What is the need for solar power?
- Sunlight received by earth in one hour is enough to meet the annual energy needs of all people worldwide.
- Global warming has to be curbed to a 1.5 degrees Celsius rise, in accordance to the Paris Agreement of 2015.
- India is a signatory of this accord, solar energy is vital to meet these commitments.
What are the advantages?
- Safe - Nuclear power pollutes water and land and has caused environmental catastrophes, use of solar energy will eliminate these unsafe consequences.
- Combats Climate Change - Solar power can restrict climate change as it produces no carbon emissions.
- Small and Decentralized Electricity Source - Electricity can be generated using photo - voltaic cells installed on roof - tops of individual buildings.
- Green energy in rural area - This is crucial for agri - business in farms for running irrigation, greenhouses, and crop and hay dryers, making agriculture risk - free.
- Cheap and Reliable Energy Source - The price of solar PV panels have decreased by 60% and the cost of the solar electricity system by 50%.
- Employment Generation - such as small businesses engaged in installations, followed by solar designers, sales person and service professionals.
What are the Government initiatives?
- The National Solar Mission phase I was launched in 2010.
- The Mission has set the ambitious target of deploying 20,000 MW of grid connected solar power by 2022.
- The state governments have also announced solar policies to promote solar energy technologies in their respective states.
- Phase II of the mission includes following schemes
- Solar Park Scheme - Scheme for Enhancement of capacity from 20,000 MW to 40,000 MW for Development of Solar Parks and Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects.
- CPSU Scheme - Implementation of Scheme for setting up of 1000 MW of Grid Connected Solar PV Power Projects by Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs).
- Defence Scheme - Scheme for setting up over 300 MW of Grid Solar PV Power Projects by Defence Establishments under Ministry of Defence and Para Military Forces
- VGF Scheme (5000 MW) - Scheme for setting up of 2000 MW Grid - Connected Solar PV Power Projects with Viability Gap Funding (VGF)
- Canal Bank / Canal Top Scheme - Pilot - cum - Demonstration Projects for Development of Grid Connected Solar PV Power Plants on Canal Banks and canal Tops
Areas of concern
- Lack of manufacturing firms - This is due to the fact that the cell manufacturing companies in the US, China, Taiwan, Malaysia and EU are dumping their cells in Indian markets at lower costs.
- Absence of Proper Financing Mechanism - National banks provide debt at a rate much higher than what is available in the developed nations.
- Due to NPA issues there is no flow of funds to solar infrastructures.
- Availability of Land and Its Possession - Finding a suitable land which must be non - agricultural and unused land with good solar irradiance is challenging.
- Lack of skilled workforce - the solar energy is unlike the other renewable and non - renewable energy sources lags in skilled manpower.
- Environmental concerns - Recently a capacity in Rajasthan was stalled after it was found that 40% of the land allotted was part of a lake which would get submerged when the water level rises during monsoon.
- That could have also result in a major ecological issue, as that lake is the second largest breeding ground for flamingos in India
- Evacuation of power - Many regions in some states don’t have required power grid. It is responsible for very high Aggregate Technical and Commercial losses.
- There is no set up for exclusive transmission lines for evacuating energy from renewable energy sources.
What should be done?
- Use of waste lands - Based on the assumption that 3% of wasteland in each state can be used for solar power projects.
- Promoting decentralized plants - To promote the usage of rooftop solar power and other solar appliances schemes should be introduced, based on the existing schemes for LED distributions.
- Manufacturing - The production of flat glass and its raw materials must expand to eliminate supply constraints or future imports
- Hybrid solar plants - Solar panels can be located in the space between the towers of wind - power plants.
- This type of plants are already setup in Himalayan regions this can be extended to other terrains.
- Financing mechanisms - Ministry of finance should come up with innovative financing measures to promote these capital - intensive renewable energy projects.
- Financing measures such as clean energy fund, generation based incentive linked loan repayment and green bonds are some of those.
