ARTICLE | Solar Energy
Solar instrumental to India’s transition to clean energy Ten years ago, a 150-Megawatt (MW) solar plant tender quoted the average tariff at `12.16 per kilowatt-hour (kWh). Today, the tariff is below `2, as per the recent auction conducted by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) in November 2020. This is the right time to build on this opportunity
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his results from steady and effective work towards making solar the centre of renewable energy production in India. Solar energy is one of the most important renewable sources of energy in India, with almost 38.79 Gigawatts (GW) of installed capacity in the country, according to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). MNRE announced in January this year that solar energy has become the leading source of renewable energy in India, leaving behind wind energy (38.68 GW).
Achievements
The Government of India is working to realise its target of installing 100 GW of solar capacity by 2022. In the budget
2020-21, Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Minister of Finance, raised the customs duty on solar inverters from 5 per cent to 15 per cent to promote indigenous manufacturing. Moreover, the Ministry of Shipping is also working with the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to install grid-connected solar power plants in Indian ports such as Paradip Port Trust, Odisha; Kolkata Port Trust, West Bengal; New Mangalore Port Trust, Karnataka, etc., Solar energy can play an essential role in realising the country’s mission under Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) of reducing the emissions intensity by 33-35 per cent between 2005 and 2030. In this regard, the central government had instructed the Solar Corporation of India (SECI) and the National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC)
International Solar Energy has estimated that at the current pace, the share of solar energy in India’s power generation basket will be equal to that of coal-fired by 2040
not to prescribe an upper limit on the tariff in future bids for solar energy. Additionally, Sitharaman allocated Rs 1000 crore in this year’s Budget to SECI, enabling them to float 15 GW of tenders annually. MNRE also launched the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evem Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM KUSUM) scheme to install solar pumps and grid-connected solar and other renewable power plants in the country. As part of this, the central government provides a 60 per cent subsidy to farmers, and 30 per cent of the cost will be provided by the central government in the form of loans, according to MNRE. According to a report titled ‘Ease of Doing Solar 2020’ by the International Solar Alliance (ISA), India is the most favourable market for solar energy in the world due to its ambitious sustainability targets and robust power infrastructures. India is the third-largest job provider country in the world in renewable energy after China and Brazil, according to a study by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The solar photovoltaic segment provides the largest number of direct and indirect jobs (2,04,000) in India, followed by the on-grid solar sector, which offers more than 1 lakh jobs.
Challenges
This year, the biggest challenge to the growth of solar energy was posed by the pandemic, which hit the market and
40 March 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in
