
Large hydro projects, comprising almost a third of the current power generation sources, have hit numerous roadblocks due to people displacement, global warming, habitat destruction and land submergence. Biomass initially started off well but due to unplanned supply chain issues, has resulted in almost 75% of the 2 GW installed capacity coming to a standstill. Tidal and geothermal are almost non-existent in India while wind has played a significant role in increasing the acceptability of renewables, but hasn’t really contributed to a scalable solution. Biomass has been an abject failure due to fuel price rise, with 75% of the installed 2 GW capacity currently without adequate biomass supply. Wind turbines generate unscheduled power for just a few months, making them unsuitable for mainstream power generation, especially in the Indian context, and were only successful due to huge corporate tax benefits.
That just leaves us with the sun which delivers more than enough
Clean and
The
In the initial programme, CSP (Concentrated Solar Power), aka GemaSolar, but without storage, was touted as a replacement to thermal plants and received majority of the allocation but failed to take off significantly, with deadline extensions and penalty waivers being the norm. There are talks to revive this programme and its success will decide whether solar power can be considered as a base load alternative.
Thermal-concentrated sources of energy are optimal for urban and semi-urban areas. However, towns need to reduce dependence on the grid and adopt the German model, which enables local, as well as distributed power, using net-metering.
The MNRE programmes have barely managed to dent the potential of distributed RE, requiring focused attention and financial muscle to enable the nation on its path towards renewable energy. But MNRE has not paid out a large part of the residential subsidies of 30% of capital costs over the past year due to lack of funds, a serious damper, especially for solar on rooftops. The current VGF programme is scheduled to cost the MNRE Rs 2,500 crore and push solar procurement costs down to below Rs 5.5 per KWh, enabling it to compete with conventional energy.
The essence of solar success lies in empowering the distributed 400 million poor who are currently consuming fossil fuel not touched by the power grid and thus reduce India’s CAD (current account deficit), environmental pollution and health concerns. But there lies the irony. The rural/tribal populace pays nearly twice or thrice the rate of power than those living in cities, but has received minimal attention although the impact is the highest to those using fossil fuel and government subsidies in daily life.
Every unit of power generated has the ability to multiply economic growth, especially in rural areas that suffer from energy paucity due to unreliable connections or load shedding. State governments of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and a few other states have already initiated proactive steps by increasing the state subsidies, in addition to subsidies from the central government, and are also looking at replacing grid-connected agricultural equipment with solar-enabled ones.
Solar has the potential to reduce the current energy peak deficit significantly and improve delivery due to its distributed nature, provided it can get the appropriate financial support from the Centre, as well as all the states. The central government continues to think that grid power, with its huge losses, is the solution. But in reality, distributed energy, delivered to every home and the excess pumped into the grid, would result into least amount of losses while reducing energy generation needs.
Over the next few years, solar power will come into its own, both from financial viability and availability perspectives, with exponential growth in distributed solar, coupled with storage, transforming the entire energy spectrum in India. The future of Indian energy segment is here and it is the Sun that will continue to power our economic and energy growth into the next millennium.
About the author: Ritesh Pothan manages two India-focused renewable energy groups on LinkedIn. He is also a founding member of