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The ‘import restrictions’ on solar PV cells | Explained
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: ALMM list and its objective
Mains level: Why is it being re-implemented? and dependency of solar cell on import from china
Context:
The Finance Minister proposed the ₹19,500 crore PLI scheme in the Union Budget of 2022-23.
- This was to scale domestic manufacturing of the entire solar supply chain — from polysilicon to solar modules.
- The government also introduced a steep 40% customs duty on PV modules and 25% on PV cells.
BACK2BASICSWhat is the ALMM list?
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Does India rely on Solar PV imports?
- China’s Dominance in Imports: China is the leading supplier of solar cells and modules to India, accounting for a significant portion of India’s imports. As of January 2023-24, China accounted for 53% of India’s solar cell imports and 63% of solar PV module imports.
- Manufacturing Capacity Disparity: China holds a dominant position in the manufacturing capacity for various components of solar panels, including polysilicon, wafers, cells, and modules. Rating agency ICRA estimates that China commands over 80% of the manufacturing capacity in these areas.
Government Initiatives:
- Notification of ALMM Order: The government initiated efforts to address import dependency in the solar sector by notifying the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) order in January 2019.
- Introduction of PLI Scheme: The Finance Ministry proposed the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme worth ₹19,500 crore in the Union Budget of 2022-23. This scheme was designed to incentivize domestic manufacturing across the entire solar supply chain, ranging from polysilicon to solar modules.
- Imposition of Customs Duties on PV Modules and Cells: To further incentivize domestic manufacturing and curb imports, the government introduced steep customs duties on photovoltaic (PV) modules and cells. Initially, a 40% customs duty was imposed on PV modules, and a 25% duty was imposed on PV cells.
Why is China a leading exporter?
- Cost-Competitive Manufacturing: China is recognized as the most cost-competitive location for manufacturing all components of the solar PV supply chain.
- Low Cost of Power: The lower cost of power supplied to the solar PV industry significantly contributes to China’s competitiveness.
- Growing Domestic Demand: The significant and rapidly growing domestic demand for solar PV products in China has played a crucial role in driving economies of scale.
- Economies of Scale: China’s large-scale production capacity allows manufacturers to benefit from economies of scale.
- Continuous Innovation: Chinese government support and the competitive market environment have fostered continuous innovation throughout the solar PV supply chain.
Future scope for Solar Energy in India:
- Ambitious Targets: The target of achieving 500 GW of installed capacity from non-fossil fuels by 2030 underscores the significant role solar energy will play in India’s energy mix.
- Fastest Growth Rate in Electricity Demand: India accounts for the fastest rate of growth in electricity demand among major economies, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
- Abundant Solar Potential: India possesses abundant solar resources, with an estimated solar power potential of 748.99 GW.
Conclusion: The ALMM list, PLI scheme, and customs duties aim to boost domestic solar manufacturing in India to counter China’s dominance. With ambitious targets, fast-growing electricity demand, and abundant solar potential, solar energy holds significant promise for India’s energy transition.
Mains question for practice
Q Discuss the initiatives undertaken by the Indian government to promote domestic manufacturing in the solar sector, particularly in light of China’s dominance.
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Solar surge: Moving away from imported solar panels
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Environment; Solar Photovoltaic cells;
Mains level: Environment; Solar Energy;
Why in the news?
The government is finally bringing into effect the policy of an Approved list of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) that will discourage solar power project developers from relying on imported panels.
About Approved Models and Manufacturers of Solar Photovoltaic Modules Order, 2019:
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Efforts made by the Government to promote domestic Solar Manufacturing:
- Import Restrictions: The creation of the Approved Models and Manufacturers list was aimed at restricting imports from China, which dominates a significant portion of the global solar supply market.
- Ambitious Renewable Energy Targets: India aims to source about 500 GW of its electricity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030, with at least 280 GW coming from solar power. This necessitates adding at least 40 GW of solar capacity annually until 2030. So there is need to focus on indegenous solar project
Challenges ahead:
- Unrealistic Targets: Despite ambitious targets, India’s solar capacity additions have been relatively low in recent years, attributed in part to the COVID-19 pandemic. The country aims to ramp up installations to between 25 GW and 40 GW annually.
- Reliance on Imports: A significant fraction of India’s solar installations is met by imports, which affects domestic panel manufacturers who must pay for government certification but lose orders to cheaper Chinese panels. For example surge in Solar panel import in FY 24 around $1,136.28 million from FY23 imports $943.53 million
Conclusion: India’s ALMM policy aims to boost domestic solar manufacturing, aligning with ambitious renewable energy targets. Address challenges like meeting targets and reducing reliance on imports through strategic planning and support.
Mains PYQ
Q Describe the benefits of deriving electric energy from sunlight in contrast to conventional energy generation. What are the initiatives offered by our government for this purpose? (UPSC IAS/2020)
https://mnre.gov.in/approved-list-of-models-and-manufacturers-almm/
https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1944075
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India’s Solar Slowdown: Trends and Projections
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Solar Energy Transition
In the news
- Following two years of robust growth, India’s solar capacity additions sharply declined by 44% in 2023, the lowest since 2016.
- What triggered this slowdown, and will this trend persist? Let’s explore.
Solar Capacity Addition in 2023
- Decline in Capacity: India added 7.5 gigawatts (GW) of solar power capacity in 2023, a significant drop from the previous year’s record of 13.4 GW. This marked the lowest levels since 2016, except for the pandemic-affected 2020.
- Large-scale Projects Hit Hard: Capacity additions in large solar power projects declined by over 50% to 5.8 GW from 11.7 GW in 2022. However, rooftop solar power capacity continued to grow by 1.7 GW, consistent with 2022 levels.
- Cumulative Capacity: India’s cumulative solar power capacity reached 72 GW by the end of 2023, with large-scale projects contributing over 60 GW.
Reasons for the Decline
- Regulatory Hurdles: Solar power producers faced regulatory hurdles, including stricter grid connectivity rules and a Supreme Court directive in 2021 mandating the relocation of overhead power cables to protect the Great Indian Bustard habitats.
- Challenges in Compliance: Compliance with amended grid code provisions became more demanding, leading to delays in project execution. Land acquisition challenges also persisted, further delaying project timelines.
Outlook for 2024
- Temporary Setback: The decline in solar capacity addition in 2023 appears to be a temporary setback. The pipeline for 2024 is robust, with 105.3 GW of capacity planned, including an additional 70.6 GW awaiting auction.
- Delayed Projects: Large-scale projects that were delayed and granted extensions from December 2022 to June 2023 will contribute significantly to capacity additions in 2024.
Impact of ‘Make in India’
- Reduction in Imports: India’s solar capacity initially relied on imported cells from China. However, the imposition of customs duties on imported solar modules and cells led to a significant decline in imports.
- Promoting Local Manufacturing: The introduction of the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) enabled local manufacturers to participate in government bids. However, the ALMM mandate was suspended until April 2024 to maintain momentum in solar installations.
Alignment with India’s Energy Targets
- Renewable Energy Capacity: In 2023, India’s renewable energy capacity exceeded 180 GW, with solar contributing 40%. Despite missing the initial targets due to the pandemic, India achieved 60 GW of large-scale solar projects a year later.
- Future Targets: India aims to achieve a renewable energy target of nearly 600 GW by 2032, with solar accounting for 365 GW. To meet this target, 30 GW of fresh solar capacity must be added annually for the next 8 years.
Various Policy Initiatives
- Solar Park Scheme (2014): Initiated in, the Solar Park Scheme aims to develop a series of solar parks, each with a capacity of around 500 MW, across various states.
- Rooftop Solar Scheme (2016): The Rooftop Solar Scheme endeavours to harness solar power by installing solar panels on residential rooftops.
- National Solar Mission (2010): The National Solar Mission stands as a crucial endeavor by both the Indian government and state authorities to foster sustainable development and tackle energy security challenges.
- SRISTI Scheme (2018): The SRISTI Scheme is formulated to encourage the implementation of rooftop solar power projects in India, promoting sustainability.
- International Solar Alliance (2015): Formed in 2015, the International Solar Alliance serves as a collaborative platform promoting the adoption of solar energy technologies through member-driven initiatives.
- Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (2019): Launched by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) in 2019, the PM-KUSUM scheme aims to facilitate the deployment of off-grid solar pumps in rural areas and reduce reliance on the grid in connected regions.
