Overview
The
The Sun has been worshiped as a life-giver to our planet since ancient times. The industrial ages gave us the
understanding of sunlight as an energy source. India is endowed with vast solar energy potential. About 5,000
trillion
kWh per year energy is incident over India's land area with most parts receiving 4-7 kWh per sq. m per day.
Solar
photovoltaic power can effectively be harnessed providing huge scalability in India. Solar also provides the
ability to
generate power on a distributed basis and enables rapid capacity addition with short lead times. Off-grid
decentralized
and low-temperature applications will be advantageous from a rural application perspective and meeting other
energy
needs for power, heating and cooling in both rural and urban areas. From an energy security perspective, solar
is the
most secure of all sources, since it is abundantly available. Theoretically, a small fraction of the total
incident
solar energy (if captured effectively) can meet the entire country's power requirements.
There
has been a visible impact of solar energy in the Indian energy scenario during
the last few years. Solar energy based decentralized and distributed
applications have benefited millions of people in Indian villages by meeting
their cooking, lighting and other energy needs in an environment friendly
manner. The social and economic benefits include reduction in drudgery among
rural women and girls engaged in the collection of fuel wood from long
distances and cooking in smoky kitchens, minimization of the risks of
contracting lung and eye ailments, employment generation at village level, and
ultimately, the improvement in the standard of living and creation of
opportunity for economic activities at village level. Further, solar energy
sector in India has emerged as a significant player in the grid connected power
generation capacity over the years. It supports the government agenda of
sustainable growth, while, emerging as an integral part of the solution to meet
the nation’s energy needs and an essential player for energy security.
National
Institute of Solar Energy has assessed the Country’s solar potential of about
748 GW assuming 3% of the waste land area to be covered by Solar PV modules. Solar
energy has taken a central place in India's National Action Plan on Climate
Change with National Solar Mission as one of the key Missions. National
Solar Mission (NSM) was launched on 11th January, 2010. NSM is a
major initiative of the Government of India with active participation from States
to promote ecological sustainable growth while addressing India’s energy
security challenges. It will also constitute a major contribution by India to
the global effort to meet the challenges of climate change. The Mission’s
objective is to establish India as a global leader in solar energy by creating
the policy conditions for solar technology diffusion across the country as
quickly as possible. The Mission targets installing 100 GW grid-connected solar
power plants by the year 2022. This is line with India’s Intended Nationally
Determined Contributions(INDCs) target to achieve about 40 percent cumulative
electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel based energy resources
and to reduce the emission intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 percent from 2005
level by 2030.
In order to achieve the above target, Government of
India have launched various schemes to encourage generation of solar power in
the country like Solar Park Scheme, VGF Schemes, CPSU
Scheme, Defence Scheme, Canal bank & Canal top Scheme, Bundling Scheme, Grid
Connected Solar Rooftop Scheme etc.
Various policy measures undertaken
included declaration of trajectory for Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO)
including Solar, Waiver of Inter State Transmission System (ISTS) charges and
losses for inter-state sale of solar and wind power for projects to be
commissioned up to March 2022, Must run status, Guidelines for procurement of
solar power though tariff based competitive bidding process, Standards for
deployment of Solar Photovoltaic systems and devices, Provision of roof top
solar and Guidelines for development of smart cities, Amendments in building
bye-laws for mandatory provision of roof top solar for new construction or
higher Floor Area Ratio, Infrastructure status for solar projects, Raising tax
free solar bonds, Providing long tenor loans from multi-lateral agencies, etc.
Recently,
India stands 4th in solar PV deployment across the globe as on end of 2021. Solar power installed
capacity has reached around 61.97 GW as
on 30th November, 2022. Presently, solar tariff in India is very competitive and has achieved grid parity.
Offgrid Application
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-- Street Lighting
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-- Home Light
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-- Solar Lantern
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-- Solar Pumps
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-- Stand Alone Power Plants (kW)