Photovoltaic Solar Energy a big part of India's future power

from The Indian Express,

SPV Solar Power for Indian sub-continent

Sustainability and the reduction of greenhouse gases are two important issues that confront all countries. Thermal power from fossil fuels is now sought to be replaced as far as possible with hydro, nuclear and renewable energy.

However, large hydro projects of the storage type cause an adverse impact on ecology, nuclear power plants are yet to overcome apprehensions over the final disposal of spent fuel, and renewable energy is either not available on demand or techno-economic issues have yet to be overcome for commercial viability. These drawbacks are miniscule compared to the threat from fossil fuels. In the basket of renewable resources of energy, except solar photo voltaic (SPV), the others are very close to commercialisation.

SPV is, however, cheaper in off-grid and remote locations, due to either the high cost of extending the grid line or limitation of technical feasibility and unavailability of local resources for power generation. SPV power is spreading in remote rural areas as domestic lighting systems and for stand-alone off-grid distribution for specific areas. In the urban areas, where large-scale application is possible and necessary, SPV systems suffer from the constraints of high cost.

To encourage SPV, feed-in tariff has been introduced in developed countries, which ensure the purchase of energy by grid authorities at higher than general tariff from entrepreneurs setting up grid-connected SPV systems to meeting domestic requirements and/or sale to utilities. Feed-in tariff for renewable resources like wind, small hydro and biomass energy is in force in many states with notifications from State Electricity Regulatory Commissions.

It is likely that feed-in tariff for SPV grid connected systems (SPV-GCS) would also be introduced soon in urban areas where power consumption is substantial, to stimulate the growth solar power. With more applications of SPV devices and R&D, technology will improve efficiency and together with bulk consumption, the price will fall.

Depending upon the number of modules arranged in series and parallel, SPV arrays can generate 1 kw to 2 mw, if not more, for linkage with a grid. Going by the market rate, the cost of an SPV-GCS will vary between Rs 22-25 crore per mw. Small, rooftop units (1-3 kw) cost less than a set-up requiring large tracts of land and buildings for the control room and services. This capital cost is no doubt about five times that of thermal power plants costing around Rs 4 crore per mw. As such, SPV systems need subsidy which, along with nominal expenses on operation and maintenance, low interest and liberal depreciation charges, keeps cost per unit within the Rs13-20 per unit range, depending upon subsidy and rate of interest, against Rs 4 for conventional grid power that includes the high cost of fuel. The cost of SPV will fall further by about Re 1 considering its eligibility for CDM benefit under the Kyoto Protocol.

For an SPV system that accounts for 1% of the country's power system network comprising nearly 1,32,000 mw of installed capacity and 1,00,000 mw peak demand, it will be necessary to set up an SPV-GCS of about 130 mw. This will be feasible only with a capital grant or soft loan, or both, besides reasonable feed-in tariff so that entrepreneurs can expect payback within a reasonable period. Feed-in tariff will be three to four times the normal, but it will result in a very minor impact in the overall tariff structure considering total generation from SPV at PLF of about 40% of thermal power and only one-tenth in installed capacity.

The tariff rise will be close to only 1%, which can be shared by the grid utilities and the consumer, to be decided by SERCs. The implications of reducing the cost of SPVs and, thereby, arresting greenhouse gases, are few-but the significance is great. These are attempts, which, in due course, will be tantamount to bringing down the cost of solar power to affordable levels in a decade or so.

Globally, in the installation of 135 gw of renewable energy resources, 7 gw is SPV power, which represent about 2%. In India, out of 10,000 mw (10 gw), SPV-GCS is only 3 mw or 0.03%, which only reflects our backwardness in this field. In wind power, on the other hand, India is the 4th largest global player with 7 gw (7,000 mw) or 9% of world installation of 80 gw. The country is progressing fairly well by advancing overall growth of renewable energy resources to 25-30%, except for grid-connected SPV systems.

The main obstacle to SPV systems is the high cost of finance and imported solar cells, the main ingredients to making modules/arrays and which constitutes 65-70% of the SPV-GCS cost. By setting up manufacturing units in the country based on advanced technology, this problem can be substantially eased. Research on developing cheaper solar cells is progressing.

Internationally, there is gap between supply and demand, which is a key factor in pushing up prices. But prices might soften with a number of new units of highly efficient quality coming up in different countries over the next year.

The potential of solar power in India is much higher than that of developed countries. Harnessing this potential will ensure clean, convenient and competitive power. Despite high costs, initiatives for solar power will yield a favourable result, especially in the context of the high price of oil and threat of global warming.


