-The Hindu Tamil Nadu’s Solar Energy Policy can go a long way in addressing the supply-demand mismatch The State’s solar initiative can draw on the strengths of its robust wind power programme Is the sun the answer to Tamil Nadu’s power crisis? With the unveiling of the Solar Energy Policy last week, Tamil Nadu joins the long list of States trying to find a way of harnessing this source of renewable energy...

-Outlook Chennai: Attempting to capitalise on 300 clear sunny days available in the state annually, Tamil Nadu government today unveiled a new solar energy policy, envisaging to produce over 3000 MW of power, exclusively from solar power, in the next three years. Christened as 'Tamil Nadu Solar Energy Policy 2012,' the new initiative of the Jayalalithaa government, with a slew of encouraging features, finds opportunity in the rapidly declining solar power costs...

-The Business Standard Government taking steps to offer cooking gas to all rural households  India plans to provide affordable electricity to all households in the next five years, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said today. "The Government of India aims to provide 24x7 electricity to all households in the country and affordable access to electricity in the next 5 years," he said inaugurating an International Seminar on Energy Access organised by the Ministry of...

-The Telegraph Guwahati: A judicious mix of conventional and alternative sources of energy will take the region on a growth path, experts said at a panel discussion on Alternate Energy as a Solution to Power Crisis in the Northeast at the NICT which concluded here today. Participating in the discussion, A.K. Saikia, secretary of SECONE, an organisation working for the energy sector, said the region had great potential for alternative sources of...

-The Hindu In an atmosphere of mistrust of the government, only an independent safety regulatory mechanism can counter the scaremongering against civilian nuclear power I work at an institution funded by the Department of Atomic Energy (which, however, does no nuclear research: the DAE funds a wide variety of institutions and areas in science). About a year ago, I had an e-mail from a journalist who wondered why scientists (including colleagues at...