Current Status of Solar Energy in India

Current Status of Solar energy in India 6/26/2012

Ayyati.com

Mansi Goel

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction 2

2. Solar Energy & the World 3

Solar Energy installed capacity (2010) 3

3. Solar Energy & India 4

Viable locations

4

Status of SE in India in comparison to other Renewable Energy

Resources 5

Status of SE generation in India (2010) 7

Summary of installed SE utilization devices 9

Market analysis: Solar PV cell production in India 9

Installed projects 10

Other ongoing projects 11

4. SE policies in India 13

Policies so far: A Timeline 13

Central Government policies 14

State Government policies 14

JNNSM road map 15

Realistic scenario vs. Projected JNNSM targets by 2022 15

5. Discussion 16

6. Conclusion 17

7. Bibliography 18

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INTRODUCTION

Solar energy is the utilization of the radiant energy from the Sun. Solar power is often used

interchangeably with solar energy but refers more specifically to the conversion of sunlight into

electricity.

Earth receives 174 petawatts (PW) of incoming solar radiation (insolation) at the upper atmosphere.

Approximately 30% is reflected back to space while the rest is absorbed by the clouds, oceans & land

masses. The total global solar radiation striking a given surface has two components, direct beam and

diffuse radiation. Direct beam radiation (or direct normal irradiance, DNI) comes as parallel beams from

the sun like on sunny days with clear skies. On overcast days, DNI is negligible. As solar radiation

passes through the earth’s atmosphere, part of it is absorbed or scattered. This scattered radiation is

diffused solar radiation. Radiation, whether diffused, beam, or global in a particular region is measured

in kilo watt hours per square metre per year.

Solar radiation along with secondary solar resources such as wind & wave power, hydroelectricity &

biomass account for over 99.9% of the available renewable energy on Earth. The total solar energy

absorbed by Earth’s atmosphere, oceans & land masses is approximately 3850 zetta joules (ZJ) per year.

India will soon become one of the world’s largest photovoltaic solar energy markets. While it boasts off

the best solar resources in the world with 260-300 clear sunny days per year; it is also dealing with

continuous power deficits which have increased over the past few years. Because of its location between

the Tropic of Cancer and the Equator, India has an average annual temperature that ranges from 25°C –

27.5 °C. This means that India has huge solar potential. Solar lightings, though light millions of Indian

households but around 100,000 villages and 450 million people still live in dark. The government’s

recent announcement of The National Solar Mission brings much hope with its target 20,000 megawatts

of cumulative installed solar power by 2020.

Talking in terms of power statistics there is a huge demand/supply gap of 12% on average which even

rises to 15% for progressive states. It’s a shame for world’s sixth largest energy consumer that it has

installed power capacity only of 150, 323, MW. The average per capita energy usage which is 632kWh

per annum today is only expected to increase to 1000kWh by the beginning of 2013 which is not even

close to half of the current usage in western economies.

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SOLAR ENERGY & THE WORLD

India still is not among the world's top 10 solar energy generators. But yes, it’s the only country in the

world with an independent Ministry for renewable energy, known as the Ministry of New and

Renewable Energy [MNRE].

Solar energy installed capacity (2010)

As is visible from the graph below, the solar energy would be replacing all other forms of energy in the

coming future.

Country Installed capacity

(MW)

Germany 17193

Spain 4317

Japan 3622

Italy 3494

U.S. 2660

France 1025

China 893

India 10

Source:

U.S. Department of

Energy

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SOLAR ENERGY & INDIA

Viable locations

Map showing Direct Normal Irradiance Map showing Global Horizontal Irradiance

Rajasthan

This largest state in India receives maximum solar radiation intensity in India. According to US

Department of Energy, Rajasthan receives the second largest amount of solar radiation in the world.

Rajasthan is best suited for solar power generation since average rain fall is minimum. Rajasthan has

around 208,110 Sq.km of desert land. Rajasthan has more than 325 sunny days in a year with solar

radiation of about 6-7Kwh/sq-m/day. The DNI over Rajasthan varies from 1800 kWh/m2 to

2600Kwh/m2. Jodhpur in Rajasthan is receiving maximum solar radiation which is known as Sun City

of India

Gujarat

Gujarat receives second largest amount of solar radiation in India. Gujarat receives 5.5 to 6

KWh/sq.m/day with 300 sunny days/year. Most locations in Gujarat receive an annual Direct Normal

Incidence (DNI) in between 1,800 - 2,000 KWh/m2.

