EMPIRE OF THE SUN
We’re racing forward on the solar power front, building parks set to be among the biggest in the world. Can we keep up with our targets? A look at India’s turn towards the sun
Eight minutes and 20 seconds. That’s how long it takes for sunlight to travel to Earth. And India has never been better prepared to receive it. As part of the world’s largest renewable-energy expansion plan, India is banking on sunshine to meet an ambitious target. In four years, it expects to have 175 gigawatts (GW) of energy coming from renewable sources — 100 GW of this to be solar power. In twelve years, the plan is for 40% of all India’s power to come from renewable energy, up from 18% today.
Meeting the 2022 deadline is expected to cost ₹125 billion (₹8.5 trillion), but if we make it, India will be the biggest solar energy generator after China and the US, a daring, expensive dream for a nation whose solar programme started much later.
It’s also a goal India can no longer put off. Electricity consumption has skyrocketed — we now use twice as much energy as we did in 2000, and eight times as much as in the 1970s. “The estimated fuel costs to power India are enormous, and it’s devastating for the environment,” says Divya Charen, a senior analyst specialising in power companies at credit-rating agency India Ratings and Research. More than half our power currently comes from burning coal and natural gas – which pollute, and will eventually run out.
BRIGHT SPARKS
When China started its solar journey a decade ago, the goals were size, speed and efficiency. Unlike the US and Germany, which encouraged rooftop panels to harness sunlight piecemeal, China introduced subsidies, began manufacturing photovoltaic cells on an industrial scale, and covered swathes of land and water in solar parks.
China is now the world’s largest solar power generator. Last year alone, it added 53 GW — more than half of all new global solar capacity in that year. It’s also home to the world’s largest solar park, a 1.5 GW project in the Tengger Desert.
The numbers might look different in the coming years. Falling subsidies suggest China’s solar growth will be slower in 2018. Of the world’s 10 largest parks under construction, only 1 is in China. Five are in India, two of them (See box: Walking on sunshine) bigger than China’s biggest.
By 2022, India expects to have 38 solar parks selling power to state-owned companies to supply to end-users. “Unlike hydroelectric dams, solar parks are easy to build; there are fewer problems with geological sensitivity, losing forest cover and displacing people,” Charen says.
SPACE BAR
India’s biggest parks are being built in Karnataka, Telangana, Rajasthan, Guj- India’s spot among the world’s top energy producers. India’s energy use has doubled since 2000 and is eight times more than in the 1970s. Only China and the US produce and consume more electricity than we do
The proportion of our electricity that comes from renewable sources like wind and solar. More than half our power currently comes from coal.
The rest is from hydroelectricity and nuclear plants
gigawatts:
India’s current solar power capacity. This is twice the amount produced in 2016
gigawatts: The amount of solar power India hopes to produce by
2022. It’s part of a larger plan to generate 175 gigawatts from renewable sources – the world’s largest renewable-energy-expansion programme
billion, or ₹8.5 trillion, is what it will cost to meet the four-year deadline
The number of solar parks India is building across 23 states to meet the deadline
arat... sunny regions with vacant, arid land. But across the country, farms, hospitals, campuses, malls and offices are setting up their own solar power systems.
“Panels are getting less expensive, making the sun’s energy more viable to use,” says Rahul Jigjinni, director of Gruntech Projects, which sets up rooftop and ground-level solar power systems in India.
Urban homes and residential societies, however, haven’t been as enthusiastic. “Institutional projects are easier, there are few decision makers,” Jigjinni explains. “It’s harder to get 150 homeowners to agree to invest ₹60 to 80 lakh in an electrical system that takes 10 years to break even.”
Even if they were enthusiastic, space is an issue. In vertical cities such as Mumbai and Gurugram, there often isn’t enough sky-facing space to install enough panels to generate power for all residents. Also, battery packs to store solar power are expensive and need regular replacing.
CLOUD CONTROL
In the solar industry, size matters, but so does technique.
Grandiose central government plans fumble at the state level. Often, power grids are unable to access, transmit or cope with intermittent supply from solar parks. “Power distribution companies have not been guided on the mix of coal and power use for grids,” Charen says.
In regions where excess solar power is of the world’s 10 largest solar parks under construction currently are in India. By 2019, a massive 2.2 GW park at Bhadla, Rajasthan, will be completed. It will beat China’s 1.5 GW Tengger Desert Solar Park to become the world’s biggest. Plans for an even bigger,
5 GW solar park in Khambhat in Gujarat have been approved
gigawatt: India’s target for rooftop solar power generation in 2018, down from an initial target of 10 GW, then 5 GW
MW (or less than 1 GW): Our rooftop solar power generation in 2017. The dismal show is because of the lack of space in cities, few subsidies, low profit margins for solar companies, and unclear metering policies within states
The amount of electricity India hopes will come from non-fossil sources by 2027. It will help that the cost of the photovoltaic cells used in solar panels is falling fast — already down by 75% since 2009
million: The number of homes still without electricity. Less than 10% of India’s 18,452 villages have 100% household connectivity
being generated, there aren’t enough ways to store it. A series of Green Energy Corridors, with high-voltage lines and renewable energy management centres, are being planned to fix this. Both are delayed.
We need five times more transmission lines in 2018-19 than we installed in the previous year, to keep the power flowing.
A major concern is India’s scattered state policies for rooftop systems that are connected to the electricity grid. “An office complex or mall may use much of its power in the day, while homes tend to use more electricity after sunset, when everyone’s home but the sun isn’t shining,” says Jigjinni. “Institutions with rooftop panels also harness solar power on holidays.”
Net-metering systems — which offset units contributed to the grid against units drawn from it — are a good way to promote rooftop solar use. Customers pay lower bills and recover their costs faster.
“But states have varied polices about it. Some limit the amount of energy you can send to the grid, some don’t want to ‘buy’ from rooftop systems at all,” Jigjinni says.
Charen believes it’s going to be hard to meet the 2022 target. “The total land required to power all of India by the sun isn’t much — an area two to three times the size of Goa,” she says. “Everyone agrees that solar energy is a good investment. But it’s not clear whether we’ll be able to raise those trillions for our growth ambitions. And there’s too much left to do.”