Conclusion
- Despite the temporary slowdown, India remains committed to expanding its solar capacity to meet its ambitious renewable energy targets and contribute to global sustainability efforts.
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Launch of PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, 300 Units Cap
Mains level: Solar Energy Transition
Introduction
- Prime Minister has launched PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana to provide free electricity to its beneficiaries.
About PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana
| Description | |
| Purpose | To provide 300 units of free electricity per month to beneficiaries through an investment of ₹75,000 crores. |
| Announcement | Initially announced in an interim budget speech by the Finance Minister. |
| Target | Aimed to light up 1 crore households. |
| Incentive for Renewable Energy | Urban Local Bodies and Panchayats incentivized to promote rooftop solar systems. |
| Financial Support | Central Government guarantees no financial burden on people through subsidies directly to bank accounts and highly concessional bank loans. |
| Expected Benefits | – Annual savings of ₹15,000 to ₹18,000 for households
– Charging of electric vehicles – Entrepreneurship opportunities – Employment opportunities for youth with technical skills. |
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Pradhan Mantri Suryodaya Yojana: India’s Solar Revolution
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Pradhan Mantri Suryodaya Yojana
Mains level: Read the attached story
Introduction
- PM Modi announced the launch of the ‘Pradhan Mantri Suryodaya Yojana,’ a government initiative aimed at providing rooftop solar power systems to one crore households in India.
- This ambitious scheme builds upon previous efforts to promote rooftop solar installations in the country, addressing the growing demand for clean and sustainable energy sources.
About Pradhan Mantri Suryodaya Yojana
- Rooftop Solar Installations: The scheme focuses on the installation of solar power systems on 1 crore residential rooftops.
- Reduced Electricity Bills: It aims to reduce electricity bills for households, especially benefitting the “poor and middle class.”
- Energy Self-Reliance: The scheme aligns with India’s goal of achieving self-reliance in the energy sector.
India’s Current Solar Capacity
- Total Solar Capacity: As of December 2023, India boasts a total solar power installed capacity of approximately 73.31 GW.
- Rooftop Solar Capacity: The rooftop solar capacity stands at around 11.08 GW, emphasizing the need for expansion.
- Leading States: Rajasthan leads in total solar capacity with 18.7 GW, while Gujarat tops the list in rooftop solar capacity with 2.8 GW.
Importance of Expanding Solar Energy
- Growing Energy Demand: India is projected to experience substantial energy demand growth over the next 30 years, requiring a reliable energy source.
- Diversifying Energy Mix: To meet this demand and reduce dependency on coal, India aims to reach 500 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030.
- Solar Power Growth: India has significantly increased its solar power capacity, from less than 10 MW in 2010 to 70.10 GW in 2023.
Existing schemes: Rooftop Solar Programme
- Launched in 2014: The programme seeks to boost rooftop solar installations in the residential sector.
- Financial Assistance: It offers Central Financial Assistance and incentives to distribution companies (DISCOMs).
- Capacity Target: The programme aims to achieve 40 GW of rooftop solar capacity by March 2026, having already grown from 1.8 GW in March 2019 to 10.4 GW by November 2023.
- Consumer Benefits: Consumers can access the scheme through DISCOM tendered projects or the National Portal. They have the flexibility to select vendors and solar equipment. Subsidies are directly transferred to their bank accounts, and surplus solar power can be exported to the grid, offering monetary benefits.
Conclusion
- The news scheme signifies India’s commitment to harnessing solar power as a clean and sustainable energy source for its growing population.
- With a focus on residential rooftop installations, this scheme aims to reduce electricity bills for millions of households while contributing to India’s energy self-reliance goals.
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Surya Nutan: A Stove of Green Energy Transition
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Surya Nutan solar cook-stove
Mains level: India Energy week 2023
Central Idea
- The formal launch of the Indian Oil Corporation’s patented solar cook-stove at the India Energy Week 2023 (February 6-8, 2023 in Bengaluru as part of the G-20 calendar of events) by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi must be looked at closely from the point of view of India’s national energy story. While Mr. Modi claimed the stove would soon reach three crore households within the next few years, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri called it a catalyst in accelerating adoption of low-carbon options along with biofuels, electric vehicles, and green hydrogen.
Salient features of Surya Nutan solar cook-stove
- Indoor solar cooking: Surya Nutan is a Stationary, rechargeable, and always kitchen-connected indoor solar cooking.
- Patented by Indian Oil: This is a patented product designed and developed by Indian Oil R&D Centre, Faridabad.
- Maximum utilization of solar energy: It offers online cooking mode while charging through the Sun which maximizes the system efficiency and ensures high utilization of energy from Sun.
- How it will work?: It collects energy from the sun, converts it into heat through a specially designed heating element, stores thermal energy in a scientifically proven thermal battery and reconverts the energy for use in indoor cooking. The energy captured not just covers day time cooking needs of a family of four but also the night meal.
- Hybrid mode: It works on a Hybrid Mode (i.e. can work on both solar & auxiliary energy source simultaneously) which makes the Surya Nutan a reliable cooking solution for all weather conditions.
- Minimises heat loss: Insulation design of Surya Nutan minimizes radiative and conductive heat losses.
- Surya Nutan is available in three different models: The premium model (Breakfast +Lunch+Dinner) of Surya Nutan can cook all the meals for family of four.
- What will be the cost: Initially, cost of the product is around Rs 12,000 for base model, and Rs. 23,000 for Top Model. However, the cost is expected to reduce substantially with economies of scale. At a price of Rs. 12,000-14,000/- for Top Model, assuming annual consumption of 6-8 LPG cylinders, this product can pay back the buyer in first 1-2 years itself.
- Inbuilt Safety aspects: All the safety aspects required in any indoor appliances are inbuilt in Surya Nutan.
- substitute for fossil fuels: The stove, which entails a one-time procurement cost and has zero maintenance, is being touted as a substitute for fossil fuels. It does not have a traditional battery that needs replacement. Also, the solar panel has a 25-year life.
- Modular system: Surya Nutan is a modular system and can be designed in different sizes as per the requirement.
India’s national energy story
- In 1950s, the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) fabricated a solar cooker and state-led hydroelectric power but failed to address rural energy consumption.
- Parallel efforts to improve the traditional stove proved unsuccessful, such as the Hyderabad Engineering Research Laboratories smokeless chulha.
- 1980s government launched improved chulhas program to reduce fuelwood consumption and benefit women’s health/finances with 50% subsidy incentive. But the program failed due to construction, maintenance, and corruption issues. Women still rely on chulha despite hazards.
- Cooking is 80% of rural Indian household’s energy use. 668m people in India use biomass for cooking/lighting, despite LPG scheme success. Fuel price inflation and subsidy withdrawal force women to use chulha with hazards.
India Energy Week 2023
- India’s G20 Presidency: India Energy Week 2023 is being organised during India’s G20 Presidency, under the tagline “Growth, Collaboration, Transition”, from 6-8 February 2023 in Bengaluru.
- Opportunity for India: It provided a unique opportunity to showcase India as both an engine of global economic growth and a driver for global consumption, supported by a conducive and investment-friendly environment, and a skilled workforce.
- Opportunity for strategic policy making and knowledge sharing: IEW 2023 was an unprecedented opportunity for regional, international leaders and CEOs to come together for strategic policy making and technical knowledge sharing.
Why In India?
- India is projected to witness the largest increase in energy demand of any country over the next two decades, as its economy continues to grow and create opportunities for its people to fulfil their potential.
- India’s share in global energy consumption will rise from 7% to 14% by 2050
- IEA predicts India will account for 25% of energy demand growth from 2020 to 2040
- India’s oil and gas demand will triple by 2050
- Gas consumption to grow threefold by 2030
- Share of gas in energy mix to rise from 6.3% today to 15% by 2030
Do you know “THE PANCHAMRIT” (The five-nectar-element commitments)?
- Indian Will take its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030.
- Indian will meet 50 % of its energy requirements from renewable energy by 2030.
- India will reduce the total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes from now till 2030.
- By 2030, India will reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by less than 45 percent.
- By the year 2070, India will achieve the target of net zero
Conclusion
- Surya Nutan has the potential to transform our energy security situation, as India currently imports 50% of its LPG requirements. It also reduces India’s CO2 emissions drastically and keeps our citizens insulated from the vagaries of the high international fossil fuel prices. India’s energy transition will play a pivotal role in global energy markets. India Energy Week comes at a critical time, with the challenges of energy security and environmental sustainability impacting long-term energy transition and paths towards decarbonisation.