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Tamil Nadu

After Rajasthan and Gujarat, Tamil Nadu receives the third largest amount of solar radiation in India.

Tamil Nadu receives about 5.35Kwh/sq.m/day. Now some companies are taking initiative for solar

power projects in Tamil Nadu.

Maharashtra

Dhule and Jalgaon from north Maharashtra, Osmanabad and Aurangabad from Marathwada and

Chandrapur and Wardha districts of Vidarbha have the highest exposure to solar rays.

Status of Solar energy in India in comparison to other Renewable Energy Resources

Source-wise Installed capacity of Grid Interactive

Renewable Power in India

Date Biomass

power

Waste

to

energy

Wind

power

Small

hydro

power

Solar

power

Mar’09 1752.33 59 10242.30 2180.85 2.12

Mar’10 2199.63 64.96 11929.25 2735.42 10.28

Mar’11 2664.63 72.48 14155.85 3042.92 35.15

A State-wise and source-wise comparison of the installed capacity of Grid interactive renewable power

as on 31-03-2010 and 30-03-2011 is also been listed in the table below from where it can be inferred

that Tamil Nadu by far has the ‘Greenest Electricity’ in India followed closely by Karnataka and

Maharashtra, coming mainly from the winds (wind energy). Solar Power is still taking its baby steps.

Table showing state-wise & source-wise installed capacity of grid Interactive Renewable power as on 31.03.10 & 31.09.11

State

Small hydro

power

(MW)

Biomass

power

(MW)

Waste to

energy

(MW)

Wind

power

(MW)

Solar

Power

(MW)

Total

(MW)

2010 2011 2010 2011 2010 2011 2010 2011 2010 2011 2010 2011

Andhra Pradesh 186.8 191.4 363.2 363.2 35.66 43.16 122.5 191.5 0.1 2.1 721.9 791.4

Punjab 132.5 154.5 62.5 74.5 9.25 9.25 - - 1.33 2.33 205.6 240.6

Gujarat 12.60 15.60 0.5 0.5 - - 1864 2176 - 5 1877 2198

Himachal Pradesh 330.3 393.4 - - - - - - - - 330.3 393.5

Karnataka 640.4 783.4 336.2 365.2 1 1 1473 1727 6 6 2456 2882

Maharashtra 245.3 274.1 218.5 403 5.7 5.72 2078 2317 - 4 2547 3005

Rajasthan 23.85 23.85 31.3 73.3 - - 1088 1525 0.15 5.15 1144 1627

Tamil Nadu 90.05 96.55 395.7 488.2 5.65 5.65 4907 5904 0.05 5.05 5398 6500

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State-wise & source-wise installed capacity of grid Interactive Renewable power as on 31.09.11

It is evident from the figures above that wind power takes up most of the share of the Renewable

resources in our country. This is because the initial installation cost is very less compared to other

energy sources and also India receives a variety of winds. Solar energy has been used since times

immemorial but for power generation purposes it’s a new kid on the block. Even then it has caught up

quite well (more than 300% growth in 1 year) provided the fact that the initial installation costs are way

too high and that is evident from the table below.

2.12

10.28

35.15

0

10

20

30

40

Mar'09 Mar'10 Mar'11

Po

wer

(M

W/H

ou

r)

Growth curve of Solar Power in India

Solar Power

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This looks like a good sign. But what doesn’t seem good is world’s growing need for energy.

The price of peak electricity in 2010 is assumed to be around Rs.6.50 per unit. If carbon cess becomes a

reality, the cost of generation of thermal power will increase substantially in the coming years. Using

inflation rates of 5%, 6% and 7%, the peak price is projected till 2022. The following figure shows the

peak price of electricity from the grid increasing, while the per unit price of electricity from solar PV

decreasing. Grid parity, it appears, will happen anywhere between 2018 and 2020. This means that

anytime near 2018 we can hope to have ‘green electricity’ lighting our homes 24X7!

Status of Solar Energy generation in India (2010)

Solar Photovoltaic

India has one of the largest SPV (solar photovoltaic) markets,

driven by government programmes of subsidies, tax, and

financial incentives that began in the 1980s. Under the PV

programme of the MNRE, over 610000 systems aggregating to

over 20 MW have been installed. This includes solar lanterns,

home lighting systems, street lighting systems, water pumping

systems, and an aggregate capacity of about 1.2 MW of stand-

alone power plants.

