Cement, Energy and Environment

INDIA GOES THROUGH THE ROOF TO REACH FOR THE SUN Seven years from now, passengers looking out of planes flying over India shouldn't be surprised to see swathes of land covered with shiny, black panels staring right back up at them. If the Narendra Modi government is successful, rows of these panels would have been mounted everywhere -on rooftops of buildings across cities, at airports, on trains, at railway stations and, of course, on vast expanses of land quietly generating clean power tapped from the sun. In June, the Union Cabinet approved a plan to increase India's solar power capacity target five– fold to 100,000 megawatts by 2022, equivalent to roughly one-third of the country's current total electricity generation capacity. Rooftop installations will account for a 40% chunk of this target and the remainder will come from medium and large grid-connected projects. No one would argue against the idea of generating 100 GW of solar power in a country like India, which is endowed with abundant sunshine. In most parts of the country, clear sunny weather is experienced for 250 to 300 days a year. Some say the Modi government's agenda is ·overambitious' and question whether the initiative, which requires an investment of Rs 6 lakh crore, will deliver. India's current solar power base is 4,060 MW . The goal can be reached if an average of about 15,000 MW of solar power is added every year. The target is very achievable, Ajay Prakash Srivastava, Director of the Solar Energy Society of India, told ET. "The confusion may be because people think all of the 100 GW will be grid– connected , " Srivastava said. "There are, however, concerns over the tariff issue and how it could in the long term affect the quality of solar power and its reception by people and we feel the government must step in there." Officials at the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy and the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) are busy, if any indication is needed that serious business is under way. "In total , we should have commissioned solar power units to the tune of 12,000 MW by next year. Tenders worth 15,000 MW are in the works. NTPC is expected to put together some 4,000 MW and SECI will bring in near 4,000 MW as well and 2,000 MW will come th rough turnkey solutions, "a senior MNRE official told ET on condition of anonymity. India has started to make all the right moves, the Institute for Energy Economics and Fi nancial Analysis said in a report this month. "A rapid ramp-up in India over several years is just as feasible...Much needs to be done still to turn this intent into action, but a number of recent developments give substance to the objective. As solar becomes more and more commercially viable, the step-up in Indian investment and employment, and the benefits of energy system diversity, will only add momentum," the US institute said. Other elements are unfold ing in India's solar revolution, most notably in the transport sector. The Indian Railways is looking at running its locomotives on solar power and installing panels across station platforms and on the large tracts of land it has. The Indian Railways signed four agreements last week with the MNRE "to bring in a change in the energy mix and solarisation of railways. " The Delhi Metro Railway Corporation is on track to go completely solar -talks are on to supply it with 2,000 MW of solar power through the central transmission network. The civil aviation ministry, too, is working closely on the solar model. Earlier this month, Cochin International Airport became the first in the world to operate entirely on solar power, a template that another 6-7 airports will follow. On a larger scale, 27 "solar cities" have been identified for reducing the consumption of conventional energy by a minimum of 10% in five years by opting for power from renewable sources and adopting efficiency measures. Solar rooftop systems have been targeted on the huge spaces available across government buildings, institutions and properties with public sector units. "Even if a part of this roof space is utilised for setting up rooftop solar power systems, thousands of MW of solar power can be generated, besides saving money for the concerned ministries departments," the MNRE said in a note to all central government 44