Hyundai Pride of India
Uncovering India’s solar power potential
Dhruv Saxena heads to a solar farm with the Hyundai Kona Electric to bring to light India’s solar power potential and how it promises to propel us towards a cleaner, greener future
Popular opinion the world over indicates that electric mobility is the way forward. Cars like the Hyundai Kona Electric with zero tailpipe emissions promise to help realise our vision of drastically reducing the negative impact of automobiles on the environment. While manufacturers like Hyundai are doing their bit by providing feature-rich EVs with ample range for daily usage, to truly have a meaningful impact on fossil fuel emissions, a more holistic approach needs to be adopted. One of the ways that can be done is by reducing dependency on fossil fuel burning thermal power plants for electricity supply and instead working towards harnessing renewable sources of energy. India receives about 5,000 trillion kWh of solar radiation per year, among the highest in the world. With an estimated solar power potential of 750GW and the current installed capacity of over 37,000MW, India ranks among the top five globally in terms of solar PV capacity and that is certainly a matter of pride.
According to the latest figures, the share of solar power in India’s total installed capacity is 9.4 percent. Indian has been rapidly ramping up overall solar power generation. From 2.6GW in March 2014, the total capacity rose by 11 times over the next five years reaching 30GW in July 2019, according to data shared by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. By 2022, the target is to achieve 100GW of solar capacity and while that seems like a steep ask, it should be noted that the initial target was set at 20 GW by 2022 by the Indian Government, but that was met four years in advance by 2018. India is also home to the largest solar farm in the world – Bhadla Solar Park in Rajasthan – which is spread over 14,000 acres with a total capacity of 2,245MW. There are several other farms of varying capacities spread across the country including the one run by JBM Solar Power that we visited. The solar energy sector in India has witnessed plenty of innovation as well. There are projects that feature solar panels laid out along the surface of an irriga
tion canal thereby eliminating the need to procure land that may be utilised for other applications. It also circumvents the need of paying hefty sums to purchase land for the purpose of a solar farm which usually adds to the cost of electricity supplied per unit. It is also heartening to see smaller towns wholeheartedly embrace newer forms of power generation like solar setting an example for bigger cities to follow suit.
Towards the beginning of the story, we talked about adopting a more holistic approach. Well, the idea is that charging a zero-emissions vehicle with power generated via a renewable source like solar energy will prove to be significantly cleaner helping bring down the overall carbon footprint. Charging an EV using thermal power kind of defeats the purpose of using an EV to an extent because eventually, you are burning fossil fuel to power your car. Currently, the majority of India’s electricity requirement, basically more than 50 percent, is fulfilled through thermal power. So, the Kona Electric we’ve been using for a while is being charged with thermal power which does put a slight dent in the zero-emissions concept. Sure, tailpipe emissions are indeed zero, but it is still being powered by fossil fuel indirectly. Moving forward, India intends to increase the share of renewable energy, which currently accounts for around 36 percent of the total power generated, and solar power is set to play a major role in helping carve renewable energy a bigger slice of the pie. Scaling up solar power generation also
bodes well for domestic manufacturing of solar cells and modules.
Electric cars like the Hyundai Kona rarely make you miss conventional petrol or diesel-powered vehicles. With a real-world range of around 350km, it got us from our office in Noida, UP to Hisar in Haryana 207km away with plenty of charge left for us to drive down to the JBM solar farm as well as the Rajiv Gandhi thermal power plant which added another 100km to the journey. And all this with the air conditioning on along with ventilated seats and liberal use of all the torque on offer for overtakes out on the highway. Practical EVs are already here and with the pace at which solar power production is being ramped up, a future with a drastic reduction in pollution levels seems more real than ever before.