-The writer is a consulting engineer working in the energy sector. crbhatt@vsnl.com

Renewable energy projects in India bring solar power to forefront

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India becoming a Solar Power - India's Future Energy Demand to be met by clean green energy

by Avilash Roul

The world's largest solar steam cooking system at Tirupathi in Andhra Pradesh

Human civilization has been witnessing a gradual shift towards cleaner fuels-from wood to coal, from coal to oil, from oil to natural gas; renewables are the present demand...

With the fluctuating high cost of petroleum, minimizing dependence on importing conventional energy resources, stewardship to protect the Planet and providing affordable energy to all, countries including India have stepped up their energy path for harnessing indigenous renewable resources. To tap the infinite energy and transform as well as transmit it to each household, the Indian government has accelerated promotion of the use of universally available Solar Energy.

India due to its geo-physical location receives solar energy equivalent to nearly 5,000 trillion kWh/year, which is far more than the total energy consumption of the country today. But India produces a very negligible amount of solar energy - a mere 0.2 percent compared to other energy resources. Power generation from solar thermal energy is still in the experimental stages in India. Up till now, India's energy base has been more on conventional energy like coal and oil. However, India has now attained 7th place worldwide in Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Cell production and 9th place in Solar Thermal Systems. Grid-interactive renewable power installed capacity as on 31.10.2006 aggregated 9,013 MW corresponding to around 7 percent of the total power installed capacity which equates to over 2 percent of total electricity.

Worldwide photovoltaic installations increased by 1,460 MW in 2005, up from 1,086 MW installed during the previous year. That was a 67 percent increase over the 750 MW produced in 2003. In 2002 the world solar market increased 40 percent. Solar Energy demand has grown at about 25 percent per annum over the past 15 years. In 1985, worldwide annual solar installation demand was only 21 MW. According to the IEA's factsheet, "Renewables in Global Energy Supply," the solar energy sector has grown by 32 per annum since 1971. Worldwide, grid-connected solar PV continued to be the fastest growing power generation technology, with a 55 percent increase in cumulative installed capacity to 3.1 GW, up from 2.0 GW in 2004, as per "Renewable Global Status Update Report 2006" (http://www.ecoworld.com/Home/www.ren21.net). Similarly, India witnessed an acceleration of solar hot water installations in 2005. Global production of solar PV increased from 1,150 MW in 2004 to over 1,700 MW in 2005. Japan was the leader in cell production (830 MW), followed by Europe (470 MW), China (200 MW), and the US (150 MW).

In the sun during the day, providing lighting at night,a photovoltaic/battery lantern illuminates the home
India: Status of Solar Energy:

The solar PV program was begun in the mid 70's in India. While the world has progressed substantially in production of basic silicon mono-crystalline photovoltaic cells, India has fallen short to achieve the worldwide momentum. In early 2000, nine Indian companies were manufacturing solar cells. During 1997-98 it was estimated that about 8.2 MW capacity solar cells were produced in the country. The total installed manufacturing capacity was estimated to be 19 MW per year. The major players in Solar PV are Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) (http://www.bhel.com/bhel/home.php); Central Electrtonics Ltd., and Rajasthan Electricals & Instruments Ltd., as well as by several companies in the private sector. The latest, 100 million dollars investment from Tata BP Solar in India is the pointer towards the booming solar market in India. Of late, the market is growing for SPV applications based products with the active encouragement of the government.
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (http://www.ecoworld.com/Home/www.mnes.nic.in), earlier known as the Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources - have initiated innovative schemes to accelerate utilisation and exploitation of the solar energy. Number of incentives like subsidy, soft loan, 80 percent accelerated depreciation, confessional duty on import of raw materials and certain products, excise duty exemption on certain devices/systems etc. are being provided for the production and use of solar energy systems. The Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) - http://mnes.nic.in/annualreport/2004_2005_English/ch12_pg1.htm - a Public Limited Company established in 1987- provides revolving fund to financing and leasing companies offering affordable credit for the purchase of PV systems. As a result, the Renewable Energy Sector is increasingly assuming a greater role in providing grid power to the Nation as its total capacities reached about 9,013 MW. This apart, the Electricity Act 2003, National Electricity Policy 2005 and National Tariff Policy 2006 provide a common framework for the regulation of renewable power in all States/UTs through quotas, preferential tariffs, and guidelines for pricing 'non-firm' power.