A new niche application of PV stand-alone power plants is in the unelectrified areas. It is estimated that for the

18000 unelectrifiable villages in India located in far-flung areas inaccessible to the grid, stand-alone SPV systems

Solar Lanterns 7.7 lakh

Solar Home lighting system 5.1 lakh

Solar street lighting system 82,500

Solar water pumping system 7,247

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will be instrumental in providing a limited amount of electricity. The MNRE is designing a programme to

undertake this task.

Solar Thermal

A subsidy-based solar thermal programme was launched in India in 1984 and continued up to 1993.

Capital subsidy was removed and provision for soft loan was introduced in 1994. An integrated solar

combined cycle power project is planned at Mathania in the state of Rajasthan. This plant of total

capacity 140 MW has a solar thermal component of 35 MW, based on the

parabolic trough collector technology.

Solar Water Heating system

In India, the first serious attempt to deploy the technology was made with

the formation of the Department of Non-conventional Energy Sources. In

1982, though the history of research & pilot-demonstration go back to the

1960s. Today, India ranks 5th

in terms of SWHS installations, accounting

for 1.4% of the total heating capacity through solar water heaters around

the world.

Table below lists down the Indian Solar water heating scenario as per UNDP-GEF

Global solar Water Heating Project

Solar Cooker

One solar thermal application in which India appears to be the world leader at present is cooking. About

600,000 family solar cookers have been installed in the country so far; most of these are of box type, the

number of dish type being about 6,000. Apart from outdoor family type cookers, concentrating

community cookers have been introduced in recent years.

Techno-economical potential 40 million sq. m

National Solar mission goal 7 million sq. m by 2013

20 million sq. m by 2022

Demand Projection 5.4 million sq. m by 2013

18.7 million sq. m by 2022

Cumulative achievement 3.52 million sq. m up to 2010

Pre-project baseline 2.55 million sq. m as on

Oct’08

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Summary of Installed Solar energy utilization devices

State SPV

Pumps

Solar Photovoltaic Solar

Cooke

r SLS HLS SL PP

(kWh)

Gujarat 85 2004 9231 31603 336 17067

5

Karnataka 551 2694 36134 7334 225.4 253

Maharashtr

a 228 8420 2431 8683 850 58044

Rajasthan 283 6852 91754 4716 990 36682

Tamil Nadu 829 6350 7536 16816 67.73 1536

[SPV: Solar Photo Voltaic; SLS: Street Lighting system; HLS: Home Lighting System; PP: Power Plant]

Market Analysis: Solar PV cell production in India

About 40 companies are actively engaged in manufacturing solar cells and panels, and many more companies

produce end products such as solar lanterns, street lamps etc. The production in the country during 2009-10 is

estimated to be about 230 MWp of solar cells and 325 MWp of PV modules. Nearly 90% of the solar modules

manufactured in India use crystalline silicon C-Si technology, while only 10% of the solar modules are

manufactured using thin film technology.

As of end 2009, the cumulative production of solar PV cells in India has been about 800 MW. Of this total, only a

small portion has been used in applications within India, while the rest have been exported. Of the total amount of

solar cells cumulatively used in India, the following are the areas in which they have been applied. India had an

installed solar power capacity of 1700 MW in 2007 which amounted to roughly 1% of its total power generation

of 130,000 MW. India is currently

ranked 7th in the world in Solar PV

cell production

The major role players for the

production of solar energy in India

are:

Tata BP Solar

Moser Baer

Central Electronics Ltd.

SELCO

BHEL etc.

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Azure Power had set up a 5MW solar PV power plant in Khadoda village in Gujarat. It had invested

around Rs. 1700 million towards the project and is adding another 5MW which is under

implementation. The solar plant is connected to GSEB grid.

NKG infrastructure allotted a solar power project of 10MW capacity at solar park, Patan district in

Gujarat. The company has signed a PPA with Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited.

Louroux has signed an agreement with the state of Gujarat to execute a 25MWp solar PV project.

The project is scheduled for commissioning in December 2011. For project execution, the company

has established tie-up with a leading European solar Engineering company for project execution.

