India’s first Centre of Excellence for Green Port & Shipping
⇒ Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and Ayush, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal announced India’s first National Centre of Excellence for Green Port & Shipping (NCoEGPS) a major initiative by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping towards providing greener solutions.
- The announcement was made by the Union Minister at “INMARCO 2022” in Mumbai.
Support and Partner:
- The Deendayal Port Authority Kandla, Paradip Port Authority, Paradip, V.O Chidambaranar Port Authority, Thoothukudi and Cochin Shipyard Limited, Kochi have all extended their support to the ministry to set up this centre.
- The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) is the knowledge and implementation partner for this project.
Aim:
The centre aims to develop a regulatory framework and alternate technology adoption road map for Green Shipping to foster carbon neutrality and circular economy (CE) in shipping sector in India.
- India intends to increase the share of renewable energy to 60% of the total power demand of each of its major ports from a present share of less than 10%. This will be through solar and wind-generated power.
- The ports have also aimed to reduce Carbon emissions per ton of cargo handled by 30% by 2030. The Maritime Vision Document 2030, released by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is a 10 Year blueprint on India’s vision of a sustainable Maritime sector and vibrant blue economy.
- India has been selected as the first country under the IMO Green Voyage 2050 project to conduct a pilot project related to Green Shipping.
The National Centre of Excellence for Green Port & Shipping (NCoEGPS) will be working under the framework of the Sagarmala programme of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW).
Objective:
The main objective of the proposed NCoEGPS is to provide support to MoPSW in developing and maintaining a policy and regulatory framework for a green alternative technologies road map for the shipping sector in India for its transition to carbon neutrality and CE principles.
To achieve this objective, the NCoEGPS will focus on five broad areas:
- Policy, Regulatory and Research
- Human Resource development
- Network- Key Partners and Strategic collaborators
- Explore- Area of work, outcomes, projects and resources
- Engage- Past events, upcoming events, dissemination
Scope for NCoEGPS Activities:
NCoEGPS will act as a technological arm of MoPSW for providing the needed support on Policy, Research and Cooperation on Green Shipping areas for Ports, DG Shipping, CSL and other institutions under the umbrella of MoPSW.
- The Center will be a host of several technological arms to support the port and shipping sector and will provide solutions to a variety of problems being faced in the industry through scientific research.
- It will also carry out valuable education, applied research and technology transfer in maritime transportation at the local, regional, national and international levels.
It will focus on the following areas.
- Energy Management – Energy management tools, waste energy recovery systems
- Emission Management- Alternate, clean Energy/Fuel, emission control & monitoring.
- Sustainable Maritime Operations – novel technologies and approaches
The specific objectives of the formation of NCoEGPS are defined as follows:
- To empower ‘Make in India’ in Port, Coastal and Inland water transport, and Engineering by developing state of art technologies and application products.
- To enable fast-track innovations in order to provide most appropriate solutions to various challenges in these sectors.
- To create a pool of competent manpower to the industry equipped with state of the art theoretical and practical knowhow.
- Self-sufficiency in providing short term solutions through scientific studies technology development technical arm in identifying and analysing complex problems and solving issues
India’s Nationally Determined Contributions:
India’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) under the Paris Agreement for the Period 2021-2030 include:
- To reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 per cent by 2030 from 2005 level, and
- To achieve about 40 percent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030 with the help of transfer of technology and low-cost international finance.
» India is well on its way to achieve these targets and has already achieved more than 24.5% share of Renewable Energy (RE) in total Installed Capacity.
» Globally, India now stands 4th in RE power capacity, 4th in Wind power, and 5th in Solar Power capacity.
INMARCO 2022:
INMARCO is a quadrennial International Maritime Conference and Exhibition, hosted by the Institute of Marine Engineers (India), to showcase the prowess of Maritime India to the global maritime fraternity.
» INMARCO 2022 was organized on 17-19 November 2022 in Mumbai on the theme of ‘Evolving Maritime World for Greener and Sustainable Future’.
600 MW Kameng Hydro Power Station
⇒ Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi dedicated the 600 MW Kameng Hydro Power Station to the nation on 19 November 2022, the biggest Hydro Power Project implemented by NEEPCO Ltd., a Mini Ratna Power PSU under Ministry of Power.
Key Points:
- Commissioning of the sixth hydro power plant in the North East i.e. 600 MW Kameng Hydro Power Station in Arunachal Pradesh will be a major step towards fulfilling Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) of the Government of India pledged under Paris Agreement 2015.
- The project will form part of projected hydro capacity addition of 30000 MW by 2030.
- The project stretches over more than 80 kilometers in West Kameng District of Arunachal Pradesh at a cost of approximately Rs 8200 Crore.
- The Project has two dams and a powerhouse having 4 units of 150 MW to generate 3353 million units of electricity.
- Generation of 3353 Million Units annually from the project will make Arunachal Pradesh a power surplus state with huge benefits to the National Grid in terms of grid stability and integration and balancing of solar and wind energy sources in the grid.
About NEEPCO Ltd:
- NEEPCO Ltd, a Govt of India Mini Ratna Schedule-A PSU under Ministry of Power is one of the leading power generating enterprise having an aggregate operational capacity of 2057 MW, comprising of hydro, natural gas based/thermal power stations as well as Solar and has significantly contributed towards improvement of power scenario in the North Eastern Region.
- The company is now foraying into J&K for solar as well as multipurpose projects.
Toilets 2.0 Campaign
⇒ The Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Shri Hardeep Singh Puri launched Toilets 2.0 campaign at a national event organized at Bengaluru, Karnataka on the occasion of the World Toilet Day 2022.
Aim:
The aim of the campaign was to change the face of public and community toilets in urban India through collective action involving citizens and Urban Local Bodies.
The campaign had five thematic areas:
- People for Toilets: Cleaning and maintaining the community and public toilets
- Partners for Toilets: Adoption of Public toilets
- Design Toilets: Design Challenge
- Rate your Toilet: Promoting user feedback to improve public toilets and
- My thoughts – Our Toilets: Gathering public opinion for toilets