Mains Question
Q. Indian Oil Corporation recently launched the Surya Nutan a solar cook-stove at the India Energy Week 2023. Discuss its salient features and potential benefits for energy security for rural households.
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International Solar Alliance approves funding mechanism
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: ISA
Mains level: Solar energy
To bolster investments in solar power projects, the International Solar Alliance (ISA), in its General Assembly approved the ‘Solar Facility’, a payment guarantee mechanism.
What is Solar Facility?
- It is expected to stimulate investments into solar projects through two financial components:
- Solar Payment Guarantee Fund and
- Solar Insurance Fund
- The thrust of the facility is to attract private capital to flow into “underserved markets” in Africa.
- The ISA would aim to crowdsource investments from various donors across the globe and proposed projects in Africa would be able to purchase payment guarantees or partial insurance premium from these funds.
Why such move?
- ISA’s mission is to unlock US $1 trillion (₹80 lakh crore) of investments in solar power by 2030 while reducing cost of the technology and its financing.
What is International Solar Alliance (ISA)?
- The ISA is an alliance of more than 121 countries, most of them being sunshine countries, which lie either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.
- It is headquartered in Gurugram, India.
- The primary objective of the alliance is to work for efficient exploitation of solar energy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
- The alliance is a treaty-based inter-governmental organization.
- The initiative was launched by PM Modi at the India Africa Summit and a meeting of member countries ahead of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in November 2015.
Objectives of the ISA
- To mobilize investments of more than USD 1000 billion by 2030
- To take coordinated action for better harmonization, aggregation of demand, risk and resources, for promoting solar finance, solar technologies, innovation, R&D, capacity building etc.
- Reduce the cost of finance to increase investments in solar energy in member countries
- Scale up applications of solar technologies in member countries
- Facilitate collaborative research and development (R&D) activities in solar energy technologies among member countries
- Promote a common cyber platform for networking, cooperation and exchange of ideas among member countries
What does ISA formation signify?
- Climate action commitment: It symbolizes about the sincerity of the developing nations towards their concern about climate change and to switch to a low-carbon growth path.
- Clean energy: India’s pledge to the Paris summit offered to bring 40% of its electricity generation capacity from non-fossil sources (renewable, large hydro, and nuclear) by 2030.
- Global electrification: India has pledged to let solar energy reach to the most unconnected villages and communities and also towards creating a clean planet.
- Global cooperation: It is based on world cooperation irrespective of global boundaries.
- India’s Soft power: For India, possible additional benefits from the alliance can be a strengthening of ties with the major African countries and increasing goodwill for India among them.
Key initiatives
[A] Global Solar Atlas
- ISA alliance has partnered with World Bank to launch Global Solar Atlas at an ISA event at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi.
- Global Solar Atlas is a free online tool that displays annual average solar power potential at any location in the world and thus identify potential sites for solar power generation.
[B] OSOWOG Initiative
- Under the ISA project, India envisaged having an interconnected power transmission grid across nations for the supply of clean energy.
- The vision behind the OSOWOG mantra is ‘The Sun Never Sets’ and is a constant at some geographical location, globally, at any given point of time.
- With India at the fulcrum, the solar spectrum can easily be divided into two broad zones viz. far East which would include countries like Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Lao, Cambodia etc. and far West which would cover the Middle East and the Africa Region.
Implementation
- The OSOWOG would have three phases.
- Phase I: Middle East, South Asia and South-East Asia would be interconnected
- Phase II: Solar and other renewable energy resources rich regions would be interconnected
- Phase III: Global interconnection of the power transmission grid to achieve the One Sun One World One Grid vision
Benefits of the project
- Attracting investment: An interconnected grid would help all the participating entities in attracting investments in renewable energy sources as well as utilizing skills, technology and finances.
- Poverty alleviation: Resulting economic benefits would positively impact poverty alleviation and support in mitigating water, sanitation, food and other socio-economic challenges.
- Reduced project cost: The proposed integration would lead to reduced project costs, higher efficiencies and increased asset utilization for all the participating entities.
Various challenges
- Lack of Funding: Providing the money for promoting solar electricity among the members is a challenge. The Alliance has very little money of its own.
- Expensive implementation: The cost of power has two components. The variable cost is the payment made for the numbers of units of electricity purchased. In addition, the buyer is required to pay a certain amount towards the fixed cost of solar supply.
- Battery-based Storage: Solar electricity is available only during the day when the sun shines. Thus, the storage of electricity is a difficult task.
- Cross-border transmission: Solar electricity has to overcome the roadblocks of transmission. Cross-border transmission of electricity requires the establishment of transmission lines from the producer to the consumer country.
- Peak hour load: The demand for electricity, however, is more during the morning and evening which are called “peak hours”. But it can be produced when the sun is shining.
- Climate change: Sudden overcast and rainfall in many parts of the tropics has been a major issues these days. Such weather hampers solar energy production
- Desired global consensus: It is hindered with the issues of intricate geopolitics, unfavourable economics, unwarranted globalisation and undue centralization that act against the concept.
- Highly ambitious: In a nation like India, it took us this long to connect all the regions of the country through a national grid and we are talking about ‘one world, one grid’.
Way forward
- ISA should focus on its core goals such as- aggregating demand, tariff, technical collaborations, and financial assistance for achieving its target.
- It further needs to ensure that solar benefits are clear and tangible to users beyond its cost ambitions.
- ISA should demonstrate business models that are viable for users, suppliers and financiers.
- Further, the alliance should support member countries in implementing policies to expedite these business models.
- Geo-politically, this is being touted as a clever strategy however financially and technology-wise, this has to make sense.
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What it will take to fulfill India’s Solar Power Dream?
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Solar energy targets of India
Mains level: Read the attached story
From less than 10 MW in 2010, India has added significant PV capacity over the past decade, achieving over 50 GW by 2022.
Solar energy in India
- Solar photovoltaics (PV) has driven India’s push towards the adoption of cleaner energy generation technologies.
- India is targeting about 500 GW by 2030, of renewable energy deployment, out of which ~280 GW is expected from solar PV.
- This necessitates the deployment of nearly 30 GW of solar capacity every year until 2030.
Key components
- A typical solar PV value chain consists of first fabricating polysilicon ingots which need to be transformed into thin Silicon wafers that are needed to manufacture the PV mini-modules.
- The mini-modules are then assembled into market-ready and field-deployable modules.
Various challenges
There are challenges that need to be overcome for the sustainability of the PV economy.
(1) PV Modules
- Indian solar deployment or installation companies depend heavily on imports.
- It currently imports 100% of silicon wafers and around 80% of cells even at the current deployment levels.
- India currently does not have enough module and cell manufacturing capacity.
- India’s current solar module manufacturing capacity is limited to ~15 GW per year.
- The demand-supply gap widens as we move up the value chain — for example, India only produces ~3.5 GW of cells currently.
- India has no manufacturing capacity for solar wafers and polysilicon ingots.
(2) Field deployment
- Also, out of the 15 GW of module manufacturing capacity, only 3-4 GW of modules are technologically competitive and worthy of deployment in grid-based projects.
- India remains dependent on the import of solar modules for field deployment.
(3) Size and technology
- Most of the Indian industry is currently tuned to handling M2 wafer size, which is roughly 156 x 156 mm2, while the global industry is already moving towards M10 and M12 sizes, which are 182 x 182 mm2 and 210 x 210 mm2 respectively.
- The bigger size has an advantage in terms of silicon cost per wafer, as this effectively means lower loss of silicon during ingot to wafer processing.
- In terms of cell technology, most of the manufacturing still uses Al-BSF technology, which can typically give efficiencies of ~18-19% at the cell level and ~16-17% at the module level.
- By contrast, cell manufacturing worldwide has moved to PERC (22-23%), HJT(~24%), TOPCON (23-24%) and other newer technologies, yielding module efficiency of >21%.
(4) Land issue
- Producing more solar power for the same module size means more solar power from the same land area.
- Land, the most expensive part of solar projects, is scarce in India — and Indian industry has no choice but to move towards newer and superior technologies as part of expansion plans.
(5) Raw materials supply
- There is a huge gap on the raw material supply chain side as well.