Tata Power is developing a 25MW solar project at Mithapur in Gujarat. Tata Power also signed a

PPA with GUVNL at a rate of Rs. 10-12. The solar plant will use crystalline silicon photovoltaic

technology and is likely to be commissioned by end of 2011.

Adani Power Limited is setting up a 100MW solar power project at Surendranagar at Gujarat. A

PPA has been executed with GUVNL for 40MW in the first phase.

Moser Baer completed the biggest solar powered plant in Gujarat in October 2011. The thin film

panels for the project are supported by First Solar. The plant will generate 52 million kilowatt hours

or enough electricity for 50,000 homes per day.

PLG Power has signed a PPA with GUVNL for 40MW of solar power. PLG power will set up PV

power projects in Patan district in Northern Gujarat. The first phase of 10MW solar plant in Patan

will be connected shortly and the balance will be done before end of the current fiscal. PLG has

signed EPC agreements with the Saudi-based Zamil group for 20MW solar grid connected plant and

Indo-wind energy for 10MW solar power plant in Gujarat.

Installed projects

Though the percentage of solar energy generated in India is only 0.4% compared to different resources

but till October 2009, the country shared the first position with the United States in regards to Solar

Power production capacity. Due to its high primary price of deployment, solar energy is prohibitive at

present and it can be promoted to a flourishing solar market only if the technology becomes

competitively cheaper by attaining cost uniformity with nuclear energy or fossil. A number of solar

power projects in India have been undertaken for the proper utilization of solar energy in India. Indian

Government has promoted the utilization of solar power through diverse strategies.

The Shirdi solar system which is built with a cost of 133 lakh rupees generates 3500 kg of

steam – enough to cook for 20,000 people. The whole system is installed in less than 10 months

and it saves Shirdi temple 20 lakh rupees per year (in terms of the money spent on 1 lakh kg of

LPG which they spend now). 40 solar parabolic concentrators move in the direction of sun and

raise the temperature of water which will then produce the steam.

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The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam, Tirupati (AP): The solar system can cook 30,000 meals per

day and 15,000 meals at a time. The system curbs fuel consumption by nearly 50 per cent

thereby saving Rs 17 lakh per year for the Devasthanam. The system is comprised of 106

rooftop-mounted parabolic concentrators.

A 5GW Solar Power plant project has been commissioned in Madhopur, Bhuj, Gujarat costing $475

million. The current largest solar array in the world produces 900 megawatts of power, so this 5 gigawatts

plan gives you an idea of its scope.

Chemists at the University of California, Berkeley, have discovered a way to make cheap plastic solar

cells that could be painted on almost any surface. Konarka Technologies are already manufacturing a

product called, “Power Plastic” which absorbs both sunlight and indoor light and converts it into

electricity, which has efficiency around 8%.

Other ongoing projects

1. Solar Radiation Resource Assessment across India

MNRE has initiated a major project on Solar Radiation

Resource Assessment (SRRA) across the nation to assess and

quantify the solar radiation availability along with weather

parameters with a view to develop Solar Atlas. Centre for

Wind Energy Technology, Chennai is implementing the

project by

Installing a network of 51 Automatic Solar Radiation

Monitoring Stations (ASRMS) in the first phase in different

states.

Each ASRMS consists of two towers of 1.5 m and 6 m tall

each. The 1.5 m tall tower houses a Solar Tracker equipped

with Pyranometer, Pyranometer with Shaded Ring and

Pyrheliometer to measure solar parameters, such as, global, diffused and direct radiation. The 6 m tall

States No. of ASRMS

Proposed Completed

Rajasthan 12 12

Gujarat 11 11

Tamil Nadu 7 7

Andhra Pradesh 6 6

Karnataka 5 5

Maharashtra 3 3

Madhya Pradesh 3 3

Jammu & Kashmir 1 1

Chhattisgarh 1 1

Pondicherry 1 1

Haryana 1 1

Total 51 51

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tower houses instruments measuring rainfall, ambient temperature, atmospheric pressure, relative

humidity, wind speed and direction.

