Issue 8.5 - Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Australia

An ancient civilisation like India has always
worshipped the sun as the god who bestows life
and sustains it. And, as Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh put it: “It is to this source of energy that
humankind must turn to meet the twin challenge of
energy security and climate change.”
Towards this end, India has drawn up ambitious
plans to generate a staggering 20,000 MW of solar
energy by 2022, a hundredfold increase over the
next 12 years. This makes it the world’s biggest
solar energy project.
Asserting that India has started moving forward in
utilising solar energy with the launch of the
Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission by the
Prime Minister earlier this year under the brand
name Solar India, Minister for New and Renewable
Energy Farooq Abdullah, says that about 1,000 MW
of power would be generated through hundreds of
solar power plants across the country over the
next three years.
“In the second phase, we intend to generate an
additional 2,000 MW by 2015 and strive to achieve
the target of 20,000 MW by 2022. As more and more
players enter the field, the upfront cost of setting
up a power plant will reduce to make its energy
affordable to all,” Abdullah says.
Solar energy can transform India in so many ways.
As the Prime Minister said at the launch, it could be
the country’s next scientific and technological
frontier after the atomic energy, space and
information technology revolutions.
The mission’s success “has the potential of
transforming India’s energy prospects, and
50 | Bhavan Australia | Nov 2010
Tapping the Sun
Solar Energy for 20,000
MW of Power
contributing also to national as well as global
efforts to combat climate change”.
The target of building 20,000 MW of solar
generating capacity by 2022 was “no doubt
ambitious”, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
admitted, “but I do sincerely believe that the target
is doable and that we should work single-mindedly
to achieve it as a priority national endeavour”.
With its abundant sunshine for most of the year,
India is in a particularly advantageous position to
develop solar power. The country gets about 5,000
trillion kWh per year over its land area with most
parts receiving 4-7 kWh per sq m per day.
The major problem with the rapid roll-out of solar
power is its high cost compared to other sources of
power such as coal. Current industry estimates are
that it will cost Rs.17.50 to produce a unit of solar
power, well over double the cost of production
through coal.
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE),
the nodal Ministry for Solar India, says the objective
of the mission “is to create conditions, through rapid
scale-up of capacity and technological innovation, to
drive down costs towards grid parity”.
“The mission anticipates achieving grid parity by
2022 and parity with coal-based thermal power by
2030,” says MNRE’s mission document.
The economics of solar power looks better as the
price of electricity generated from other sources
goes up. The price of electricity traded internally
has already touched Rs.7 per unit for base loads
and around Rs.8.50 per unit during peak periods.