- Silicon wafer, the most expensive raw material, is not manufactured in India.
- India will have to work on technology tie-ups to make the right grade of silicon for solar cell manufacturing — and since >90% of the world’s solar wafer manufacturing currently happens in China.
- It is not clear how and where India will get the technology.
- Other key raw materials such as metallic pastes of silver and aluminium to form the electrical contacts too, are almost 100% imported.
- Thus, India is more of an assembly hub than a manufacturing
(6) Lack of investment
- India has hardly invested in this sector which can help the industry to try and test the technologies in a cost-effective manner.
Current govt policy
- The government has identified this gap, and is rolling out various policy initiatives to push and motivate the industry to work towards self-reliance in solar manufacturing, both for cells and modules.
- Key initiatives include:
- 40% duty on the import of modules and
- 25% duty on the import of cells, and
- Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme to support manufacturing capex
- Compulsion to procure modules only from an approved list of manufacturers (ALMM) for projects that are connected to state/ central government grids
- Only India-based manufacturers have been approved
Way forward
- India’s path to become a manufacturing hub for the same requires more than just putting some tax barriers and commercial incentives in the form of PLI schemes, etc.
- It will warrant strong industry-academia collaboration in an innovative manner to start developing home-grown technologies which could, in the short-term.
- It needs to work with the industry to provide them with trained human resource, process learnings, root-cause analysis through right testing and, in the long term, develop India’s own technologies.
- High-end technology development requires substantial investment in several clusters which operate in industry-like working and management conditions, appropriate emoluments, and clear deliverables.
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Solar energy & India
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: International solar alliance.
Mains level: Energy security.
Context
- Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has said that civilisation will be mostly solar-powered in the future, a world without Sun will turn into a dark ice ball as the Earth gets all of its energy from it.
Definition of solar energy
- Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar power to generate electricity, solar thermal energy, and solar architecture.
India’s solar target.
- Target: India is targeting about 500 GW by 2030, of renewable energy deployment, out of which ~280 GW is expected from solar PV. This necessitates the deployment of nearly 30 GW of solar capacity every year until 2030.
- Commitment: Solar power is a major prong of India’s commitment to address global warming according to the terms of the Paris Agreement, as well as achieving net zero, or no net carbon emissions, by 2070.
International solar alliance and India’s pledge
- Climate action commitment: It symbolizes about the sincerity of the developing nations towards their concern about climate change and to switch to a low-carbon growth path.
- Clean energy: India’s pledge to the Paris summit offered to bring 40% of its electricity generation capacity from non-fossil sources (renewable, large hydro, and nuclear) by 2030.
- Global electrification: India has pledged to let solar energy reach to the most unconnected villages and communities and also towards creating a clean planet.
- Global cooperation: It is based on world cooperation irrespective of global boundaries.
- India’s Soft power: For India, possible additional benefits from the alliance can be a strengthening of ties with the major African countries and increasing goodwill for India among them.
Some Interesting facts
Solar power is the most abundant energy source on earth.
Solar is the cheapest source of energy in the world.
Solar electricity has been around since 1839.
Solar panels can produce power without direct sunlight.
Challenges before solar future
- High Imports: Indian solar deployment or installation companies depend heavily on imports. It currently imports 100% of silicon wafers and around 80% of cells even at the current deployment levels.
- Field deployment: Also, out of the 15 GW of module manufacturing capacity, only 3-4 GW of modules are technologically competitive and worthy of deployment in grid-based projects.
- Land issue: Land, the most expensive part of solar projects, is scarce in India — and Indian industry has no choice but to move towards newer and superior technologies as part of expansion plans.
- Lack of investment: India has hardly invested in this sector which can help the industry to try and test the technologies in a cost-effective manner.
Way forward
- Supportive policies and innovative technological approaches are needed for the sector to achieve its potential.
- Indian policymakers need to plan for rooftop solar plus storage, rather than rooftop solar alone with the grid as storage (net / gross metering).
- The declining cost of storage solutions, along with that of rooftop solar solutions, is likely to change the future of the Indian power sector.
Conclusion
- In the foreseeable future, one can witness a just and equitable energy order if solar energy, along with other forms of renewable energy, can be harnessed more positively.
Mains question
Q. Fossil fuels have a 60% share in India’s total energy mix in this context discuss solar future for India with challenges for the same.
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Hits and misses: India’s Solar Power Energy Targets
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Renewable Energy in India
Mains level: India's ambitious RE targets and their success
India is likely to miss its 2022 target of installing 100 gigawatts (GW) of solar power capacity a/c to a report. This is because of rooftop solar lagging behind, the authors say.
India’s Solar Policy
- Since 2011, India’s solar sector has grown at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 59% from 0.5GW in 2011 to 55GW in 2021.
- The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), also known as the National Solar Mission (NSM), was commenced in January 2010.
- It marked the first time the government focussed on promoting and developing solar power in India.
- Under the scheme, the total installed capacity target was set as 20GW by 2022.
- In 2015, the target was revised to 100GW and in August 2021, the government set a solar target of 300GW by 2030.
Solar energy: India among the peers
- India currently ranks fifth after China, U.S., Japan and Germany in terms of installed solar power capacity.
- As of December 2021, the cumulative solar installed capacity of India is 55GW, which is roughly half the renewable energy (RE) capacity (excluding large hydro power) and 14% of the overall power generation capacity of India.
- Within the 55GW, grid-connected utility-scale projects contribute 77% and the rest comes from grid-connected rooftop and off-grid projects.
What does the new report say?
- As of April, only about 50% of the 100GW target, consisting of 60GW of utility-scale and 40GW of rooftop solar capacity, has been met.
- Nearly 19 GW of solar capacity is expected to be added in 2022 — 15.8GW from utility-scale and 3.5GW from rooftop solar.
- Even accounting for this capacity would mean about 27% of India’s 100GW solar target would remain unmet.
- A 25GW shortfall in the 40GW rooftop solar target, is expected compared to 1.8GW in the utility-scale solar target by December 2022.
- Thus, it is in rooftop solar that the challenges of India’s solar-adoption policy stick out.
What is Solar Rooftop?
|
Reasons for rooftop solar adoption not meeting targets
- In its early years, India’s rooftop solar market struggled to grow, held back by lack of consumer awareness, inconsistent policy frameworks of the Centre/ State governments and financing.
- Factors impeding rooftop-solar installation include:
- Pandemic-induced supply chain disruption to policy restrictions
- Regulatory roadblocks
- Limits to net-metering (or paying users who give back surplus electricity to the grid)
- Taxes on imported cells and modules
- Unsigned power supply agreements (PSAs) and banking restrictions
- Financing issues plus delays in or rejection of open access approval grants and
- The unpredictability of future open access charges
Other issues: India’s storage capacity
- About 34 GW / 136 GWh of battery storage is expected to be installed by 2030, according to the Central Electricity Authority of India.
- This capacity would be used for RE integration, demand-side and peak load management services.
Present state of progress
- Recently, there has been a sharp rise in rooftop solar installations due to falling technology costs, increasing grid tariffs, rising consumer awareness and the growing need for cutting energy costs.
- These factors are expected to persist giving a much-needed boost to this segment.
- Going ahead, rooftop solar adoption is expected to proportionally increase as land and grid-connectivity for utility solar projects are expected to be hard to come by.
Significance of solar power to India’s commitment
- Solar power is a major prong of India’s commitment to address global warming according to the terms of the Paris Agreement, as well as achieving net zero, or no net carbon emissions, by 2070.
- PM at the COP Glasgow, in November 2021, said India would be reaching a non-fossil fuel energy capacity of 500 GW by 2030 and meet half its energy requirements via renewable energy by 2030.
- To boost the renewable energy installation drive in the long term, the Centre in 2020 set a target of 450GW of RE capacity to be achieved by 2030, within which the target for solar was 300GW.
- Given the challenge of integrating variable renewable energy into the grid, most of the RE capacity installed in the latter half of this decade is likely to be based on wind solar hybrid (WSH).
Way forward
- Supportive policies and innovative technological approaches are needed for the sector to achieve its potential.
- Indian policymakers need to plan for rooftop solar plus storage, rather than rooftop solar alone with the grid as storage (net / gross metering).
- The declining cost of storage solutions, along with that of rooftop solar solutions, is likely to change the future of the Indian power sector.