2. Performance of Grid Solar PV Power Plants under Demonstration programme

Under the demonstration programme on megawatt size grid solar power plants, announced in Jan’08, a

total of six grid connected solar PV Power projects have been commissioned in the country. The 1st plant

was commissioned in Aug’09 in West Bengal & the latest plant was commissioned in Mar’11 in Andhra

Pradesh. A brief summary of the status of these projects is given below:

S.No Project Developer Project site

Nominal

capacity

(MW)

Period of

Operation

(Days)

Actual

Generation

(MW)

Highest

CUF % so

far

Month of

Highest

CUF %

1. WBGEDCL-I

(Sept’09-Aug’10)

Jamuria, Asansol,

W.B. 1 365 1130700 14.93 Mar’10

2. WBGEDCL-II

(Sept’10-Apr’11)

Jamuria, Asansol,

W.B. 1 242 730500 14.54 Mar’11

3. Azure-I

(Dec’09-Nov’10)

Awan, Amritsar,

Punjab 1 365 1571610 20.73 Apr’10

4. Azure-II

(Dec’10-Jun’11)

Awan, Amritsar,

Punjab 2 212 1740480 20.90 Apr’11

5. Mahagenco-I

(May’10-Apr’11)

Chandrapur,

Maharashtra 1 365 1347840 20.21 Apr’11

6. Mahagenco-II

(May’11-Jun’11)

Chandrapur,

Maharashtra 1 61 273640 21.04 May’11

7. Reliance

(Jul’10-Jun’11)

Nagaur, Rajasthan 5 352 7473378 23.63 Mar’11

8. Sapphire

(Dec’10-Jun’11)

Siva Ganga, Tamil

Nadu 5 190 4271319 20.37 May’11

9. Sri Power

(Mar’11-May’11)

Chittora, Andhra

Pradesh 2 92 901900 22.48 Mar’11

(WBGEDCL: West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation Limited)

Four of these plants have completed one year of their operation and for these plants the net Capacity Utilization

Factor (CUF) of the plant has been calculated.

S.No. Project Developer Lowest CUF % so far Month of lowest CUF % Actual CUF %

1. WBGEDCL 10.52 Dec’09 12.29

2. Azure 8.17 Jan’10 16.92

3. Mahagenco 9.9 May’10 15.39

4. Reliance 10.17 Aug’10 18.80

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The CUF of these four plants is in the range of 12.29 % to 18.8%.

From the overall performance, the plant in Rajasthan is the best at present. Except for the plant in West

Bengal, which was the first plant and a part of the initial learning curve the average CUF of all other

plants is in the range of 15% to 19%. Except for WBGEDCL project where the highest CUF was

14.93%, all other plants have achieved highest CUF in the range of 20.21% to 23.63%.

SOLAR ENERGY POLICIES IN INDIA

Policies so far: a Timeline

Year Policy Description

1974-79 MNP : Minimum Needs

Programme

Overall objective was to cover at least 60% of villages in each state and

union territory under the rural electrification programme by 1990; a target

of 46464 additional villages was fixed for the 6th

plan under the MNP. The

actual achievement however, was estimated at 34489 villages.

1988-89 Kutir Jyoti Scheme

Launched for extending single point light connections to households of

rural poor families below the poverty line including harijan and aadiwasi

families.

5th

Feb, 04

Definition of Electrified

village under the Ministry of

Powers Memorandum No.

42/1/2001-D(RE)

The definition of an electrified village was changed (among other things) to

at least 10% of the total no. of households in the village being electrified.

Apr’05

Rajiv Gandhi Gramin

Vidyutikaran Yojana

(RGGVY)

This was a major initiative towards universal electrification under the

programme, 90% grant is provided by the Central government and 10% as

loans by the rural electrification corporation (REC) to the state

governments. The REC is the nodal agency for the programme.

2006 Rural Electrification Policy

Access to electricity for all households by 2009.

Quality and reliable power supply at reasonable rates

Minimum supply of 1 unit per household per day as a merit good by 2012

2007 Semi-conductor policy

To encourage semi-conductor and ecosystem manufacturing, of which solar

PVs also a component

A capital subsidy of 20% for manufacturing plants in special economic

zones (SEZ) and 25% for manufacturing plants outside of SEZs, based on

the condition that the net present value (NPV) of the investment is at least

US $2012 million (Rs. 10000 million [Rs. 1000 crores] @ US $1=Rs.47)

