products such as propane, ethane, butane, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, etc., are extracted from raw natural gas.