- Several countries such as Australia, the United States, Germany, among others have already endorsed solar power with battery storage.
- Energy storage, therefore, represents a huge economic opportunity for India.
- The creation of a conducive battery manufacturing ecosystem on a fast track could cement India’s opportunity for radical economic and industrial transformation in a critical and fast-growing global market.
Also read:
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UN confers Observer Status on International Solar Alliance (ISA)
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: International Solar Alliance (ISA)
Mains level: Success of the ISA
The UN General Assembly has conferred Observer Status to the International Solar Alliance (ISA).
Significance of ‘Observer’ Status
- Observer status is a privilege granted by some organizations to non-members to give them the ability to participate in the organization’s activities.
- It is often granted by intergovernmental organizations (IGO) to non-member parties and international nongovernmental organizations (INGO) that have an interest in the IGO’s activities.
- Observers generally have a limited ability to participate in the IGO, lacking the ability to vote or propose resolutions.
About International Solar Alliance (ISA)
Hq: Gurugram, India
- The ISA is an alliance of more than 121 countries, most of them being sunshine countries, which lie either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.
- The primary objective of the alliance is to work for efficient exploitation of solar energy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
- The alliance is a treaty-based inter-governmental organization.
- The initiative was launched by PM Modi at the India Africa Summit and a meeting of member countries ahead of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in November 2015.
- A total of 80 countries have signed and ratified the ISA Framework Agreement and 101 countries have only signed the agreement.
Objectives of the ISA
- To mobilize investments of more than USD 1000 billion by 2030
- To take coordinated action for better harmonization, aggregation of demand, risk and resources, for promoting solar finance, solar technologies, innovation, R&D, capacity building etc.
- Reduce the cost of finance to increase investments in solar energy in member countries
- Scale up applications of solar technologies in member countries
- Facilitate collaborative research and development (R&D) activities in solar energy technologies among member countries
- Promote a common cyber platform for networking, cooperation and exchange of ideas among member countries
What does ISA formation signify?
- Climate action commitment: It symbolizes about the sincerity of the developing nations towards their concern about climate change and to switch to a low-carbon growth path.
- Clean energy: India’s pledge to the Paris summit offered to bring 40% of its electricity generation capacity from non-fossil sources (renewable, large hydro, and nuclear) by 2030.
- Global electrification: India has pledged to let solar energy reach to the most unconnected villages and communities and also towards creating a clean planet.
- Global cooperation: It is based on world cooperation irrespective of global boundaries.
- India’s Soft power: For India, possible additional benefits from the alliance can be a strengthening of ties with the major African countries and increasing goodwill for India among them.
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Type Of Technologies in Solar Panels
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Types of technologies in PV cells
Mains level: Paper 3- Adoption of new technologies in solar power sector
Context
Large-scale solar projects in Tamil Nadu have seen rapid growth in recent years. By embracing advances in solar technologies, India can continue to lead in this sector.
Factors driving growth
- In the past five years, the cumulative installed capacity witnessed a four-fold increase in Tamil Nadu to 4.4 GW, as of March 2021.
- High insolation level: Aiding this capacity addition is the State’s reasonably high insolation levels and matching solar potential, estimated at 279GW.
- Decline in price: The sharp decline in the prices for solar and resulting cost competitiveness is another factor.
- National target: Additionally, in response to the ambitious national targets and to spur sector specific development, Tamil Nadu released the Solar Policy of 2019, aiming for 9GW of solar installations by 2023.
Type of technology use for solar panel
- 1) Mono-crystalline Vs multi-crystalline panels: ‘First-generation’ solar cells use mono-crystalline and multi-crystalline silicon wafers.
- The efficiency of mono-crystalline panels is about 24%, while for multi-crystalline panels it is about 20%.
- Mono-crystalline cells are dominant today.
- Although mono-crystalline panels are priced higher than multi-crystalline ones, the difference is diminishing and will soon attain parity.
- This would result in mono panels being preferred over multi due to their higher efficiency, greater energy yield and lower cost of energy.
- 2) Bifacial solar cells: Newer technologies incorporating crystalline silicon focus on bifacial solar cells, capable of harvesting energy from both sides of the panel.
- Bifacials can augment the power output by 10-20%.
- Within this, the Passive Emitter and Rear Contact technology is predicted to gain popularity. However, it is yet to achieve price parity for large-scale deployment.
- 3) Thin-film technologies: It is classified as the ‘second generation of solar PVs.
- In addition to being used in solar farms and rooftops, thin films with their low thickness, light weight and flexibility are also placed on electronic devices and vehicles, power streetlights and traffic signals.
- Mainstream thin films utilise semiconductor chemistries like Cadmium Telluride with module efficiencies of around 19%.
- Other technologies include Amorphous Silicon and Copper Indium Gallium Di-Selenide.
- Nanocrystal and dye-sensitised solar cells are variants of the thin film technology. These are in early stages for large-scale commercial deployment
- However, the efficiency of thin films is lower than that of crystalline silicon.
- 4) Perovskite: These are grouped as ‘third generation’ and contain technologies such as perovskite, nanocrystal and dye-sensitised solar cells.
- Perovskites have seen rapid advances in recent years, achieving cell efficiency of 18%.
- They have the highest potential to replace silicon and disrupt the solar PV market, due to factors such as ease of manufacture, low production costs and potential for higher efficiencies.
- 5) Use of Graphene Quantum-dots: Graphene is made of a single layer of carbon atoms bonded together as hexagons.
- Solar cells made of graphene are of interest due to high theoretical efficiency of 60% and its super capacitating nature.
- Quantum-dot PVs use semiconductor nanocrystals exhibiting quantum mechanical properties capable of high efficiency of about 66%.
- However, both these are in the early stages of research.
Technologies to better integrate solar PVs into the grid
- These technologies include weather forecasting and power output prediction systems; operation monitoring and control systems; and scheduling and optimisation systems.
- Additionally, automatic systems have been developed for the smooth resolution of output fluctuations.
Way forward
- A portion of the budget for renewable energy targets should be set aside exclusively for new technologies.
- Grants and subsidies can also be provided for their adoption.
- Efforts must be taken to address gaps in research, development, and manufacturing capabilities in the solar sector through sector-specific investment and incentives.
- There must also be greater industry-academia collaborations and funding opportunities for startups.
- A comprehensive sector-specific skilling programme is also required for workers.
Conclusion
All these efforts would help the country become a global player in the solar power sector.
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[pib] One Sun One World One Grid
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: ISA, OSOWOG
Mains level: Solar Energy
The Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has addressed the Ministerial session of the Green Grids Initiative-One Sun One World One Grid (OSOWOG) Northwest Europe Cooperative Event.
One Sun, One World, One Grid
- The mega plan of OSOWOG calls for trans-national electricity grid supplying solar power across the globe.
- It will connect 140 countries through a common grid that will be used to transfer solar power.
- The idea was first floated by PM Modi in 2018 during the first assembly of the International Solar Alliance (ISA).
- The vision behind the OSOWOG mantra is “the Sun never sets” and is a constant at some geographical location, globally, at any given point of time.
With India at the fulcrum, the solar spectrum can easily be divided into two broad zones viz:
- Far East: It would include countries like Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Lao, Cambodia and
- Far West: It would cover the Middle East and the Africa Region
Implementation phases of the plan
The plan is divided into three phases:
- Phase 1: It will connect the Indian grid with the Middle East, South Asia and South-East Asian grids to share solar and other renewable energy resources
- Phase 2: It will connect the first phase nations with the African pool of renewable sources
- Phase 3: It will be the concluding step of global interconnection
How novel is the idea?
(1) Scale of the program
- Not limited by national boundaries, it can tackle global challenges linked to energy.
- It will tackle access for underserved people and communities the world over.
- It will enable 3 billion people to access clean drinking water (via solar pumps), give 2 billion women access to clean cooking and bring light to the homes of 750 million people.
(2) Pivotal moment in India’s energy history
- Going back even further, almost a decade ago, the price of solar energy (then INR 15 a unit) had raised question marks about its commercial feasibility.
- Today OSOWOG envisions dispatching surplus electricity at near-zero cost as India produces the cheapest solar-powered electricity anywhere in the world.
(3) Sustainability
- OSOWOG directly tackles two key problems that are emerging as energy systems try to deliver both energy sustainability and access to underserved populations.
- Countries like Singapore or Bangladesh simply may not have enough empty land to generate solar energy.
