NTPC Signs PPA with Indian Army for Sale of Power

NTPC and Indian Army signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) on 3rd February for sale of power (200 kW RE-RTC) from Solar-Hydrogen based Microgrid at Chushul (Ladakh) for a period of 25 years.

The agreement was signed by Shri DMR Panda, CGM (NTPC-Hydrogen) and Shri Aditya Harshey, Brigadier and Chief Engineer (Indian Army), Leh.

Solar-Hydrogen based microgrid offers a solution to replace Army’s existing diesel gensets thus avoiding fossil fuel logistics arrangement and 1500 ton/year CO2.

This is world’s most unique hydrogen based off-grid microgrid project at an altitude of 4400m and temperatures dipping to -30 deg C in winter. Once operational, it would usher in a new era of decarbonisation and modernisation of the defence sector in the border locations of the Himalayas.

India’s First Analog Space Mission Kicks Off in Leh, Ladakh

India has launched its first analog space mission, as the country's space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), has kicked off its first analog space mission in Leh, Ladakh. This mission aims to simulate life in an interplanetary habitat to tackle the challenges of a base station beyond Earth.

The mission is a collaborative effort involving the Human Spaceflight Centre, ISRO, AAKA Space Studio, University of Ladakh, IIT Bombay, and is supported by the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council. The mission will replicate conditions similar to those on Mars and the Moon, considering Leh's extreme climate and geographical terrain.

The habitat, named Hab-1, is equipped with essentials like a hydroponics farm, kitchen, and sanitation facilities, providing a self-sustaining environment.

This mission will test new technologies, robotic equipment, vehicles, habitats, communications, power generation, mobility, infrastructure, and storage 2 It will also study the effects of isolation and confinement on human health and performance.

As mentioned before, the mission includes a compact, inflatable habitat named Hab-1, which is equipped with essentials like a hydroponics farm, kitchen, and sanitation facilities. This habitat provides a self-sustaining environment.

Leh, Ladakh, was chosen for its extreme climate and geographical terrain, which closely resemble Martian and lunar landscapes. The region's cold, arid conditions and high altitude make it an ideal environment for testing technologies and strategies necessary for long-duration space missions.

Technological Testing

During the mission, scientists will test new technologies, robotic equipment, vehicles, habitats, communications, power generation, mobility, infrastructure, and storage. They will also study the effects of isolation and confinement on human health and performance.

Support for Future Missions

The findings from this mission will directly support India's Gaganyaan mission, which is slated to send Indian astronauts into space by 2026 3. The insights gained will be crucial for ensuring the safety, health, and performance of astronauts during long-duration spaceflight.

This is a significant step towards understanding the complexities of living on other planets and will provide valuable insights for future space missions.

NTPC and Indian Army to Setup Solar Hydrogen-based Microgrid in Ladakh

NTPC and the Indian Army have partnered to establish a Solar Hydrogen-based Microgrid in Chushul, Ladakh. This project aims to provide a stable, year-round power supply using green hydrogen, replacing existing diesel generators.

The microgrid will supply 200kW of power round-the-clock throughout the year. This NTPC designed Solar Hydrogen-based microgrid system will operate independently and use hydrogen as an energy storage medium.

This initiative promotes carbon neutrality and reduces logistics dependencies in harsh, high-altitude conditions.

 

NTPC will maintain the project for 25 years, ensuring long-term sustainability. This system will replace existing diesel gensets at off-grid Army locations, providing a sustainable power supply despite harsh winter conditions, where temperatures drop to -30°C at an altitude of 4,400 meters.

Ladakh's high solar irradiance and low temperatures facilitate this project to produce and utilize green energy and eliminate reliance on fuel logistics and enhance self-sufficiency in remote areas.

In addition to the Solar Hydrogen-based Microgrid project in Chushul, NTPC is involved in several other initiatives in Ladakh. NTPC has initiated a trial run of hydrogen buses in Leh to promote sustainable transportation, and is setting up a hydrogen fuelling station and a solar plant in Leh, in collaboration with Indiam army.

NTPC is introducing five fuel cell buses for intracity routes in Leh. NTPC is advancing various decarbonisation initiatives, including hydrogen blending, carbon capture, and electric buses.

NTPC aims to achieve 60 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2032.

To Boost Astro Tourism in India, Govt Setting Up India’s First-Ever "Night Sky Sanctuary" in Next 3 Months

In what could be called as unique and first-of-its-kind initiative in India's science & astronomy history, the Department of Science & Technology (DST) under Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt of India, has undertaken to set up India’s first-ever "Night Sky Sanctuary" in Ladakh in order to boost Astro tourism in India as one of the world’s highest-located sites for optical, infra-red, and gamma-ray telescopes.