However, in the Draft New and Renewable Energy Policy Statement 2005, which is yet be approved, the federal government is very cautious about the status of renewable energy in the future. It says, "despite the fact that the biomass-solar- hydrogen economy is some decades away, it should not make industry and the scientific & technical community of the country unduly complacent into believing that necessary steps for expected changes can wait."

Present Scenario of Solar Power:

The MNES has been implementing installation of solar PV water pumping systems for irrigation and drinking water applications through subsidy since 1993-94. Typically, a 1,800 Wp PV array capacity solar PV water pumping system, which cost about Rs. 3.65 lakh, is being used for irrigation purposes. The Ministry is providing a subsidy of Rs.30 per watt of PV array capacity used, subject to a maximum of Rs. 50,000 per system. The majority of the pumps fitted with a 200 watt to 3,000 watt motor are powered with 1,800 Wp PV array which can deliver about 140,000 liters of water/day from a total head of 10 meters. By 30th September, 2006, a total of 7,068 solar PV water pumping systems have been installed.

A total of 32 grid interactive solar PV power plants have been installed in the country with financial assistance from the Federal Government. These plants, with aggregate capacity of 2.1 MW, are estimated to generate about 2.52 million units of electricity in a year. In 1995, an aggregate area of 4 lakh square meters of solar collectors were installed in the country for thermal applications such as water heating, drying cooking etc. The thermal energy generated from these devices was assessed at over 250 million kwh per year. In addition, solar PV systems with an aggregate capacity of 12 MW were installed for applications such as lighting, water pumping, communications, etc. These systems are capable of generating 18 million kwh of electricity per year. In 2003 alone, India added 2.5 MW of solar PVs. For rural electrification as well as employment and income generation, about 16,530 solar photovoltaic lighting systems were installed during 2004-05. Over 150,000 square meters of collector area has been installed in the country for solar water heating in domestic, industrial and commercial sectors making the cumulative installed collector area over one million square meters. State-wise details of cumulative achievements under various non-conventional energy programmes, as on 31.03.2006 are shown in the table below:

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MINISTRY OF NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGYFUNDED PHOTOVOLTAIC OUTPUT BY STATE

Government-funded solar energy in India only accounted forapproximately 6.4 megawatt-years of power as of 2005

Similarly, India's Integrated Rural Energy Program using renewable energy had served 300 districts and 2,200 villages by early 2006. More than 250 remote villages in seven states were electrified under the program during 2005, with additional projects under implementation in over 800 villages and 700 hamlets in 13 states and federal territories (see table below). Rural applications of solar PV had increased to 340,000 home lighting systems, 540,000 solar lanterns, and 600,000 solar cookers in use.

INDIA'S INTEGRATED RURAL ENERGY PROGRAMREMOTE VILLAGES SELECTED FOR SOLAR ELECTRIFICATION

By 2006 over 2,400 off-grid villages in India hadreceived solar thermal and photovoltaic systems

Future Plans:

An Expert Committee constituted by the Planning Commission has prepared an Integrated Energy Policy that aims at achieving integrated development and deployment of different energy supply sources, including new & renewable energy. The grid-interactive renewable power installed capacity is expected to reach 10,000 MW as on corresponding to a share of over 2 per cent in the electricity-mix, by 31.3.2007. Further capacity addition of 14,000 MW is envisaged during the 11th Plan (2007-12) leading to a then share of around 5 per cent in the electricity-mix but mostly through hydro-power. A 10 million square meter solar collector area capable of conserving electricity equivalent to that generated from a 500 MW power plant is expected to be set up by 2022. India has recently proposed to augment cooking, lighting, and motive power with renewable in 600,000 villages by 2032, starting with 10,000 remote off-grid villages by 2012.

External Support:

A four-year $7.6 million effort was launched in April 2003 to help accelerate the market for financing solar home systems in southern India. The project is a partnership between UNEP Energy Branch, UNEP Risoe Centre (URC), (http://uneprisoe.org/) two of India's major banking groups - Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank, and their sponsored Grameen Banks. As per the existing policy, Foreign Direct Investment up to 100 percent is permitted in non-conventional energy sector through the automatic route. The FDI received in non-conventional energy sector from January 2003 to September 2006 is estimated at around Rs.35 crore. The Multilateral Development Banks like World Bank and Asian Development Bank are also helping India to achieve its potential on renewable resources. But, the funding from MDBs on solar energy enhancement is negligible compare to other clean energy support in India.

solar energy in India article at: http://www.ecoworld.com/Home/articles2.cfm?tid=418