Representational file picture.
| Photo Credit: Nagara Gopal
By 2026, Indian business will probably be in a position to manufacture solar modules value 100 gigawatts (GW) yearly, and assist the nation be a internet exporter of solar energy. This would considerably assist India’s goal of putting in 500 GW of electrical energy capability from non-fossil sources by 2030, Bhupinder Bhalla, Secretary, Ministry for New and Renewable Energy, instructed The Hindu.
India was to have put in 175 GW of renewable vitality — from solar, wind, biomass and small hydropower sources — by December 2022 however has solely put in 122 GW. Of this, solar energy was to have been 100 GW although solely 62 GW has been put in. A key bottleneck has been the price of solar modules (or panels). While India has historically relied on China-made elements akin to poly-silicone wafers, vital to make modules, greater customs responsibility on them (to make equal India-manufactured elements extra aggressive) has shrunk provide.
“We’ll need about 30-40 GW for our domestic purposes annually and the rest can be used for export. The incentive schemes that are in place are designed to encourage the manufacturers of wafers. We have never had polysilicone manufacturing in India and this is the first time we’ll be making ingots and wafers in India. This is necessary for the future health of the solar ecosystem in India,” Mr. Bhalla instructed The Hindu in an unique interplay.
Apart from module costs, land acquisition has been a significant problem for solar energy producers. Despite the Centre commissioning 57 massive solar parks value 40 GW in recent times, solely 10 GW have been operationalised. “Installing a megawatt of solar power requires on average four acres of land. So various developers face challenges in acquiring it and that’s one reason for the delay. Some projects have been cancelled, for lack of progress, but we expect 40 GW to be fully commissioned in the next two years,” Mr. Bhalla stated.
The future section of India’s renewable vitality growth will probably be led by hybrid initiatives and renewable vitality parks that can host solar and wind initiatives together with battery storage techniques. “States have been demanding consistent, dependable power and that can be done only if solar and wind power is stored [via batteries] and made available on demand. This is, of course, a challenge globally,” he stated.
The travails of the Adani Group of Companies, a number of of which had introduced investments in solar and inexperienced hydrogen infrastructure, wouldn’t considerably influence India’s long-term renewable vitality targets. “While the Adani Group and their commitments to renewable energy are certainly significant, we have multiple other companies that can step in. There is tremendous interest in India by sovereign wealth funds and other investors and so I don’t see any impact on our renewable energy plans,” Mr. Bhalla stated.
He added that the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Uttham Mahabhiyan (PM KUSUM) scheme, which goals to assist farmers entry dependable day-time solar energy for irrigation, scale back energy subsidies, and thereby decarbonises agriculture, was delayed due to the “high cost of finance” for farmers.
Under the scheme, ₹34,422 crore is to be spent by the Centre to have farmers or farmer teams set up solar energy vegetation value 10,000 MW, set up of 20 lakh solar-powered agriculture pumps that aren’t linked to the grid (off-grid), and changing 15 lakh agriculture pumps which are already linked to the grid into solar-powered pumps.
As of December 31, 2022 solely 88.46 MW of solar capability had been added, 181,058 solar pumps had been put in, and 1,174 grid-connected pumps had been transformed. The deadline for the scheme has been shifted to 2026. “We are looking at ways to help farmers access loans from bank at cheaper rates to encourage adoption,” Mr. Bhalla stated.
