Last fortnight, India announced plans to open the world’s largest solar energy plant in Rajasthan by 2021. The proposed solar park will have a capacity of 4,000 megawatts and will triple solar energy production in the country.
However, it won’t light up the lives of the 40 per cent of Indian households that have no electricity. Spread across 100,000 villages, these homes are not connected to India’s centralised power supply grid into which the Rajasthan park will feed the electricity it produces.
“This [solar park] will cost Rs 1 lakh crore,” said Chandra Bhushan, deputy director of the Centre for Science and Environment. “At least 40 per cent of this country suffers from health, education and development issues because they have no access to electricity.”
India suffers from a significant electricity deficit. Between April 2013 and January 2014, the country had 36,563 million units – or 4.3 per cent – less than it needed, according to a report by the Central Electricity Authority. The solar park at Rajasthan is intended to address the grid deficit.
India is naturally suited to exploit solar power. Because of its latitudinal position, it is exposed to the sun for most months of the year and for more hours per day than many other countries that have begun to exploit solar power. A recent report by the Observer Research Foundation estimates that India could receive up to 5,000 trillion kilowatt hours of sunlight every year.
“We are in the solar belt of the world,” said Chandra Bhushan, deputy director of the Centre for Science and Environment. “If we don’t harness solar power, who will? Europe is the leader in solar power, but even the worst day in India is better than best day in Europe.”
India is already the fourth-largest producer of solar energy in the world – a fact which is not particularly impressive because it can produce far more solar energy than it already does. Globally, solar power accounts for about half a per cent of all energy production.
One of the main problems with supplying power across India is the inefficiency of the national grid. It loses 24 per cent – almost a quarter – of all electricity generated due to technical issues with transmission. Not all villages are connected to the grid and not all households in villages connected to the grid have access to electricity.
To solve this problem, the ORF is pushing the idea of solar mini-grids in rural areas. “In villages where the grid has not reached because the village is very remote, the mini grid becomes the best viable alternative providing electricity on demand similar to that of the national grid,” said Leena Chandran-Wadia, author of an ORF report on the subject.
Explained Amit Kumar, director of the Energy-Environment Technology Development division at The Energy and Resources Institute. “The demand from these villages is too small to sustain grid load.”
Accounting for infrastructure, maintenance and distribution costs (but not the costs required to sett up the plant), the authors of the report calculate that solar electricity becomes cheaper a mere 15 kilometres away from the grid. Solar photovoltaic cells are designed to last for as long as 25 years and at current rates, solar energy costs Rs 7 per unit, compared to Rs 12 per unit for thermal energy.
However, Girish Pradhan, a regulator at the Central Electricity Commission, emphasised that solar energy can only supplement other forms of electricity: it can never replace it altogether. But while coal will be important for the short and medium term, unconventional sources of energy will help fuel sustainable growth. “We need to push renewable,” said Pradhan.
Renewable forms of electricity include solar, wind, hydro and nuclear power. While India is making some progress with the latter three, solar energy is still underutilised.
Only about 12.3 per cent of India’s energy requirements are met by renewable energy, not counting nuclear or hydro-energy. The bulk is sourced from thermal sources: coal, natural gas and oil. India is already the world's third-largest importer of coal and oil, and with coal reserves expected to plateau in the next decade, alternative sources of energy will become vital.
Solar energy, unlike other forms of renewable energy, is a one-time investment and can be introduced in any part of the country, unlike hydroelectricity that requires a river of sufficient volume, or nuclear energy that is too large-scale to justify being installed to provide energy only to a few villages.
In India, there are five sectors that consume energy: industry, agriculture, domestic, commercial, traction and railways, and others. The industrial sector consumes 47 per cent of all energy, and it is growing at an incredible rate. In 2012, industries increased by 27.1 per cent over 2011. Solar energy cannot produce the wattage required by industries or by commercial activities, but it can feed very effectively into domestic and agricultural electricity needs, beyond just lighting and heating.
India’s expanding solar power initiative is attracting attention in the US. Last week, Washington threatened to take New Delhi to the World Trade Organisation because it claims the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, of which the Rajasthan solar farm is part, is not fair to US traders. The plan mandates that 50 per cent of all solar equipment must be purchased from Indian manufacturers.
“Solar energy is a strategic investment by India,” said Pradhan, a regulator at the CEC at a recent seminar on solar power. “We have to have a strong stand on the US’s move. We need to build our own capacity and resources, or how will we be self-sufficient? On the one hand, we get lectured for importing coal, but when we go for renewables, they tell us to buy it from them.”