3rd

Aug’ 09 Draft of National Solar

Mission approved by PM

The plan has an ambitious target of generating 20,000MW solar power by

2020; the mission strategy consists of 3 phases

14th

Nov’09 JNNSM Release of mission document

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3rd

Dec’09

Central Electricity regulatory

Commission (CERC)

announces tariff for

Renewable energy power

generation

For solar power, the tariff period has been specified as 25 yrs. The CERC

has determined the tariff of Rs.18.44/kWh for solar PV projects and

Rs.13.45/kWh for solar thermal projects commissioned in FY 2009-10

11th

Jan,10 Policy launch of JNNSM The mission targets 20,000MW of solar generating capacity by the end of

13th

five year plan (2022)

17th

Jun’10 JNNSM off-grid guidelines Guidelines for off-grid and decentralized solar applications and rooftop and

other small power plants released.

25th

Jul’10 JNNSM grid-connected

guidelines

Guidelines for selection of new grid-connected projects with CERC

determined tariff of Rs.17.91/kWh for solar PV projects and Rs.15.31/kWh

for dollar thermal projects commissioned in FY 2010-11 and 2011-12.

15th

Sept,10 CERC tariff order The tariffs for solar projects where PPAs are signed after 31

st Mar’11 have

been revised to Rs.15.39 for PV and Rs.15.04 for solar thermal projects.

Central Government Policies

NAPCC: In order to achieve a sustainable development path that sustainable advances economic

and environmental objectives on Jun 30th

, 2008, the National Action Plan for Climate Change

was framed with eight core missions including National Solar Mission – renamed as Jawaharlal

Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM).

Custom duty has also been pegged at a low 5% on equipment for Solar Photovoltaic and Solar

Thermal Power. These equipment will also be exempt from central excise duties.

Excise will also be reduced from 8% to 4% on Led Lights.

A Unique solar powered rickshaw developed by CSIR will attract a mere 4% excise duty and its

components will be exempted from Customs duty.

Carbon Offsets can be used to compensate for the emissions produced by funding an equivalent

carbon dioxide saving somewhere else. 1 kW of solar power with an average of 5.5 hours of

sunlight per day will produce 1 carbon credit per year. 1 carbon credit is equal to 1 ton of carbon

dioxide offset

So far 30 million carbon credits are generated by India, in coming years 140 millions are expected, with

650 energy efficiency projects

State Government Policies

Some states like Gujarat and Karnataka have instituted independent solar policies and generation based

tariffs that a developer will receive on signing PPA with a state electricity authority. The Gujarat Energy

Development Agency (GEDA) has signed MOUs with developers for 365 MW of solar PV and 351

MW of solar thermal capacities.

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The Karnataka Power Corporation Limited has taken the lead and has commissioned 6MW (two 3 MW

plants) solar PV capacity, and is soon commissioning one more 3 mw plant, bringing the total installed

capacity of PV in Karnataka to 9MW.

Other states such as Rajasthan and Haryana are in process of instituting solar policies. The Haryana

Renewable Energy Development Agency (HREDA) has been promoting solar in a big way.

JNNSM road map

Application segment Current status

as on 30-06-2010

JNNSM targets

Phase-I

2010-13

Phase-II

2013-17

Phase-III

2017-22

Solar PV

Connected to high tension (HT)

(>33kV) 12.28 MW 500MW

4000-10000

MW 20000 MW

Connected to HT (<33kV)

Capacity of 100kWp to 2MWp - 90MW

Connected to LT (400V)for 3 phase

or 230V for 1 phase

Capacity <100kWp

- 10MW

CSP Connected to HT (>33kV) - 500 MW

Off-Grid Solar

applications

Solar lantern

797344 no.s

200 MW 1000MW 2000MW Solar home lighting systems

603307 no.s

Solar PV street lights 119634 no.s

Solar PV irrigation pumps 7334 no.s

Off-grid solar PV (micro grid) 292 MWp

Solar thermal

applications

Solar thermal collectors (million sq.

m) 3.53 7 15 20

Realistic scenario vs. the JNNSM targets by 2022

Clearly, we are lacking in

achievement of projected

targets. The gap between

the projected and real

picture will, as seen from

the curve, grow in future but

will gradually be erased

with the advancement in

technology and growth in

economy.

