India's
Solar Energy Advances and Breakthroughs
A thesis made by
Goldman Sachs in 2003 argues that the economic
potential of India will soon eclipse the economies
of other nations by the year 2050. The economic
boom of India is so strong that environmentalists
now list it as one of the countries contributing
massively to the green house effect as it
industrializes. This is the reason why India
is now studying the possibility of tapping
its huge solar energy potential. It should
be noted that India is ideally situated in
one of the sunniest regions of the planet
and they are merely using 0.2% of their total
solar energy potential of 5,000 trillion kilowatt
hours per year!
The total solar energy potential of India
is very encouraging and because of the country’s
efforts to fully exploit this untapped resource,
India is now the 7th largest producer of Solar
Photovoltaic Cell in the world. While this
may be an outstanding feat globally, locally
this is still not enough because, of the country’s
total power requirements, only 2% are being
produced from solar energy. Solar energy in
India is still in its infancy and they are
still experimenting with the stages of power
generation and development from solar energy.
India’s Solar Energy Beginnings
India was first introduced into the solar
Photovoltaic cell program in the mid 1970s
but they have taken their time in taking serious
steps to promote solar energy in their country.
While the rest of the world was already way
ahead in the Photovoltaic cell program, India
only had 9 companies manufacturing solar energy
cells as by the year 2000. This prompted the
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to initiate
a program to promote solar energy in India.
Many of their innovative programs had perks
like 80% accelerated depreciation, soft loans,
excise duty exemption on many devices and
systems that are used in the production of
solar energy cells.
The country also created the Indian Renewable
Energy Development Agency (IREDA) to help
in the funding of companies that offer credit
for purchasing and producing Photovoltaic
cells.
Starting with the Electricity Act of 2003,
the National Electricity Policy in 2005 and
finally the National Tariff Policy of 2006,
India further accelerated their involvement
in the solar energy resource by providing
a common structure in the regulation of renewable
energy resources all over the country. A significant
move by the government states that they will
further pursue the renewable energy resource
in its energy plan.
India’s Solar energy Today
By the last quarter of 2006, more than 7,068
solar energy water pumping stations for irrigation
and drinking have been installed in India.
This means that about 140,000 liters of water
are being pumped by 200 to 3,000-watt motors
that use solar energy with 1,800 watts of
Photovoltaic cells. India is also using solar
energy in heating, drying, cooking, lighting,
and communications. If totaled cumulatively,
India has so far allocated more than one million
square meters of solar energy collectors Although
the cost of producing solar energy is more
expensive than obtaining energy from fossil
fuels, not to mention the amount of land area
needed for the Photovoltaic cell, research
into solar energy in Indiacontinues and it
is hoped that with further breakthroughs in
technology, solar energy production will be
cheaper and its efficiency will be increased
in the near future.
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