Solar power in India

India is both densely populated and has high solar insolation, providing an ideal combination for solar power in India. India is already a leader in wind power generation (Wind power in India) and, Suzlon Energy is one of the India-based pioneering industries in world to generate non-conventional energy. In solar energy sector, some large projects have been proposed, and a 35,000 km² area of the Thar Desert has been set aside for solar power projects, sufficient to generate 700 to 2,100 gigawatts.

In July 2009, India unveiled a US$19 billion plan, to produce 20 GW of solar power by 2020. Under the plan, solar-powered equipment and applications would be mandatory in all government buildings including hospitals and hotels. On November 18, 2009, it was reported that India was ready to launch its National Solar Mission under the National Action Plan on Climate Change, with plans to generate 1,000 MW of power by 2013.

Annual insolation

With about 300 clear sunny days in a year, India's theoretical solar power reception, just on its land area, is about 5 PWh/year (i.e. = 5 trillion kWh/yr ~ 600 TW). The daily average solar energy incident over India varies from 4 to 7 kWh/m² with about 1500–2000 sunshine hours per year, depending upon location. This is far more than current total energy consumption. For example, even assuming 10% conversion efficiency for PV modules, it will still be thousand times greater than the likely electricity demand in India by the year 2015.

Present status

Installed capacity

The amount of solar energy produced in India is merely 0.4% compared to other energy resources. The Grid-interactive solar power as of June 2007 was merely 2.12 MW. Government-funded solar energy in India only accounted for approximately 6.4 megawatt-years of power as of 2005. However, as of October 2009, India is currently ranked number one along with the United States in terms of installed Solar Power generation capacity.

• Number of solar street lighting systems: 55,795
• Number of home lighting systems: 342,607
• Solar lanterns: 560,295
• Solar photovoltaic power plants: 1566 kW
• Solar water heating systems: 140 km² of collector area
• Box-type solar cookers: 575,000
• Solar photovoltaic pumps: 6,818

Still unaffordable

Solar power is currently prohibitive due to high initial costs of deployment. To spawn a thriving solar market, the technology needs to be competitively cheaper — i.e. attaining cost parity with fossil or nuclear energy. India is heavily dependent on coal and foreign oil — a phenomenon likely to continue until non-fossil / renewable energy technology become economically viable in the country. The cost of production ranges from Rs 15 to Rs 30 per unit compared to around Rs 5 to Rs 8 per unit for conventional thermal energy.

Solar engineering training

The Australian government has awarded UNSW A$5.2 million to train next-generation solar energy engineers from Asia-Pacific nations, specifically India and China, as part of the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP). Certain programmes are designed to target for rural solar usage development.

Applications

Rural electrification

Lack of electricity infrastructure is one of the main hurdles in the development of rural India. India's grid system is considerably under-developed, with major sections of its populace still surviving off-grid. As of 2004 there are about 80,000 unelectrified villages in the country. Of these villages, 18,000 could not be electrified through extension of the conventional grid. A target for electrifying 5,000 such villages was fixed for the Tenth National Five Year Plan (2002–2007). As on 2004, more than 2,700 villages and hamlets had been electrified mainly using SPV systems. Developments on cheap solar technology is considered as a potential alternative that allows an electricity infrastructure comprising of a network of local-grid clusters with distributed electricity generation. That could allow bypassing, or at least relieving the need of installing expensive, and lossy, long-distance centralised power delivery systems and yet bring cheap electricity to the masses.3000 villages of Odisha will be lighted with Solar power by 2014 , ,.

Agricultural support

Water pumping

Solar PV water pumping systems are used for irrigation and drinking water. The majority of the pumps are fitted with a 200–3,000 watt motor that are powered with 1,800 Wp PV array which can deliver about 140,000 liters of water/day from a total head of 10 meters. By 30 September, 2006, a total of 7,068 solar PV water pumping systems have been installed.

Harvest processing

Solar driers are used to dry harvests before storage.

Cooling

Another e.g. is the cost of energy expended on temperature control — a factor squarely influencing regional energy intensity. With cooling load demands being roughly in phase with the sun's intensity, cooling from intense solar radiation could be an attractive energy-economic option in the subcontinent.

Solar water heaters

Bangalore has the largest deployment of rooftop solar water heaters in India that will generate energy equivalent to 200 MW everyday and will be the country's first grid connected utility scale project soon.

Bangalore is also the first city in the country to put in place an incentive mechanism by providing a rebate, which has just been increased to Rs 50, on monthly electricity bills for residents using roof-top thermal systems which are now mandatory for all new structures.

Pune, another city in the western part of India, has also recently made installation of solar water heaters in new buildings mandatory.

Challenges and constraints

Land scarcity

Per capita land availability is a scarce resource in India. Dedication of land area for exclusive installation of solar cells might have to compete with other necessities that require land. The amount of land required for utility-scale solar power plants — currently approximately 1 km² for every 20–60 megawatts (MW) generated — could pose a strain on India's available land resource. The architecture more suitable for most of India would be a highly distributed, individual rooftop power generation systems, all connected via a local grid. However, erecting such an infrastructure — which doesn't enjoy the economies of scale possible in mass utility-scale solar panel deployment — needs the market price of solar technology deployment to substantially decline so that it attracts the individual and average family size household consumer. That might be possible in the future, since PV is projected to continue its current cost reductions for the next decades and be able to compete with fossil fuel.

Slow progress

While the world has progressed substantially in production of basic silicon mono-crystalline photovoltaic cells, India has fallen short to achieve the worldwide momentum. India is now in 7th place worldwide in Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Cell production and 9th place in Solar Thermal Systems with nations like Japan,China, and the US currently ranked far ahead. Globally, solar is the fastest growing source of energy (though from a very small base) with an annual average growth of 35%, as seen during the past few years.

Latent potential

Some noted think-tanks recommend that India should adopt a policy of developing solar power as a dominant component of the renewable energy mix, since being a densely populated region in the sunny tropical belt , the subcontinent has the ideal combination of both high solar insolation and a big potential consumer base density . In one of the analyzed scenarios , while reining on its long-term carbon emissions without compromising its economic growth potential, India can make renewable resources like solar the backbone of its economy by 2050.

Government Support

The government of India is promoting the use of solar energy through various strategies. In the latest budget for 2010-11, the government has announced an allocation of ₹10 billion (US$119.8 million) towards the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission and the establishment of a Clean Energy Fund. It's an increase of ₹3.8 billion (US$45.5 million) from the previous budget. Also budget has also encouraged private solar companies by reducing customs duty on solar panels by 5 percent and exempting excise duty on solar photovoltaic panels. This is expected to reduce the roof-top solar panel installation by 15- 20 percent. The budget also proposed a coal tax of USD 1 per metric ton on domestic and imported coal used for power generation.

See also

• Electricity sector in India
• Renewable energy in India
• Wind power in India

Notes

link Solar Water Heater - Solar Collector - Solar Hot Water Heating - China - Manufacturers

External links

• A guide towards investing in solar energy in India
• Headway Solar - Solar Energy Company - India
• Ashden Awards solar PV projects in India
• Indian Solar Power Industry- News and Analysis
• India Solar Energy
• India´s "New Solar Mission" opens doors for fast development for the Concentrated Solar Thermal industry worldwide.