The Hindu Business Line : Spotlight on solar

With oil prices up and away, commercial interest in renewable energy is on the rise. While wind energy has been the leader in this segment, both worldwide and in India, a turnaround in solar power is on the cards, with corporates lining up projects worth Rs 80,000 crore in India. As on March 2007, grid-connected solar power capacity was just over 2 MW, while that of renewable energy generation had crossed 10,000 MW. Solar power is dwarfed not just by wind (7,231 MW), but also by small hydro-power (2,014 MW), electricity generated from bagasse (635 MW) and power from urban waste (43 MW). This state of affairs is not unique to India. World solar energy output is barely 1,000 MW against 70,000 MW of wind power. Solar power is unable to realise its potential because the silicon semi-conductors embedded in photovoltaic cells are very expensive to produce, and not quite efficient.

If the cost of production of solar power in India is about Rs 15 per kilowatt hour (Kwh), it is 46 yen per Kwh in Japan and $4-5 a watt in the US. Intensive R&D efforts are on, particularly in the US, Japan and Germany, to improve the energy efficiency of silicon chips. Japan is optimistic about raising the generation efficiency from the current 15-20 per cent to 40 per cent and bringing down generation costs to seven yen per KwH, the cost of thermal power. Nanotechnology firms in the US say solar power can be produced at $1 a watt, half the cost of thermal power. There has never been such a sense of urgency to break the technology barrier in solar energy; apart from the rising cost of oil and coal, the need to reduce greenhouse emissions is driving this impetus.

The Integrated Energy Policy Report 2006 estimates that by 2032, India’s installed capacity for electricity generation will have to go up to five-to-seven times the current level (of about 140,000 MW) and oil requirement by three-to-six times the current level. Energy alternatives to thermal power, based on coal and oil, have to be found at a level that can meet both base and peak loads. Not surprisingly, the government last year announced a capital subsidy for production of photovoltaics and application of nanotechnology to eventually replace silicon-based semi-conductors. Firms trapping solar energy to feed the grid will get a subsidy of Rs 12 per Kwh. While subsidies do not per se make unviable projects profitable, a case can still be made for some form of State intervention to get entrepreneurs interested in sectors that hold the promise of a more sustainable model of economic growth. The fact that oil and coal have turned dearer in recent times makes the case for such intervention just that bit stronger. In time, cheaper and more efficient processes for harnessing solar energy will emerge as the state through its output-based subsidy mechanism would have created the initial conditions so essential for later-day innovations to manifest. The transition has already begun, but in small projects in isolated pockets. There is a long way to go.

Related Stories:
Solar energy sizzles worldwide
Corporates line up Rs 80,000-cr solar, semiconductor projects
India holds potential for solar energy play
Solar energy project to attract private capital
Space mission-type body mooted to give thrust to solar energy

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