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Content

• Introduction
• Advantages of Solar Energy
• Government Efforts to promote Solar Energy
• Some Problems faced by Solar Energy Sector
• Some Limitations of expanding Renewable Energy

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Introduction:

• Though India missed the ambitious target of 100 GW of solar power generation capacity by 2022, we still need to keep working on expanding Solar Energy Capacity.
• As per the National Electricity Plan, India aims to reach a target of 185.6 gigawatts of solar capacity by the FY27.

Advantages of Solar Energy

• Renewable Energy Advantages
  • (climate change, pollution, Energy Security, Economic Opportunities, Inclusive growth, cost competitiveness, reduce import deficiency etc.)
• Solar’s advantage over other renewable energy:
  • Available during office hours
  • Longer life equipment
  • Low running cost
  • India’s tropical climate is suitable for solar energy
  • Less damaging then other renewables
    • A new study by WWF and IRENA found that wind and solar power are significantly less damaging than other renewable pathways.
• Solar Energy is becoming more and more competitive

Government Efforts to promote Solar Energy

i. Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) – aimed at achieving 100 GW of solar power by 2022 (60 GW through large and medium scale solar power projects and 40 GW of rooftop solar)

ii. Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha Evan Uttham Mahabhiyan (PM Kusum) aims at providing water and energy security to farmers and enhancing their income by making Annadata also a Urjadata. It focuses on creation of 3 things – Grid Connected Renewable solar power plants; Installation of 20 lakh standalone Solar powered agri pumps; Solarization of 10 lakh grid connected agri pumps.

iii. Steps to ensure easy finance for Solar energy.

• Increased government spending: For e.g., the Budget 2023 allocated Rs 10,222 crore to MNRE which is 45% higher than the previous allocation.
• ‘Off-Grid’ solar projects have seen an increase in allocation to 360 crore which is 6 times higher than last year.
• Financial Incentives: Generation based incentives (GBIs), capital and interest subsidies, viability gap funding, concessional finance, fiscal incentives etc for providing financial support for various schemes have been initiated.
• New tax-free solar bonds.
• Making roof top solar as part of housing loan by banks/NHB.

iv. International Cooperation: International Solar Alliance, One World One Grid etc.

v. New Innovations: Floating Solar Power Plant (for e.g., the 100 MW plant at NTPC Ramagundam commissioned in July 2022) is being set up in various parts of the countries. It brings advantages like no land acquisition requirements, water conservation (less evaporation of water), less dust on power panel etc.

vi. Other steps to promote solar sector.

• Amendments to Electricity Act and Tariff Policy
  • For strong enforcement for Renewable Purchase Obligations and for providing Renewable Generation Obligations (RGO).
• Evacuation of renewable energy through Green Energy Corridor project.
• Amendment to building by laws for mandatory provision of roof top solar for new construction or higher floor area ratio.
• Infrastructure status to Solar projects.
• Provision of rooftop solar and 10% renewable energy as mandatory under mission statements and guidelines for development of smart cities.

vii. Promoting Domestic Manufacturing of Solar PV cells and various components

1. National Programme on High Efficiency Solar PV Modules

• It is a PLI scheme which aims to build an ecosystem for manufacturing of high efficiency solar PV modules in India, and thus reduce import dependence in the area of Renewable energy. It will strengthen Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative and generate employment.

viii. Promoting Competition among States: SARAL index by MNRE ranks states in terms of their
efforts to incentivize rooftop solar.

ix. Skill Development: Focus on skill development of workforce: “Surya Mitra Scheme” launched in May 2015. To create 50,000 trained personnel within a period of five years

Some Problems faced by Solar Energy Sector

i. General Problems faced by renewable energy sectors like finance, technology, human resource,
land, Global Trade Rules etc.

ii. Substandard Equipment and Lack of Accountability: For e.g. in Assam, under DDUGJY, Solar kit was distributed to ensure rural electrification, but when problems occurred either in the panel or the batteries, even within the contract period, the replacements haven’t happened.

iii. Poor Performance of Rooftop Solar Power Projects

• A parliamentary panel (March 2023) has attributed low installation of solar rooftop and wind energy projects as key reasons for the shortfall in achieving India’s renewable energy capacity target of 175 GW by 2022.
• Key Reasons

a. Residential Roof top policy wasn’t very effective. Government’s policy was primarily focused on industrial rooftop.

b. Lack of cooperation from state electricity utilities and distribution companies across India as it could hurt their finances.

c. India still doesn’t have uniform policies around net metering.

d. Lack of awareness amongst public

• • For e.g., not many people are aware that with their home loans they can get loans for solar rooftops too.
  • Further, people are not aware of the financial incentives and attractive return on investment that taking up rooftop solar power solutions can achieve.

iv. Import Dependency:

• Much of India’s solar PV manufacturing uses imported components with parts mostly sourced from China. In the Budget announced in Feb 2022, government has announced a Basic Customs Duty of 40% on modules and 25% on solar cell imports from 1st April.

v. Intermittency -> Lack of energy storage facilities.

Some Limitations of expanding Renewable Energy:

i. Land Acquisition -> Ecological and biodiversity losses: Even dry regions support native vegetation such as grass, herbs and shrubs. They are diverse, ranging from woodland savannas, scrubland and grasslands, to rocky outcrops, ravines and dunes. They have some protected species like black buck and Great Indian Bustard.

ii. Loss of Ecological services – like sequestering of more carbon than if trees were planted on
them. Grazing based livelihoods also support millions in India.

iii. Displacement: In Kutch, communities displaced from their traditional grazing lands by renewable energy projects have been protesting these projects.

iv. Emerging E-Waste Challenge: As per a report by International Renewable Energy Agency (IREA), India could be generating more than 4 million tonnes of photovoltaic waste by 2050.

• Currently, India is recovering about 20% of the photovoltaic waste, rest is dealt with informally. This waste gets accumulated at landfills which in turn cause leaching of toxic metals in soil and water.

Way Forward

i. Increased focus on Rooftop Solar: Development of positive retail led ecosystem to promote rooftop solar.

• Improved policy of rooftop solar – Increased focus on awareness generation.
• Prioritize smart grid and net metering.
• Incentivize discoms by providing them with performance linked incentives.
• Improving Tender Process under DDUGJY: Tender process should be based on a ‘Quality Cost Based System’, a well-accepted methodology for vendor selection globally which evaluates bidders based on technical and quality scores before looking at cost.
• More focus on creating skilled workforce: Government tenders for solar rooftops should have clause for training locals in maintenance by teaching them the required skill sets and generating job opportunities for them.

ii. Agri-Voltaics – Deploying solar panel in a manner which allows agriculture below it.

• Advantages: Reduces evapo-transpiration and saves water; cooling effect of plants improves the efficiency of the solar power panels.

iii. Ensure effective implementation of Social Impact Assessment and Environmental Impact Assessment in large scale projects.

iv. Deal with photovoltaic waste:

• Formulate and implement provisions specific to photovoltaics waste treatment (rather than clubbing it with e-waste). This should also include EPR.
• Pan India sensitization drive about photovoltaic waste.
• More R&D in development of better recycling mechanisms.

v. Other steps discussed under Renewable Energy Section above.