India poised to become global solar power: World Bank...

 

The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission Phase-1 (JNNSM) is well-poised to make India a global leader in the development of solar power as its green growth agenda increased the installed capacity of solar power from around 30 MW to more than 2,000 MW, a new World Bank report said on Thursday.

What is significant is that JNNSM has been instrumental in bringing down the cost of solar power to a level that is competitive across the world, says the report. It has reduced the costs of solar energy to $0.15 per kWh, making India amongst the lowest cost destinations for grid-connected solar Photovoltaic (PV) in the world.

The report, ‘Paving the Way for a Transformational Future: Lessons from JNNSM Phase1’ says solar power can reduce India’s dependence on imports of diesel and coal for power generation, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and contribute to energy security. Growth in this sector will help India increase its share of clean energy and help meet its target of reducing emissions per unit of its GDP by 20-25 per cent by 2020 over 2005 levels.

“In a short span of three years, India has made impressive strides in developing its abundant solar power potential. With more than 300 million people without access to energy and industry citing energy shortage as key growth barrier in India, solar power has the potential to help the country address the shortage of power for economic growth,” Onno Ruhl, World Bank Country Director in India said at the release of the report.

However, while India is clearly emerging as a global leader in the area of solar power, to achieve its target of adding 20,000 MW of solar capacity by 2022, “it needs to address the key barriers and constraints that could come in the way of scaling up the solar program”, he added.

“Building on the success of Phase 1, the programme now needs to focus on promoting financing of solar projects by commercial banks, developing shared infrastructure facilities such as solar parks and identifying comparative advantage of Indian manufacturing across the supply chain,” Ashish Khanna, lead energy specialist and one of the authors of the report said.

The report has recommended publicly developed infrastructure such as solar parks to help increase efficiency and lower costs. A solar park in Charanka (Patan district) in Gujarat is now the largest solar park in Asia. Such shared infrastructure facilities helps in developing critical infrastructure, including facilities for power transmission, roads and water, thereby ensuring the rapid development of solar projects as well as local employment generation, the report added. In addition, India’s plans to develop ultra-mega solar projects will help showcase the potential for large scale grid connected solar projects to the entire world, it says.

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Ladakh to house world's largest solar power project...

 

India is planning to build the world’s largest solar power project in the cold desert of Ladakh. To be built by the Union ministry of new and renewable energy, the project will be able to generate 5,000 megawatts of power, which will be the biggest in the country and the world. The biggest so far was to be built in Rajasthan with a capacity of generating 4,000 megawatt of solar power.

The new power project will be set up in Leh district which is at the altitude of 11562 feet and known as roof of the world. The project requires at least 20,000 acres of land .

“They (Union ministry of new and renewable energy) have asked for 20,000 acres of land where this project could be built. My job is to find out the land and rest of the things are to be done by the government of India,” Simrandeep Singh, district development commissioner of Leh, told.

The district administration of Leh is starting the process of identifying the suitable land within a month’s time. “We have not zeroed in on anything so far. We need a huge patch of land.  Let us see. It (process of identifying land) will be taken up in one month’s time,” he said.

Though no time line has been given, the power project once completed will not only meet the local demand but can make Jammu and Kashmir a power surplus state. Experts said surplus power could be sold to other states as well.
“India has 5000 megawatt hydro power projects. It will be the first solar power project with 5000 megawatt capacity,” said Singh.

Ladakh has a huge potential in tapping solar power. Vast patches of barren land surrounded by gigantic mountains make Leh a suitable place for setting up the solar power plants.

However the power project will take years or even decades to complete given the location disadvantage and climatic problems. “Once the project is complete, we may need a fresh transmission line for power supply and distribution,” said an expert.

Rigzin Spalbar, chief executive councilor of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, however told that the project is just at a proposal stage and it will take another 20 years for completion.

“They are talking of generating 2030 megawatt (of solar power) in another 20 years. This is just a proposal so far,” he said.

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Intersolar India: Auction for 4GW mega solar project to start ‘in months’...

 

At Intersolar India 2013, the joint secretary for the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Shri Tarun Kapoor, said invitations for tenders for the 4GW mega solar project in India will begin in a few months.

Tarun Kapoor said the first 1GW phase is scheduled for completion in three years, and tenders will be invited “in the next three to four months”, The Economic Times reported from the conference yesterday.

The mega solar project’s main aim is to “bring down the cost of power to nearly INR5 (US$0.078) per unit,” said Tarun Kapoor. Currently solar power is around INR6 (US$0.094) per kWh for large projects in India.

Finance for the project was also mentioned as Tarun Kapoor said the project will be gaining “viability gap funding” for up to INR1,000 crore (US$157 million).

The Solar Energy Corporation will be the “sole authority” selling the solar power generated from the mega project, with the entire 4GW project expected to be completed in seven years, Tarun Kapoor reportedly said.

The initial phase is to be developed at Sambhar Lake on more than 7284 hectares of land from Hindustan Salts. The entire project's estimated of INR30,000 crore (US$4.7 billion), the equivalent of INR7.5 crore per MW (US$1.2 million), said Tarun Kapoor. When fully completed, the 4GW project will produce 6,000 million kWh per year to supply the country with energy through the national grid.

The first 1GW phase was announced in September, and is being undertaken by a joint venture between electrical equipment manufacturers, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Rajasthan Electronics and Instruments Limited (REIL) and SSL, the Solar Energy Corporation of India, the Power Grid Corporation of India and the government run hydro-electric power plant developer, SJVN. The joint venture plans to issue the remaining 3GW of tenders in 500MW blocks.

According to Intersolar’s website, Tarun Kapoor also said with the second phase of the national solar mission underway, the Indian PV market will “grow even more rapidly in the future,” continuing that India has an installed photovoltaic capacity of 1.1GW, and India intends to increase this “nine-fold” to 10GW by 2017.

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