Sustainable and Climate Resilient Puri -Resources and Actions”
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“Sustainable and Climate Resilient Puri -Resources and Actions” A joint project of GermanWatch, Vasudha Foundation, WEFT Research LLP, Gurgaon and with Support from Climate and Development Knowledge Network Minutes of the Workshop dated November 11, 2016 Objectives To share the pre-feasibility reports of the study on: o Roof Top Solar o Green Tourism in Puri – Konark Corridor o Status of Food Waste of Jagganath Temple and Mathas and Scope of Waste to Energy To gather feedback and inputs from various stakeholders present in the workshop To arrive at concrete action points for the interventions in Puri city. Workshop audience They were around 40 participants in the workshop. This broad set of stakeholders includes – representatives from district administration (Emergency officer, tourism officer etc.), Civil Society Organizations, fishermen’s association, opinion makers and hotel owners. Discussion This workshop being the second in the series, the participants were informed in brief about the concept, contents and outcomes of the first workshop held on the 20th April 2016. The workshop started with a short film on efforts to promote solar energy in villages with the help of local communities by Practical Action. The work done in villages of Kalahandi district area comprising of small wind and solar projects was elucidated upon to build the confidence of the participants on the possibilities of Renewable energy implementation. This was followed by an introduction by Dr. Birupakshya Dixit and Ms. Indu Chinta. The problems of development and environment were highlighted to bring the audience on board with the necessity of climate resilient initiatives. Also the main objectives of the project especially in regard to financing on climate compatible development was brought into limelight. While introducing the workshop, the participants were requested to contribute to the best of their knowledge and experience on the study. This was followed by a presentation on the Pre-feasibility Study report on Roof Top Solar in Puri. This presentation included the present status of solar along with the scope for future initiatives and the evident constraints to bringing in such technologies. This also included the current financing requirements for all of the proposed ideas. It also highlighted certain regions in Puri that could be great avenues for introducing pilots on solar in Tourism related infrastructure, administration buildings and public places. This was followed by a discussion on the same with the participants. The Emergency officer of the region also addressed the crowd giving his inputs and acknowledged the efforts of the project so far. He talked about the health effects, requirement of RE technology (Biogas, solar and wind) and environment friendly waste disposal requirements. He also asked for people to look at current successful interventions and learn from them. Two other presentations were also given on the current status and prospects of ideas proposed earlier. This included information sharing on the current status of food waste of Jagganath Temple and Mathas and the scope for waste to energy in these areas. The other presentation was on the status and prospect of green tourism taking Puri-Konark corridor. These presentations brought out some selected locations and options where possible interventions could prove to be a great success. Among the attendees, the tourism officer and representative of the fisheries department, addressed the audience and gave their views on the issue at hand. The participants were actively involved and talked about the problems and concerns of Puri. They suggested further untrodden paths for achieving the goals that we set for a more climate resilient Puri. Concerns and Issues: As per the feedback of the participants as well as some of the officials who delivered their speeches, Renewable Energy systems in Puri is not something new and have already experienced quite a few bad times due to several issues including Monkey menace, corrosion due to salinity in the air etc., and poor maintenance, which has resulted in the skepticism about the renewable energy systems. Below are the various areas of interest where the initiatives can be implemented and their issues highlighted in the workshop: - Household: There is a very low level of understanding and awareness about solar roof top energy systems across all stakeholders, however, the enthusiasm was found to be encouraging. o Lack of financing mechanism from Banks and non-banking financial Institutions and unavailability of the declared subsidy on solar discourages promotion of renewable energy at household levels. - Hotels: Sporadic successful systems based on Solar have been tried out, but the level of concern and awareness needs to be built to scale it up. There is a need of both persuasion along with information about the back-end support and service of solar roof top energy systems. o Some of the solar systems have been destroyed recently by the monkeys which have discouraged hoteliers to invest on solar based energy systems. - Institutions: The level of interest for trying out Solar Roof Tops in various institutions were found quite satisfactory, however, the officials do not have directions from their higher offices to undertake such an option for meeting their energy needs. There is one supporting guideline from the MNRE and H&UD Department towards use of renewable energy systems in the institutions. o Some of the constraints include inadequate inter coordination between various departments, service provisioning for management of the solar based energy systems and the cost apprehension across all the stakeholders. - Shree Jagannath Temple: The pre-feasibility study concentrated on two major aspects inside the Shree Jagannath Temple such as Waste to Energy and exploring possibilities of Solar Energy systems inside the Temple. o The Archeological Survey of India has put restrictions for any structural intervention within the temple premises which restricts installation of solar systems in the temple. o JUSCO is already been involved in treating the liquid wastes (Peja Nala) and transportation of the solid waste to the dump sites. Though in both the cases options for waste to energy has not been explored. o Under the Solid waste management of the Temple, there is no mechanism in place for segregation of degradable waste. o But the administration has other places where they wish to go for solar energy - Green Tourism: One of the aspects which was in focus in the last workshop was on developing Green Tourism in the Puri – Konark Corridor. The pre- feasibility study also highlighted the need of such intervention and added Satpada to Konark corridor for consideration. o Renewable Energy interventions in tourism has never been thought seriously, hence there is a remarkable gap of inter departmental coordination in this regard. o There is a need to undertake a proper feasibility study and assessment of the needs in the tourism sector especially in the Satpoda – Konark Corridor. o There are operational issues along with supply – service provider concerns for Solar or any other renewable energy systems. o The departments do not have clear cut orders for promoting renewable energy systems across. o There is segmented authorities and management of the Satpada – Konark corridor, which reduces chances of similar efforts across the corridor. The following were some of the next steps as discussed with the participants: 1. Ensure the presence of District Administration (particularly the DM, Municipal staff), Temple Authorities in such workshops to contribute more on the potential interventions in the city. 2. Demonstrate few solar based interventions for people to get exposure and know the benefits of such interventions. 3. Undertake an in-depth assessment of the Artisan Village (Danda Sahi) on possible solar energy plus livelihood interventions. 4. Explore possibilities of lighting the Bio Toilets to be installed in the Penthakata Sahi. 5. Demonstrating roof top solar interventions in the Emergency section of Collectorate building. 6. Creation of single platform to co-ordinate with officials, commercial establishments and NGOs 7. Exploring possibilities of interventions in Solar Boat. 8. Capacity building initiatives - Educate the people more on solar energy and think of creating large number of service providers so as maintenance will not be an issue in future The workshop ended with a vote of thanks. .