- Many nations’ policies also prioritise food security (i.e., devoting land to farming) over solar energy. These countries can still benefit from the solar energy dispatched to them via OSOWOG.
(4) India extending leadership
- Having international associations is not a new trend for the energy sector which already has a strong geopolitical organisation such as OPEC.
- Several countries including China have initiated infrastructure projects in other countries, which is seen as a sign of asserting supremacy by several policy experts.
- While India is a partner nation with most trade associations, with ISA and OSOWOG, it is planning to take a leadership position.
Significance of OSOWOG
- Successful ambitious project: It is obviously a very grand and ambitious project with a looming success.
- Pathbreaking idea: It is also clear that a new energy sector paradigm is needed as we are facing a huge inflection point in electricity generation and consumption.
- Green benefits: Potential benefits include widespread scale up in energy access, abatement in carbon emissions, lower cost and improved livelihoods.
- Energy alternative: With battery and storage technology becoming cheaper, electricity consumption at source end is a more feasible idea for solar power.
Limitations of OSOWOG
- Low financial benefits: This may sound a geopolitically a clever strategy. However, it is to be seen if this makes sense, technology-wise and in terms of financial benefits.
- Cost-sharing challenge: The mechanism of cost-sharing will be challenging, given the varied priorities of participating countries depending on their socio-economic orders.
- Pace of progress: The OSOWOG will turn out to be an expensive, complex and very slow progress project.
- Geopolitical issue: Any disruption caused due to any bilateral/multilateral issues can potentially affect critical services in multiple continents and countries.
- Grid parameters: There is a difference in voltage, frequency and specifications of the grid in most regions. Maintaining grid stability with just renewable generation would be technically difficult.
Way forward
- While India has taken baby steps with ISA, a major investment drive is still missing. This is planned to be achieved through OSOWOG.
- India will need a strong coalition of international partners to realise this vision.
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Back2Basics: International Solar Alliance
- Officially announced during UN Climate Change Conference in Paris in 2015, the ISA is a partnership of solar-resource rich countries.
- Currently, there are 121 countries that have agreed to be members for ISA.
- Most of these are countries with large participation from Africa, South-east Asia and Europe.
- Pakistan and China are not a part of ISA.
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Rooftop Solar Scheme
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Solar Rooftop Scheme
Mains level: Renewable Energy in India
India has added 521 megawatts (MW) of rooftop solar capacity in the second quarter (Q2) of the calendar year (CY) 2021, a 53% increase than earlier quarter showing good signs of popularity.
What is Solar Rooftop?
- A solar photovoltaic (PV) system mounted on a rooftop of a building is a mini-power requirement or feed into the grid.
- The size of the installation varies significantly depending on the availability of space, amount of electricity consumed by the property and the ability or willingness of the owner to invest the capital required.
Why rooftop?
- Rooftop solar with a storage system is a benefit for both, end consumers as well as discoms (power distribution companies).
- A one-kilowatt (kW) rooftop system can produce three to five units of electricity a day.
- The combination increasingly becomes cost-effective for electricity generation compared to the traditional grid supply and diesel generators.
- In 2021, solar and storage will be cheaper than grid supply for most commercial and industrial (C&I) customers.
- The increase in penetration of rooftop solar in the distribution grid will have a significant impact on the stability of the grid.
A viable alternative
- Most housing societies in urban India rely on diesel generators for power backup. However, as power availability improves in the country, diesel generators will become redundant.
- The operational cost of diesel generators is quite high— R16-18 per unit against Rs 5-6 a unit for solar rooftop systems. So rooftop solar power makes financial sense.Solar rooftop is also a perfect solution for commercial and institutional buildings that operate mostly during the day.
- Their rooftops can be utilized to generate electricity, and they can, partially or completely, replace diesel generators. This would also help them reduce their electricity bills.
Question of energy storage
- In order to integrate rooftop solar and electric vehicles, the grid needs to be flexible and smart.
- Energy storage systems will play a key role in providing this flexibility by acting as a load when there is a surplus generation, as well as generating sources when there is a supply shortage.
- There are two major methods of integrating battery storage into the electric grid:
- Front-of-the-meter (FTM): It is implemented at the utility scale, wherein the battery system is connected to the transmission or distribution network that ensures grid reliability. This happens on a considerably large scale (~MWh scale).
- Behind-the-meter (BTM): The other method is implemented at the residential and commercial/industrial level, mainly to provide backup during a power failure or to store excess locally generated energy from solar rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems.
India’s storage capacity
- About 34 GW / 136 GWh of battery storage is expected to be installed by 2030, according to the Central Electricity Authority of India.
- This capacity would be used for RE integration, demand-side and peak load management services.
Storage challenges
- The solar segment offers a huge market opportunity for advanced battery technologies.
- However, manufacturers have some ground to cover in addressing technical limitations of batteries, such as charging characteristics, thermal performance and requirement of boost current to charge deep cycle batteries.
- Since solar companies may directly procure batteries from manufacturers and require after-sale services and technical support, battery companies should have wider a presence to address these expectations.
Other key challenges
- Rooftop solar source doesn’t match the rise in renewable energy in India.
- While industrial and commercial consumers account for 70% of total installed capacity residential consumers remain a big untapped potential to give the boost
- Solar rooftops also face several challenges such as little consumer awareness, lack of innovative government policies or attention, bureaucratic hassles, and limited support from discoms.
Way forward
- Supportive policies and innovative technological approaches are needed for the sector to achieve its potential.
- Indian policymakers need to plan for rooftop solar plus storage, rather than rooftop solar alone with the grid as storage (net / gross metering).
- The declining cost of storage solutions, along with that of rooftop solar solutions, is likely to change the future of the Indian power sector.
- Several countries such as Australia, the United States, Germany, among others have already endorsed solar power with battery storage.
- Energy storage, therefore, represents a huge economic opportunity for India.
- The creation of a conducive battery manufacturing ecosystem on a fast track could cement India’s opportunity for radical economic and industrial transformation in a critical and fast-growing global market.
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Rajasthan’s rural power solution that other states can emulate
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Climate proofing
Mains level: Paper 3- Decentralised model of solar power generation
Power regulatory body in Rajasthan recently ordered discoms to solarise unelectrified public schools. The move has several benefits and therefore can be emulated by the other states as well.
Expanded electricity access in rural areas and shortcomings in it
- Estimates suggest that India has doubled the electrified rural households, from 55% in 2010 to 96% in 2020.
- However, the measure of access to power supply has been the number of households that have been connected to the electricity grid.
- This measure discounts large areas of essential and productive human activities such as public schools and primary health centres.
- And despite greater electrification, power supply is often unreliable in rural areas.
Solar energy: Solution to electrification in remote parts
- To address the above problems, the Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (RERC) has ordered the State’s discoms to solarise unelectrified public schools.
- The RERC has also suggested installation of batteries to ensure storage of power.
- Apart from enabling education, this ruling would benefit several other crucial aspects of rural life.
- The RERC order also directed discoms to seek corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds for the solarising drive and allows schools ownership of the power systems in a phased manner.
- This removes the burden of infrastructure development expenses on discoms, while also ensuring clean energy for the schools.
- The power that is generated could also be counted towards the discoms’ Renewable Purchase Obligations (RPO).
- Large-scale projects are generally financed by companies that wish to profit from economies of scale.
- They are less interested in investing in rural electricity as it is not as lucrative.
- Large-grid based projects add to the supply of power in urban areas, and therefore, only marginally further greater energy access goals.
The decentralised model of power generation
- While Rajasthan has land mass with vast, sparsely populated tracts available to install solar parks, bulk infrastructure of this scale is susceptible to extreme weather events.
- With climate change increasing the possibility of such events, a decentralised model of power generation would prove to be more climate resilient.
- With battery storage, the susceptibility of grid infrastructure to extreme weather events could be mitigated.
- This is called climate proofing.
- As solar installations become inexpensive and with rapidly advancing battery storage technologies, decentralised solar power generation has become a reality.
Conclusion
The ruling by Rajasthan’s power regulator not only helps in increasing access to electricity, achieving targets of renewable energy but also suggests solutions that other States could emulate.
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Ramagundam Floating Solar Power Plant
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ramagundam Solar Plant
Mains level: Not Much
The country’s biggest floating solar power plant, by generation capacity at Ramagundam in Peddapalli district of Telangana is set to be commissioned by May-June.
