siliconindia | | November 20208conomy and the environment have to go hand in hand for sustainable growth. We have paid the price for economic growth at the cost of the environment, resulting in irreversible damages. Global warming and escalating pollution levels have endangered our future. Climate change and natural calamities are becoming new normal! This is time to act before it escalates and impacts our future further. Electricity is a basic need for economic growth, but unfortunately it directly impacts the environment. Traditional sources like fossil fuel are not commercially and environmentally feasible. In addition, fossil fuel is diminishing at an alarming rate. The good news is, renewable energy is a feasible alternative. Solar energy is the answer to these challenges and the world can be much greener without sacrificing economic growth.India is blessed with abundant solar radiation. As per Ministry of New and Renewable energy (MNRE), about 5000 trillion kWh energy is incident on the land area per year with most of the regions receiving 4 to 7 kWh/m2 /day solar energy. According to the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE), India's current solar potential is about 748 GW (assuming 3 percent of the wasteland area that can be covered with solar panels). This potential By Gautam Das, Co-Founder and CEO, Oorjan CleantechGautam grew up in a remote village without access to direct electricity at home and school. His schooling was at a Panchayat school in a remote village, and he went on to study at IIT Mumbai and Indian School of Business, ISB. Gautam is an entrepreneur in renewable energy space and the Co-Founder/CEO of OorjanCleantech Private Limited. He has been a banker with track record of building multi-million-dollar business in Citibank India.Gautam was awarded "CEO of the year in solar sector by ET Now and World CSR" in Feb `20. Prior to co-founding Oorjan, Gautam worked at Citibank & Citigroup for 15+ years. In his last role at Citi as Director, Treasury - Citibank India, he was heading Treasury business across consumer & SME segments. He had worked as project leader at COSL (Citicorp Overseas Software Limited) before joining ISB for his MBA.IN MY OPINIoNEENVIRONMENT SUSTAINABILITY AND HARNESSING THE POTENTIAL OF SOLAR POWER IN INDIA
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