3.15.37

9.52

18.7

7

15

20

0

5

10

15

20

2005 2010 2015 2020 2025Are

a I

nst

all

ati

on

(1

00

0x

sq. m

)

Year

Realistic

Targeted

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DISCUSSION

With a the announcement of National Solar Mission in December 2009, there have been considerable

discussions at all levels of society on solar technology, investment, policy and regulations in India. The

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has made laudable efforts in attracting investors,

having released several rounds of guidelines for different applications. The demand for solar PV is

already expected to exceed the target of 500 MW; though the future of CSP is less certain given that it

are early days for the technology not just in India but globally.

The target set for Phase 1 of 500 MW of utility scale solar PV are sliced in different ways as a means of

illustrating societal and budgetary impacts.

Net present value of outlay towards phase 1 of the JNNSM

2010 2011 2012 2013

Annual installation 30 120 120 230

Generation (million kWh) 53 210 210 403

Price/Wp 180 170 159 150

Tariff/kWh 17.91 17.91 16.3 15.4

NPV of cash outlay of installation in that

year

(billion rupees)

8.54 34.2 31.1 56.3

NPV of Phase 1 (billion rupees) 108

Providing 5.5 million households each with 37 watt panels or providing 4000 villages with 50 kWp micro

grids will each work out to be 200 MW. The magnitude of this must be judged in relation to the 75000

villages and 28 million households that are currently un-electrified. Hence, off-grid applications for rural

electrification should be prioritized considering it makes economic sense as well.

To support the aforementioned, even at today’s high prices, solar based micro grids offer a competitive

solution compared to grid extensions .Moreover solar PV is ideally suited for generation near demand

centers .Plus; there is an urgent need of meeting the electrification needs of rural India. Increasing the

proposed capacity for rural electrification via decentralized options would have a far greater impact than

grid extensions.

There should be clear long term policy mechanisms in place to ensure that interest in solar investment

remains .The current tariff of Rs.17.91 is for PV plants commissioned in the year 2010-11. Infusing

certainty into the system with a degression algorithm, much like the German model, could go a long way

in providing certainty and resulting in sustained investor interests.

It is not at all clear to any of the stake holders what are the mechanisms to buy solar power in phases 2

and 3 will be. Without a clear road map, targets alone will, not lead to any of the pre – requisites for

reduction in the cost of solar power , namely, manufacturing set-up corporate R & D or high level

human resources development (HRD).

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CONCLUSIONS

Solar power is a proven technology. Solar power is a clean and renewable energy source. It may be

reliable energy source, if used as hybrid system with small hydro power or storage batteries to remote

communities and islands that are not connected to grid. Solar PV is simple to operate and maintain. The

lifespan of solar system is measured in years, which is generally 20-25 years. The electrical power

output from solar system is mainly depend upon intensity of solar radiation, sunshine hours. There is

huge scope for research in area of PV cell material, so that one can reduce the generation cost, because

PV array is the most costly item in SPV system.

Solar energy has the potential to generate virtually unlimited, essentially clean, carbon free electricity.

Given that it holds great promise, with most parts of the country receiving plenty of sunshine- 4to 6

hours a day for over 300 days a year- India should look to the sun to reap the benefits of its energy.

Power generation from solar PV does not produce noise or air pollution, and the replacement of

kerosene with solar lighting will have significant positive effects on family health.

The new guidelines and incentives announced by the MNRE are a marked improvement over previous

policies. However, given the large out lay of public fund expected in the next few years, steps should be

taken to ensure that the impact of the solar energy goes well beyond installed capacity.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. “Renewable Energy Data book 2010” – handbook published by U.S. Department of Energy

2. Ministry of New & Renewable Energy website

3. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (U.S.A.) website

4. Annual handbook of Energy Statistics (2011 & 2012) - Ministry of Statistics & Programme

Implementation

5. “Harnessing Solar Energy: Options for India” - book published by Centre for Science,

Technology & Power

6. “A Review of Solar energy – Markets, Economies & Policy” – research paper by Govinda R.

Timilsana, Lado Kurdgelashvili & Patrick A. Narbel

7. “Present status & future prospect of Solar power in India” – research paper by Prafulla Krishnant

Pise & Mukesh Kumar singhal

8. “Final Report on Scheme & Framework for promotion Solar Water Heating system by Utilities

& Regulators” – report by MNRE

9. “Renewable energy & Energy efficiency status in India” – Report compiled by ICLEI South Asia

10. “Overview of sustainable Renewable energy potential in India” – Report compiled by Global

Energy Network Institute

Current Status of Solar Energy in India

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