Try this PYQ:
With reference to technologies for solar power production, consider the following statements :
- ‘Photovoltaics’ is a technology that generates electricity by direct conversion of light into electricity, while ‘Solar Thermal’ is a technology that utilizes the Sun’s rays to generate heat which is further used in electricity generation process.
- Photovoltaics generate Alternating Current (AC), while Solar Thermal generates Direct Current (DC).
- India has manufacturing base for Solar Thermal technology, but not for Photovoltaics.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1, 2 and 3
(d) None
Ramagundam Solar Plant
- It would be one of the renewable (solar) energy plants being developed by NTPC with an installed capacity of 447MW in the Southern Region and the entire capacity would be commissioned by March 2023.
- It will be spread over 450 acres of water surface area in the reservoir.
- It will be the single location largest floating solar plant in the country as of now; 92 MW floating unit at Kayamkulam gas plant in Kerala and a 25 MW unit at Simhadri power plant.
- In addition, we are setting up a 230 MW ground-mounted solar power plant in Ettayapuram near Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu
Why floating solar?
- One of the biggest advantages of floating solar panels is that the installations do not require valuable land space.
- Many of these installations can take up unused space on bodies of water, such as hydroelectric dam reservoirs, wastewater treatment ponds, or drinking water reservoirs.
- Additionally, installing solar panels out on open water reduces the need for tree removal and forest clearing, a practice used in the case of some larger solar panel installations.
- The bodies of water that host floating solar arrays help cool down the solar equipment, which means the panels produce electricity at higher efficiencies in hot climates than they might otherwise.
- The floating solar panel structure shades the body of water and reduces evaporation from these ponds, reservoirs, and lakes.
- This is a particularly useful benefit in areas susceptible to drought, as water loss to evaporation can add up over time and contribute to a shortage.
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[pib] Agriculture Voltage Technology
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: KUSUM Scheme
Mains level: Not Much
An Agri-voltaic system of 105 KW capacity has been developed by ICAR-Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur.
Try this PYQ:
With reference to technologies for solar power production, consider the following statements:
- ‘Photovoltaics’ is a technology that generates electricity by direct conversion of light into electricity, while ‘Solar Thermal’ is a technology that utilizes the Sun’s rays to generate heat which is further used in electricity generation process.
- Photovoltaics generate Alternating Current (AC), while Solar Thermal generates Direct Current (DC).
- India has manufacturing base for Solar Thermal technology, but not for Photovoltaics.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1, 2 and 3
(d) None
Agriculture Voltage Technology
- This technology can increase the income of farmers by the generation of electricity and growing cash crops simultaneously on the same piece of land.
- Under component-I of the KUSUM (Kisan Urja Suraksha Utthan Mahabhiyan) scheme, there is a provision for installation of the agri-voltaic system in farmers’ fields with a capacity ranging from 500 KW to 2 MW.
- Moreover, the National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI) has also documented 13 operational agri-voltaic systems in the country managed by different solar PV functionaries and public Institutes.
About KUSUM Scheme
- The scheme aims to provide extra income to farmers, by giving them an option to sell additional power to the grid through solar power projects set up on their barren lands.
- It was announced in the Union Budget 2018-19.
Component of KUSUM Scheme
The proposed scheme consists of three components:
Component-A
- Renewable power plants of capacity 500 KW to 2 MW will be set up by individual farmers/ cooperatives/panchayats /farmer producer organisations (FPO) on their barren or cultivable lands.
- The power generated will be purchased by the DISCOMs at Feed-in tariffs determined by respective SERC.
Component-B
- Installation of 17.50 lakh standalone Solar Powered Agriculture Pumps.
- Individual farmers will be supported to install standalone solar pumps of capacity up to 7.5 HP. Solar PV capacity in kW equal to the pump capacity in HP is allowed under the scheme.
Component-C
- Solarization of 10 Lakh Grid-connected Solar Powered Agriculture Pumps is included in this component,
- Individual farmers will be supported to solarise pumps of capacity up to 7.5 HP.
- Solar PV capacity up to two times of pump capacity in kW is allowed under the scheme.
- The excess available energy will be sold to DISCOM.
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Solar Power Tariffs in India
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SECI
Mains level: Solar energy and its viability
India’s solar power tariffs have hit a new record low of ₹2 per unit.
Can you relate this?
We have such a lower cost of solar energy. Then why do we rely on coal powered thermal power plants?
Solar energy scenario in India
- India has an ambitious target to increase its solar power base – by 2022, it wants to quadruple its current solar capacity to 100GW.
- A number of industrial-scale solar energy plants have come up in the past few years.
- The government-backed company Solar Energy Corp. of India (SECI) has been auctioning solar energy capacity to various private developers using a bidding process that favours the cheapest tariffs.
Low tariff may seem lucrative
- The record low solar tariffs are mainly due to the “reverse bidding” process, which selects the cheapest bidder.
- India is now said to be considering a ceiling on solar tariffs – a cap of ₹2.5 ($o.035) and ₹2.68 ($0.038) per unit – for solar power companies that use both domestic and imported equipment.
- India imports over 90 per cent of solar equipment including cells and modules from overseas, mainly from China and Malaysia.
- The govt. now is in proves to impose a 25 per cent safeguard duty on solar equipment imports to protect domestic manufacturers, which could further put pressure on the razor margins of solar developers.
Impacts of such low tariff
- With the steep drop in prices, there are also concerns about the quality of the equipment being deployed, raising questions about future regulation and related costs.
- The infrastructure of many solar plants in India didn’t meet many environmental stress factors and technical standards, according to a study.
- India also has a target of increasing its rooftop solar capacity to 40,000 megawatts (MW) by 2022 similar to trends in many European countries.
- But, here too, prohibitive costs of solar equipment have kept many residential property owners from switching to rooftop solar despite a government subsidy.
Back2Basics: SECI
- It is a company of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India, established to facilitate the implementation of the National Solar Mission (NSM).
- It is the only Central Public Sector Undertaking dedicated to the solar energy sector.
- The company’s mandate has been broadened to cover the entire renewable energy domain and the company will be renamed to Renewable Energy Corporation of India (RECI).
- It is responsible for the implementation of a number of govt. schemes, major ones being the solar park scheme and grid-connected solar rooftop scheme etc.
- It has a power-trading licence and is active in this domain through the trading of solar power from projects set up under the schemes being implemented by it.
Reverse bidding Process
In a reverse auction, the buyer puts up a request for a required good or service. Sellers then place bids for the amount they are willing to be paid for the good or service, and at the end of the auction the seller with the lowest amount wins.
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Kisan Suryodaya Yojana
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Kisan Suryodaya Yojana
Mains level: Not Much
PM has launched the ‘Kisan Suryodaya Yojana’ aimed at providing day-time electricity to farmers in the State of Gujarat for irrigation and farming purposes.
Try this question from CSP 2017:
Q. The term ‘Domestic Content Requirement’ is sometimes seen in the news with reference to-
(a) Developing solar power production in our country
(b) Granting licences to foreign T.V. channels in our country
(c) Exporting our food products to other countries
(d) Permitting foreign educational institutions to set up their campuses in our country
Kisan Suryodaya Yojana
- Under the scheme, farmers will be able to avail power supply from 5am to 9pm for irrigation purposes.
- Around 234 transmission lines are to be installed under the scheme. Each line is to carry the power of 66 KW. They are to be erected to a total length of 3,490 km.
- Dahod, Patan, Mahisagar, Panchmahal, Chhota Udepur, Kheda, Tapi, Valsad, Anand and Gir-Somnath have been included under the Scheme for 2020-21.
- The remaining districts will be covered in a phase-wise manner by 2022-23.
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Solar Energy – JNNSM, Solar Cities, Solar Pumps, etc.
One Sun, One World, One Grid (OSOWOG) Initiative
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: OSOWOG Initiative
Mains level: Global collaboration for Solar Energy
The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has put calls for proposals to the One Sun, One World, and One Grid (OSOWOG) initiative on hold till further notice.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Consider the following statements:
- The International Solar Alliance was launched at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2015.
- The Alliance includes all the member countries of the United Nations.
Which of the above statements is/are correct? (CSP 2016)
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
OSOWOG Initiative
- Under the project, India envisaged having an interconnected power transmission grid across nations for the supply of clean energy.
