India’s solar capacity: Milestones and challenges

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Context

• In 2021, India will have added a record 10 Gigawatts (GW) of solar energy capacity to its total installed capacity. This has been the most significant 12-month capacity expansion, with approximately a 200 percent increase in capacity year on year. As of the 28th of February, in 2022, India has achieved a total installed solar capacity of more than 50 GW.
• This is a significant step forward in India’s goal of generating 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030, with solar power accounting for almost 30% of the total. India’s capacity increases place the nation sixth in the world in terms of solar power deployment, accounting for roughly 6.5 percent of the world’s total cumulative solar power capacity of 709.68 Gigawatts (GW).

Why is India falling short in roof-top solar installations?

• It is symptomatic of the significant drive to increase the number of utility-scale solar projects across the country that there has been a rapid increase in big, ground-mounted solar energy installations. The deployment of RTS is expected to reach 6.48 GW in 2021, falling well short of the Union Government’s aim of 40 GW of RTS by the end of the year 2022. Due to the emphasis on large-scale solar PV, the various benefits of decentralised renewable energy (DRE) choices, such as the decrease in transmission and distribution (T&D) losses, are not being fully exploited.
• One of the key advantages of solar PV technology is that it can be deployed close to the point of consumption, hence avoiding the need for big, capital-intensive transmission system facilities. As a result, India must deploy large-scale solar PV together with smaller-scale solar PV, and it must increase its efforts in renewable transportation systems (RTS). Residential users and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) that wish to install RTS, on the other hand, may find it difficult to obtain financing.
• As a result of this, and the tepid response from power distribution companies (DISCOMS) to adopting net metering, RTS adoption continues to be low across the country. Governments, utilities, and banks will all need to look at new financial systems that will lower the cost of loans while also lowering the risk of investing on the part of investors.
• Increased awareness, as well as inexpensive financing for RTS projects, have the potential to enable the widespread adoption of RTS by thousands of SMEs and households across the country. Roof space consolidation might also assist to lower the overall cost of RTS installations by allowing for the development of economies of scale.

What are the challenges to India’s solar power capacity addition?

• Despite large increases in installed solar capacity, the contribution of solar energy to the country’s electricity output has not kept pace with the increase in installed solar capacity.
• Solar power, for example, generated just 3.6 percent (50 billion units) of India’s total electricity output in 2019-20, which was 1390 billion units. Utility-scale solar PV continues to confront issues such as high land prices, significant T&D losses and other inefficiencies, and difficulty in integrating solar PV into the power grid.
• There have also been clashes with local populations and violations of biodiversity conservation laws and regulations. In addition, while India has achieved record-low solar power generating costs in the utility-scale segment, this has not translated into lower electricity prices for end-users in the residential sector.

What’s the state of India’s domestic solar module manufacturing capacity?

• The country’s current production capacity in the solar energy industry are insufficient to meet the country’s current prospective demand for solar energy. According to a research by Crisil on the issue, India has a 3 GW capacity for solar cell manufacture and an 8 GW capacity for solar panel production as of March 31, 2021, according to the report.
• Furthermore, there is no backward integration in the solar value chain since India does not have the ability to manufacture solar wafers or polysilicon, as is the case in China. During the fiscal year 2021-22, India imported solar cells and modules worth about $76.62 billion from China alone, accounting for 78.6 percent of India’s total imports during that year.
• Reduced manufacturing capacity, combined with lower-cost imports from China, has made Indian products uncompetitive in the local market. A circular economy model for solar energy systems may, however, help to rectify the current issue if India adopted it. This would allow solar PV trash to be recycled and used across the solar PV supply chain, which would be beneficial. By the end of 2030, India is expected to create roughly 34,600 metric tonnes of trash from solar PV installations.
• The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) predicts that the worldwide value of recoverable elements from solar PV waste might be in excess of $15 billion, according to their estimations. At the moment, only the European Union has taken significant measures to address the issue of solar PV waste.
• Developing proper criteria for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), which entails holding manufacturers accountable for the whole life cycle of solar PV devices and defining standards for waste recycling, should be a priority for India. This might provide a competitive advantage to domestic businesses while also contributing to the reduction of waste and the alleviation of supply-chain limitations.

The Best Way Forward

• Identification of Geographical Areas: Renewable resources, particularly wind, cannot be installed everywhere; they require a specific geographic area.
• The identification of these precise areas, the integration of these locations into the main grid, and the distribution of power are the three elements that will propel India into the future.

Exploration: It is necessary to investigate other storage options.

• In order to guarantee that just the necessary quantity of energy is utilised, the agricultural subsidies should be amended.
• Electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell-based vehicles are the most suited solutions when it comes to transitioning away from fossil fuels and toward renewable sources of energy, and it is in this area that we must focus our efforts.

The Hindu link

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/indias-solar-capacity-milestones-and-challenges/article65227709.ece

Question- Despite showing promising growth solar power capacity addition suffers from various challenges. Explain.