The proposed Dark Sky Reserve, which will be completed within next three months, is situated at Hanle in Ladakh.

The upcoming Night Sky Sanctuary will be a part of Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary, informed Dr Jitendra Singh, the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology.

Notably, Hanle is a historic village and home to the world's tallest astronomical observatory, and it was designated as a Dark Sky Sanctuary by The Union Territory administration in Ladakh, in early this year. Hanle is also home to a special "cherenkov telescope" called as "Major Atmospheric Cerenkov Experiment Telescope (MACE)". It is the highest (in altitude) and second largest Cerenkov telescope in the world.

For the launch of Night Sky Sanctuary the site, a tripartite MoU has been signed among the the Union Territory administration, Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Leh and the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA).

The upcoming "Dark Space Reserve" site will have activities to help in boosting local tourism and economy through interventions of Science and Technology. All the stakeholders will jointly work towards the preservation of the night sky from unwanted light pollution and illumination, which is a serious threat to the scientific observations and natural sky conditions. It may be noted that Hanle is best suited for this project as it is located in Ladakh’s cold desert region, away from any form of human disturbance and clear sky conditions and dry weather conditions exist throughout the year, the Minister added.

Besides, few private companies are also working on boosting astro-tourism in the country. Starscapes, a leading astro-tourism company in India, has been actively working towards promoting Dark Sky Locations in India in a bid to boost interest in astro-tourism

Earlier in last month, IIT Hyderabad established its first astronomical observatory with a large telescope for public outreach.

Prior to this, in  June this year, India's 1st and Asia's largest liquid mirror telescope was launched in Uttarakhand at campus of Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) to keep a watch on the overhead sky to identify transient or variable objects such as supernovae, gravitational lenses, space debris, and asteroids.

India Gets Its First Robotic Telescope To Catch Infinite Universe

GROWTH-India telescope at Hanle, Laddakh

Stars and galaxies in the universe may appear to be static to us as they are located millions of light years away but they are moving part from each other along with lot of interesting objects and events such as supernovae, gamma ray bursts, active galactic nuclei, and many more are occurring every second in the dynamic and infinite universe. To catch this, India has got its newest telescope to start observing the skies using robotic operations.

The remote village of Hanle in Ladakh, in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, now houses the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO), which at 4,500 metres above sea level is one of the world’s highest, and affords some of the clearest views of the skies. Since June 12, it’s also been home to India’s first robotic telescope, a device with a 70-cm lens that will also join network of 17 other countries across the globe. This network program is called as GROWTH -- Global Relay of Observatories Watching Transients Happen. Observatories in this network are located in a way that will allow uninterrupted observation of transient events.

A robotic telescope is an astronomical telescope and detector system that makes observations without the intervention of a human.

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Interestingly, fully robotic telescope will be remotely operated from 3,000 km away Indian Institute of Astrophysics's Centre For Research and Education in Science and Technology near Bangalore. The facility houses the control room for remote operations of the HCT and is the data hub for the telescope. The new telescope will be programmed to directly communicate with various ground-based and space-based surveys that are searching for transient sources.

The fully robotic telescope at Hanle costing Rs. 3.5 crore has been funded by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) of the Department of Science and Technology. “The telescope is equipped with a sensitive camera that can detect some of the faint transients found by our partner survey telescopes like the Zwicky Transient Facility at Palomar, California.

For astronomers tracking transient events (short-lived cosmic occurrences that can last mere hours or days), this is a bonanza. When a survey telescope detects the start of something interesting, all GROWTH telescopes respond, says GC Anupama, an astrophysicist with the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIAp), who heads the project. “Rapid and constant communication within the network ensures a quick follow-up by the facilities that are suitably located. It allows researchers to gather data in the first 24 hours of an event to understand, on a physics level, what’s happening and why."

Universities and research institutes from the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Japan, India, Germany, Taiwan and Israel are part of the initiative. The primary research objective of the project is time domain astronomy, which entails the study of explosive transients and variable sources in the universe.

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“Together with partner telescopes strategically located around the world, we can continuously monitor any interesting object in the sky - uninterrupted by daylight,” Anupama said.

By 2004, robotic observations accounted for an overwhelming percentage of the published scientific information on asteroid orbits and discoveries, variable star studies, supernova light curves and discoveries, comet orbits and gravitational microlensing observations.

It must also be noted that all early phase Gamma ray burst observations were carried by robotic telescopes.

See - https://sites.google.com/view/growthindia/first-light

Source - Vigyanprasar.gov.in | Hindustan Times