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==External links==
==External links==
* [http://headwaysolar.com/solar-module-assembly-line.html Solar Module Assembly Line Equipment].
* [http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/partner/first-conferences/news/article/2010/05/indias-new-solar-mission-opens-doors-for-fast-development-for-the-concentrated-solar-thermal-industry-worldwide?cmpid=rss India´s "New Solar Mission" opens doors for fast development for the Concentrated Solar Thermal industry worldwide].
* [http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/partner/first-conferences/news/article/2010/05/indias-new-solar-mission-opens-doors-for-fast-development-for-the-concentrated-solar-thermal-industry-worldwide?cmpid=rss India´s "New Solar Mission" opens doors for fast development for the Concentrated Solar Thermal industry worldwide].


Revision as of 10:51, 11 April 2011

India is densely populated and has high solar insolation, an ideal combination for using solar power in India. India is already a leader in wind power generation. In the 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 GW to 2,100 GW.

In July 2009, India unveiled a US$19 billion plan to produce 20 GW of solar power by 2020.[1] Under the plan, the use of solar-powered equipment and applications would be made compulsory in all government buildings, as well as hospitals and hotels.[2] 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.[3]

Current status

With about 300 clear, sunny days in a year, India's theoretical solar power reception, on only its land area, is about 5 Petawatt-hours per year (PWh/yr) (i.e. 5 trillion kWh/yr or about 600 TW).[4][5] 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), which is far more than current total energy consumption. For example, assuming the efficiency of PV modules were as low as 10%, this would still be a thousand times greater than the domestic electricity demand projected for 2015.[4][6]

Installed capacity

The amount of solar energy produced in India is less than 1% of the total energy demand.[7] The grid-interactive solar power as of December 2010 was merely 10 MW.[8] Government-funded solar energy in India only accounted for approximately 6.4 MW-yr of power as of 2005.[7]

India's largest photovoltaic (PV) power plants
Name of Plant DC
Peak Power (MW)		 GW·h
/year[9]		 Capacity factor Notes
Sivaganga Photovoltaic Plant[10] 5 Completed December 2010
Azure Power - Photovoltaic Plant[11] 2 2009
Jamuria Photovoltaic Plant[12] 2 2009
NDPC Photovoltaic Plant[13] 1 2010
Thyagaraj stadium Plant-Delhi[14] 1 April, 2010
Gandhinagar Solar Plant[15] 1 January 21, 2011

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 becomes economically viable in the country.[16][17] The cost of production ranges from ₹15 to ₹30 per unit compared to around ₹5 to ₹8 per unit for conventional thermal energy.[18]

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).[19] Certain programmes are designed to target for rural solar usage development.[20]

Future 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 set for the Tenth National Five Year Plan (2002–2007). As of 2004, more than 2,700 villages and hamlets had been electrified, mainly using solar photovoltaic systems.[4] Developments in cheap solar technology are considered as a potential alternative that allows an electricity infrastructure comprising of a network of local-grid clusters with distributed electricity generation.[7] It could allow bypassing (or at least relieving) the need to install expensive, lossy, long-distance, centralised power delivery systems and yet bring cheap electricity to the masses.

Projects currently planned include 3000 villages of Odisha, which will be lighted with solar power by 2014.[21][22][23][24]

Agricultural support

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 per day from a total head of 10 meters. By 30 September, 2006, a total of 7,068 solar PV water pumping systems had been installed.[7]

Solar driers are used to dry harvests before storage.[25]

Solar water heaters

Bangalore has the largest deployment of rooftop solar water heaters in India. These heaters will generate an energy equivalent of 200 MW every day .[26]

Bangalore is also the first city in the country to put in place an incentive mechanism by providing a rebate (which has just been[when?] increased to ₹50) on monthly electricity bills for residents using roof-top thermal systems. These systems 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.[27]

Challenges and constraints

Land scarcity

Per capita land availability is a scarce resource in India. Dedication of land area for exclusive installation of solar arrays 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[7]—could pose a strain on India's available land resource. The architecture more suitable for most of India would be a highly-distributed set of individual rooftop power generation systems, all connected via a local grid.[7] However, erecting such an infrastructure, which does not 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, because PV is projected to continue its current cost reductions for the next decades and be able to compete with fossil fuel.[4]

Slow progress

While the world has progressed substantially in production of basic silicon mono-crystalline photovoltaic cells, India has fallen short of achieving the worldwide momentum. India is now in 7th place worldwide in PV cell production and 9th place in solar thermal systems, with nations such as 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.[28]

Latent potential

Some noted think-tanks[4][29][30] 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[31] in the sunny tropical belt,[32][33] the subcontinent has the ideal combination of both high solar insolation[32] and therefore a big potential consumer base density.[4][34][35][36][37] In one of the analyzed scenarios,[30] India can make renewable resources such as solar the backbone of its economy by 2050, reining in its long-term carbon emissions without compromising its economic growth potential.

