CHENNAI: While solar power panels have become cheaper, the “show-stopper” in providing affordable solar power today was the high cost and the question of longevity of batteries that were required to store the energy for night time use, said Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director of IIT-Madras.Speaking at the inauguration of an India-UK discussion meeting on advanced technologies for water and energy organised by IIT Madras and the Universities of Heriot-Watt and Edinburgh, Ramamurthi said that the issue of storage batteries in solar power was something that was not widely discussed. While lithium-ion varieties required a fair bit of capital expenditure, the lead-acid batteries escalated the cost of each unit to about `14 or `15, which was ‘atrocious’, he said. On the issue of water conservation, Ramamurthi said that the country was facing difficult issues on two fronts — safe drinking water for the people and water for agriculture — and it required prudent management of resources. While the main focus of the discussion was on drinking water, both issues were “equally serious” in nature, he said. The goal of research in this subject should be to provide “safe, affordable, inexpensive and sustainable” supply of water to the masses, he added. Earlier, professor at the Department of Chemistry at IIT Madras, T Pradeep, said that the network of educational institutions in the country was now ready for larger international initiatives in the subject. He said that renewable energy and water conservation were issues that had no borders and positive remedies had to be found keeping in mind the larger context.
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