Solar power will be useful for common people
The auctioned price of solar photovoltaic (SPV) power per
kilowatt hour has dropped below ₹3 to ₹2.97 in Madhya Pradesh. The progress of
this clean source of energy must be deepened with policy incentives, for
several reasons. Our government must connect millions of people without access
to electricity. There is slow
progress on rooftop solar. Target
will require active participation and investment by the buildings sector, both
residential and commercial. We
should learn from the experience of Germany, where robust solar expansion has been
taking place over the years.
Currently, India needs a lot more good quality power. Solar
power generates growth in both direct and indirect employment. A lot of
sunlight remains to be tapped. Roof top solar power for domestic consumption
certainly has a very large market that needs to be exploited. Surplus power
generated on these rooftops can also be connected to the grid after required
synchronization automatically charging the grid as and when domestic off take
is lower. A model, where authorized entrepreneurs investing on rooftops of
convenient groups of domestic consumers on lease basis instead of individual
owners, would be more cost effective as installation, monitoring, supervision
and maintenance would be more efficient, the further advantage being lower
tariff and relief from burden of self financing and maintenance for the
domestic consumer. This needs to be examined.
There is necessity of promoting rooftop harvesting. India has
a rooftop potential of 1240 GW according to KPMG, a consultant of repute. The
lacuna in the Solar Policy -India’s national Solar Mission (JNNSM) is to be
corrected as soon as possible. Government can very well promulgate a rooftop
policy visualising fast growth of rooftop sector.
A transition from depleting source to renewable source is
inevitable. Going solar is the choice, given the stupendous potential. Fastest
growth is possible through Feed in Tariff. Rooftop harvesting is the easiest.
It is people friendly. The citizens should come forward in large numbers to
install rooftop solar system. Government should proactively bring down the
price
Solar power is able to break the price barrier because the
Chinese government which controls the rare earth market (used in PV cells) is
subsidising the solar companies in China to take out US and other manufacturers
while establishing themselves as the strategic supplier of PV cells going
forward. Already China has gone from 1% market share in solar to over 60% in
the last 15 years. This is being done to attain strategic advantage in
controlling the solar energy market. We may get very cheap solar cells now but
if we do not progress rapidly in this field, then in 40 years when it is
replacement time for these panels, we will be dependent on the Chinese (due to
their control of rare earths) and hence they will control the renewable energy
world geostrategically like how the US controls the oil dependent world now.
The rooftop solar should be provided as a managed service
where house owner leases his space and then pays for the power he uses or an
adaptation of this model. If the solar project is maintained by the Indian government as a viable
one, the energy obtained will be cheaper and easily accessible to the common
people of India. India has the gift of unlimited solar energy that can be
tapped and utilised for productive purposes. Small solar plants can be built up
in villages and towns that can cater to local areas. This source is also
environment friendly compared to coal where human risk is involved to a great
extent.
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