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 is an increase of ₹3.8 billion (US$45.5 million) from the previous budget. This new budget has also encouraged private solar companies by reducing customs duty on solar panels by 5% and exempting excise duty on solar photovoltaic panels. This is expected to reduce the cost of a roof-top solar panel installation by 15–20%. The budget also proposed a coal tax of US$1 per metric ton on domestic and imported coal used for power generation.[38] Additionally, the government has initiated a Renewable Energy Certificate (REC)[39] scheme, which is designed to drive investment in low-carbon energy projects.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ India to unveil 20GW solar target under climate plan, Reuters, July 28, 2009
  2. ^ "India's national solar plan under debate". Pv-tech.org. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  3. ^ Nitin Sethi, TNN, November 18, 2009, 12.42am IST (2009-11-18). "1gw solar power in 2013". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 2010-11-27.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ a b c d e f Sustainable production of solar electricity with particular reference to the Indian economy (publication archived in ScienceDirect, shows numbers in detail, but needs subscription / access via university)
  5. ^ "(look for heading: Solar Photovoltaics)". Renewing India. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  6. ^ "Status of Solar Energy in INDIA – 2010". Retrieved 2011-03-01.
  7. ^ a b c d e f "India'S Solar Power Greening India'S Future Energy Demand". Ecoworld.com. 2007-05-15. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  8. ^ Estimated medium-term (2032) potential and cumulative achievements on Renewable energy as on 30-06.2007[dead link]
  9. ^ PV Resources.com (2009). World's largest photovoltaic power plants
  10. ^ "Solar farm launched in Sivaganga district". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 2010-12-23.
  11. ^ [1]
  12. ^ [2]
  13. ^ [3]
  14. ^ [4]
  15. ^ [5]
  16. ^ India's energy needs Lowy Institute (PDF)
  17. ^ "India's Solar Dream". Off-grid.net. 2007-05-16. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  18. ^ "India fast emerging as a solar hub". Economictimes.indiatimes.com. 2007-09-10. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  19. ^ Australia to train solar engineers from developing countries[dead link]
  20. ^ Barefoot college solar programme[dead link]
  21. ^ "Solar power in 3,000 Orissa villages by 2014 [newkerala.com, The Netherlands, 84794]". Newkerala.com. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  22. ^ "The Orissa Renewable Energy Development Agency (OREDA) was constituted as a State Nodal agency in the 1984". Oredaorissa.com. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  23. ^ by panchabhutha. "orissa « Panchabuta – Cleantech & Renewable Energy in India". Panchabuta.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  24. ^ "The Energy Business – India Energy News, Nuclear Energy News, Renewable Energy News, Oil & Gas Sector News, Power Sector News » Orissa approves nine solar power projects". Energybusiness.in. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  25. ^ "Solar chilli drier". Informaworld.com. 2005-09-01. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  26. ^ "Solar Water Heater". Dnaindia.com. 2009-11-28. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  27. ^ Dipannita Das, TNN, November 29, 2009, 04.34am IST (2009-11-29). "More homes opt for solar energy". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 2010-11-27.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  28. ^ Solar India 2007[dead link]
  29. ^ Press release - April 13, 2007 (2007-04-13). "Energy (R)evolution: A sustainable Energy Outlook for India". Greenpeace.org. Retrieved 2010-11-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  30. ^ a b Press release - April 9, 2007 (2007-04-09). "Greenpeace announces comprehensive energy strategy for India to tackle Climate Change without compromising economic development". Greenpeace.org. Retrieved 2010-11-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  31. ^ "NASA population density map". Visibleearth.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  32. ^ a b "Energy-Atlas Solar radiation". Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  33. ^ "Regional and World Energy-Maps of Solar radiation". Meteonorm.com. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  34. ^ "Solar LEDs Brighten Rural India's Future". Treehugger.com. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  35. ^ Dutt, Ram (2004-09-05). "Solar plan for Indian computers". BBC News. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  36. ^ "Barefoot solar engineers". Worldchanging.com. 1999-02-22. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  37. ^ "Solar powered rickshaw". Speedace.info. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  38. ^ SolaRishi[dead link]
  39. ^ http://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CCMQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmnre.gov.in%2Fpdf%2FMNRE_REC_Report.pdf&ei=DWXSTMP9Fsarcc3DmP0L&usg=AFQjCNHqN5rAgbh-SJ8Parv1iOTih_fu6A
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