However, it won’t light up the lives of the 40 per cent of Indian households that have no electricity. Spread across 100,000 villages, these homes are not connected to India’s centralised power supply grid into which the Rajasthan park will feed the electricity it produces.
“This [solar park] will cost Rs 1 lakh crore,” said Chandra Bhushan, deputy director of the Centre for Science and Environment. “At least 40 per cent of this country suffers from health, education and development issues because they have no access to electricity.”
India suffers from a significant electricity deficit. Between April 2013 and January 2014, the country had 36,563 million units – or 4.3 per cent – less than it needed, according to a report by the Central Electricity Authority. The solar park at Rajasthan is intended to address the grid deficit.
India is naturally suited to exploit solar power. Because of its latitudinal position, it is exposed to the sun for most months of the year and for more hours per day than many other countries that have begun to exploit solar power. A recent report by the Observer Research Foundation estimates that India could receive up to 5,000 trillion kilowatt hours of sunlight every year.
“We are in the solar belt of the world,” said Chandra Bhushan, deputy director of the Centre for Science and Environment. “If we don’t harness solar power, who will? Europe is the leader in solar power, but even the worst day in India is better than best day in Europe.”
India is already the fourth-largest producer of solar energy in the world – a fact which is not particularly impressive because it can produce far more solar energy than it already does. Globally, solar power accounts for about half a per cent of all energy production.
One of the main problems with supplying power across India is the inefficiency of the national grid. It loses 24 per cent – almost a quarter – of all electricity generated due to technical issues with transmission. Not all villages are connected to the grid and not all households in villages connected to the grid have access to electricity.
To solve this problem, the ORF is pushing the idea of solar mini-grids in rural areas. “In villages where the grid has not reached because the village is very remote, the mini grid becomes the best viable alternative providing electricity on demand similar to that of the national grid,” said Leena Chandran-Wadia, author of an ORF report on the subject.
Explained Amit Kumar, director of the Energy-Environment Technology Development division at The Energy and Resources Institute. “The demand from these villages is too small to sustain grid load.”
Accounting for infrastructure, maintenance and distribution costs (but not the costs required to sett up the plant), the authors of the report calculate that solar electricity becomes cheaper a mere 15 kilometres away from the grid. Solar photovoltaic cells are designed to last for as long as 25 years and at current rates, solar energy costs Rs 7 per unit, compared to Rs 12 per unit for thermal energy.
However, Girish Pradhan, a regulator at the Central Electricity Commission, emphasised that solar energy can only supplement other forms of electricity: it can never replace it altogether. But while coal will be important for the short and medium term, unconventional sources of energy will help fuel sustainable growth. “We need to push renewable,” said Pradhan.
Renewable forms of electricity include solar, wind, hydro and nuclear power. While India is making some progress with the latter three, solar energy is still underutilised.
Only about 12.3 per cent of India’s energy requirements are met by renewable energy, not counting nuclear or hydro-energy. The bulk is sourced from thermal sources: coal, natural gas and oil. India is already the world's third-largest importer of coal and oil, and with coal reserves expected to plateau in the next decade, alternative sources of energy will become vital.
Solar energy, unlike other forms of renewable energy, is a one-time investment and can be introduced in any part of the country, unlike hydroelectricity that requires a river of sufficient volume, or nuclear energy that is too large-scale to justify being installed to provide energy only to a few villages.
In India, there are five sectors that consume energy: industry, agriculture, domestic, commercial, traction and railways, and others. The industrial sector consumes 47 per cent of all energy, and it is growing at an incredible rate. In 2012, industries increased by 27.1 per cent over 2011. Solar energy cannot produce the wattage required by industries or by commercial activities, but it can feed very effectively into domestic and agricultural electricity needs, beyond just lighting and heating.
India’s expanding solar power initiative is attracting attention in the US. Last week, Washington threatened to take New Delhi to the World Trade Organisation because it claims the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, of which the Rajasthan solar farm is part, is not fair to US traders. The plan mandates that 50 per cent of all solar equipment must be purchased from Indian manufacturers.
“Solar energy is a strategic investment by India,” said Pradhan, a regulator at the CEC at a recent seminar on solar power. “We have to have a strong stand on the US’s move. We need to build our own capacity and resources, or how will we be self-sufficient? On the one hand, we get lectured for importing coal, but when we go for renewables, they tell us to buy it from them.”
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