- The vision behind the OSOWOG mantra is ‘The Sun Never Sets’ and is a constant at some geographical location, globally, at any given point of time.
- With India at the fulcrum, the solar spectrum can easily be divided into two broad zones viz. far East which would include countries like Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Lao, Cambodia etc. and far West which would cover the Middle East and the Africa Region.
Implementation
- The OSOWOG would have three phases. In the first phase Phase I, Middle East, South Asia and South-East Asia would be interconnected.
- In the second phase, solar and other renewable energy resources rich regions would be interconnected.
- In the third phase would vie for global interconnection of the power transmission grid to achieve the One Sun One World One Grid vision.
Benefits of the project
- Attracting investment: An interconnected grid would help all the participating entities in attracting investments in renewable energy sources as well as utilizing skills, technology and finances.
- Poverty allevation: Resulting economic benefits would positively impact poverty alleviation and support in mitigating water, sanitation, food and other socio-economic challenges.
- Reduced project cost: The proposed integration would lead to reduced project costs, higher efficiencies and increased asset utilization for all the participating entities.
Issues with project
- It is hindered with the issues of intricate geopolitics, unfavourable economics, unwarranted globalisation and undue centralization that act against the concept.
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[pib] Rewa Solar Project
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Rewa Solar Plant
Mains level: Solar tariff issues in India
The PM has inaugurated the 750 MW Solar Project set up at Rewa, Madhya Pradesh.
Try this question from CSP 2017:
Q. The term ‘Domestic Content Requirement’ is sometimes seen in the news with reference to-
(a) Developing solar power production in our country
(b) Granting licences to foreign T.V. channels in our country
(c) Exporting our food products to other countries
(d) Permitting foreign educational institutions to set up their campuses in our country
Rewa Solar Project
- This project comprises of three solar generating units of 250 MW each located on a 500-hectare plot of land situated inside a Solar Park (total area 1500 hectare).
- The Solar Park was developed by the Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Limited (RUMSL), a Joint Venture Company of Madhya Pradesh Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (MPUVN), and Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), a PSU.
- The Project was the first solar project in the country to break the grid parity barrier.
- This project will reduce carbon emission equivalent to approx. 15 lakh ton of CO2 per year.
Tariff management
- Compared to prevailing solar project tariffs of approx. Rs. 4.50/unit in early 2017, the Rewa project achieved historic results.
- It has a first-year tariff of Rs. 2.97/unit with a tariff escalation of Rs. 0.05/unit over 15 years and a levelized rate of Rs. 3.30/unit over the term of 25 years.
Significance of the project
- The project is also the first renewable energy project to supply to an institutional customer outside the State.
- The Delhi Metro will get 24% of energy from the project with the remaining 76% being supplied to the State DISCOMs of Madhya Pradesh.
- The Project also exemplifies India’s commitment to attaining the target of 175 GW of installed renewable energy capacity by the year 2022; including 100 GW of solar installed capacity.
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What India should do to get its energy transition right
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CEA
Mains level: Paper 3- Challenges renewable energy faces and solutions
The article analyses the problems renewable energy faces in India and suggests the pathways to overcome these challenges.
India’s commitments and goals
- India has committed in the 2015 Paris Agreement to reduce GHG emissions intensity by 33-35% below 2005 levels.
- It also committed to achieve 40% of installed electric power capacity from non-fossil sources by 2030.
- At the UN General Assembly in 2019, we announced a target of 450 GW of renewable energy (RE) by 2030.
Let’s look into CEA study
- The optimal electricity mix study of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), estimated 430 GW non-hydro renewables (280 GW solar + 140 GW wind + 10 GW bio) by 2030.
- Study put thermal capacity at 266 GW by 2030.
- So, it puts the percentage of non-fossil fuel (RE + hydro + nuclear) in installed capacity by 2030 at 64%.
- Which is much higher than India’s Paris commitment.
Coal contradiction
- The target for coal production at 1.5 billion tonnes, which was set in 2015, has been reinforced recently to be achieved by 2024.
- Privatisation of coal mining and recent auctions have given a meaningful thrust to this.
- Looked at the target set for renewable energy, targets for cola production convey contradictory signals.
- The targeted coal production of 1.5 billion tonnes, even by 2030, would mean thermal generation capacity could double over the current 223 GW.
- In that case, even with targeted RE capacity, we will not achieve our emissions intensity Paris commitment.
- Can a global green champion announce doubling its coal production in five years?
Problems with Renewables
1. Policy Issues
- Solar deployment has seen policy challenges both from Centre and states, these include-
- Continuous changes in duty structure.
- Renegotiation of PPAs.
- Curtailment of solar power.
- Extremely delayed payments in some states.
- Policy flip-flops on open access and net metering.
- Delays by state agencies and regulators.
- Land possession difficulties.
- Transmission roadblocks even in solar parks.
2. Solar cell manufacturing constraints
- Our capacity for cell manufacture is 3 GW, though workable capacity is actually around 2 GW.
- Domestically manufactured cells are more expensive and less efficient.
- There is little upgrade in a rapidly changing world of technology.
- 90% of cells and 80% modules are imported largely from China or Chinese companies elsewhere.
- Wafer imports are 100% as we don’t manufacture ingots/wafers.
- For every GW with an average cost of Rs 5,000 crore in 2019, more than half goes to China.
3. Storage constraints
- Hydro pump storage is limited in quantity and there will be an issue of costs.
- The other project is a solar-wind hybrid with batteries installed after a few years.
- Neither intends to meet peak power demand or even the baseload.
- Forecasts suggest lowering of battery costs by 50% by 2030.
- It makes sense to wait before we go for large-scale storage.
Manufacturing domestically
- 1) At the least plan to make 5 GW of ingot/wafer manufacturing capacity urgently.
- We may require electricity supply at about Rs 3 per unit, and dedicated power plants.
- The risk of technology obsolescence would need to be factored in.
- Policy, fiscal and financial support prescriptions should aim at creating globally competitive industry.
- 2) We need to develop batteries suitable for extreme Indian weather conditions but globally benchmarked.
- This demands a mission approach, getting our best people and institutions together, properly funded and tasked to get a battery out in the next three years.
- 3) We must also simultaneously launch a hydrogen mission—target heavy vehicle mobility through fuel cells.
- It may become a solution for RE storage, too.
The issue of supply-demand mismatch
- In the last two decades, we have been overestimating demand and increasing supply.
- Our demand projections for 2030 are wildly high.
- PLF in 2018-19 was 60.30, declining to 56.08 in 2019-20 and hovering around 50% with the Covid-19 impact.
- Even the latest CEA review of ‘optimal’ mix talks of thermal PLF of 59% in 2030!
- This is inefficient and costly.
- Thermal PLF must be taken to over 80%.
The suggested pathways
- 1. Build thermal capacity as per CEA estimates and quickly. None after 2030. Retire inefficient plants. Plan for miner rehabilitation.
- 2. Accelerate RE after 2030 with storage. Aim for 10 GW solar and 5 GW wind annually.
- 3. Develop 5-10 GW ingot/wafer manufacturing capacity urgently and diversify import sources even at some extra cost.
- 4. Develop a battery for Indian conditions in three years; full battery manufacturing in India in five years.
- 5. Revisit the manner of solar generation. Prioritise decentralised and solar agriculture.
- 6. Plan for hydrogen economy with pilot projects and dedicated highways for long and heavy haul traffic.
- 7. Put a strong energy demand management system into place with much stronger energy efficiency and the conservation movement.
Consider the question “Central Electricity Authority finalised the optimal electricity mix study recently setting the targets for the future. Examine the constraints that expansion of solar energy faces and suggest the pathways to overcome the challenges.”
Conclusion
Embracing the RE will help India economically and strategically. It will also help it achieve its targets in its fight against climate change.
Back2Basics: Central Electricity Authority
- Central Electricity Authority (CEA) is an organization originally constituted under Section 3(1) of the repealed Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948, since substituted by Section 70 of the Electricity Act, 2003.
- It was established as a part-time body in 1951 and made a full-time body in 1975.
- The functions and duties of CEA are delineated under Section 73 of the Electricity Act, 2003
Plant Load Factor (PLF)
- Plant Load Factor (PLF) is the ratio of average power generated by the plant to the maximum power that could have been generated for a given time period.
Original Op-ed
https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/what-india-should-do-to-get-its-energy-transition-right/2016648/
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