India's Leading Role in Solar Power Generation

India's Leading Role in Solar Power Generation

 

GS-3: Indian Economy

(IAS/UPPCS)

11/05/2024

Source: The Economic Times

Why in news:

Global energy think tank “Amber” recently released a new report “Global Electricity Review (GER) 2024”.

India-specific findings:

  • According to this report, India has overtaken Japan to take third place in solar energy production in the year 2023.
  • According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the contribution of solar energy in electricity generation in India is expected to increase from 0.5 percent in 2015 to 5.8 percent in 2023.

Global findings:

  • In a “net zero emissions” scenario, solar power would increase to 22 percent of global electricity generation by 2030.
  • Renewable energy to generate about 30% of global electricity in 2023.
  • Global solar energy production in 2023 was six times higher than in 2015.
  • Solar energy accounts for about 5.5% of global electricity, remaining the world's fastest growing electricity source for the 19th consecutive year.
  • The top four solar power growing countries – China (+156 TWh), United States (+33 TWh), Brazil (+22 TWh) and India (+18 TWh) together have achieved 75 per cent growth by 2023.

Significance:

  • Solar energy can be vital in helping power generation gain ground not only in reducing carbon emissions, but also in combating climate change.
  • It is critical for India to achieve growth in solar power generation to meet the growing electricity demand in an increasingly electrified economy and also to decouple economic growth from emissions.
  • Solar energy experts believe that the growth of solar industry in India will create new jobs. This will boost the economy. If the use of solar energy can be increased in India, then the GDP rate will also increase. Solar energy can be used for power generation, heating and lighting.

Solar Energy Scenario in India:

  • Presently India's total solar energy capacity has reached 70 GW. According to the Global Status Report 2023 released by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, India is at fifth position in providing solar panels in the world.
  • According to data from 'National Institute of Solar Energy', India has about 748 Gigawatt solar energy potential.
  • The increasing energy demand can be met by converting it into electricity with the help of 'solar panels'.
  • Bhadla Solar Park is the largest in Rajasthan. Its solar power generation capacity is 2.25 GW.
  • Pabagada Solar Park in Karnataka has a capacity of 2.05 GW.
  • According to the Year End Review 2022 of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, solar projects with a capacity of 832 MW have been commissioned in various solar parks during January to October 2022.
  • In the year 2022, Modhera in Gujarat became India's first solar village.
  • In September 2023, Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh became the country's first solar city.
  • In 2018, Diu became the country's first solar island.
  • According to the 2021 data of the International Energy Agency, energy consumption in India is increasing at double the rate since 2000. In almost two decades, 90 crore citizens have got electricity connections, which is increasing India's energy demand by 5-6 percent every year in the future.
  • It is noteworthy that 80 percent of the energy requirement in India is met by coal, oil and solid biomass.

Challenges in development of solar energy:

  • Solar energy is certainly a renewable energy with multipurpose use, but there are many challenges in its development.

Lack of solar panel:

  • Solar energy requires solar panels. For this, India has to depend on China, Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. In the year 2022, solar cells worth about Rs 2.5 billion have been imported from abroad.
  • Solar cells made in India are expensive and low efficiency, so they have to be imported.
  • Solar cells made in India are expensive compared to other countries, because the silicon used in solar cells is made from semiconductor semiconductors, which are in short supply in India.

Major initiatives of Government of India for solar energy production:

  • ‘Suryoday Yojana’: Its objective is to install solar energy systems on the rooftops of one crore houses in the country.
  • ‘Production Linked Incentive Scheme’: It was a big challenge to increase the energy production of photovoltaic cell solar panels and reduce the foreign exchange expenditure on their import. Therefore, the Government of India has started ‘Production Linked Incentive Scheme’ in the field of solar energy.
  • ‘Solar Power Bank’ Scheme: Under this scheme, the government installs solar plants on several hundred hectares of land.
  • National Solar Energy Mission: This mission was launched on 11 January 2010 under the National Action Plan on Climate Change.

Objective:

  • To make solar energy competitive with fossil based energy alternatives and to promote the development and use of solar energy.
  • To reduce the cost of solar power generation in the country through domestic generation.

Other programs:

  • To achieve the renewable energy target of 175 GW by 2022, the following schemes have been launched in the country: Solar Parks, Solar Rooftop Scheme, Solar Defense Scheme, CPU for Solar PV Power Plants on Canal Dams and Canals. Solar Scheme, Solar Pump etc.

PRAYAS Scheme:

  • PRAYAS: Pradhan Mantri Yojana for Augmenting Solar Manufacturing
  • Under this scheme, the government has set a target to generate 40 percent of the total energy from green energy by the year 2030.
  • The Government of India plans to provide government assistance of ₹210 billion to the solar panel manufacturing industry to increase the country's photovoltaic capacity.

Way forward:

  • Electricity generation accounts for almost half of India's annual carbon dioxide emissions (1.18 gigatons in 2023), so accelerating the transition to cleaner generation sources is imperative so that the country can meet both its developmental and climate goals.
  • As part of its national plan to fight climate change, India needs to move faster towards a commitment to achieve 50 per cent cumulative electricity installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030.
  • According to the Ministry of Rural Development, the total barren land in the country is about 5,57,665 square kilometers. This land can be used for installing solar panels.
  • According to the report released by the ‘Council on Energy Environment and Water’, 637 gigawatts of solar energy can be produced on the rooftops of 25 crore houses in India.

Conclusion:

At the UN COP28 climate change conference in December last year, world leaders reached a historic agreement to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030 to curb the negative impacts of climate change.

India is one of the few countries planning to triple renewable capacity by 2030. According to Amber's analysis, India needs a significant increase in annual capacity addition to meet this capacity target.

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Mains Exam Question:

India is moving forward in playing a leading role on the global stage in solar energy production, discuss.