India shines on solar power map in investor’s frenzy
Debasish Choudhury
Regional Editor—Asia/Pacific, Global Solar Technology
India shines on solar power
map in investor’s frenzy
Astonfield Solar, Tata Power, Moser Baer, NTPC, ACME Tele Power announced plans
for 10 - 200 MW solar power projects.
It is no myth that India has the highest period (2007-2012) implemented through the DPSC grid directly starting early 2009.
‘irradiance factor’ in the world, around five the Indian Renewable Energy Develop- For a frame of reference, India’s total
trillion kilowatt hours over the land area of ment Agency (IREDA). It is estimated that grid-connected solar power capacity was
the country. It is estimated that India can the commissioning of these projects will 2.9 MW and the maximum capacity for a
generate 600,000 MW of electricity from entail an investment of US $250 million single plant was only 200 KW or 0.2 MW
the sun, which is enough to supply the (Rs. 1,000 crore) from the private sector as till April 2008, a fraction of the size that
entire need of the country in 2030. developers of these projects. some of these new projects are targeting in
Solar power projects, which have so far Currently, solar power generation order to achieve economies of scale.
been in the fringes of the energy portfolio technology is the most expensive, at US $5 Then came the second booster: the
on account of viability issues, finally got a million (Rs. 25 crore) per MW, as com- National Manufacturing Competitiveness
much needed life-line from the government pared to, say, thermal power, which comes Council (NMCC) proposed the estab-
of India, the Ministry of New and Renew- at US $1 million (Rs. 5 crore) per MW. lishment of a solar mission to the Prime
able Energy, through the solar power gen- However, unlike other sources, there are no Minister under the National Action Plan
eration incentive program announced on recurring costs in solar energy generation, on Climate Change and began also to
January 2, 2008. The Ministry of New and and once installed, the solar power station significantly increase the share of solar
Renewable Energy (MNRE) is the central can go on producing power with practically power in the country’s total energy mix in
arm of the union government spearheading no further costs involved. mid 2008. The mission, being mooted as
the awareness and usage of the renewable Consequently, the ministry asked five an autonomous institution on the lines of
energy sources in the country. The incen- states—Gujarat, Rajasthan, West Bengal, the country’s Space Commission, would
tive offered by the MNRE is to develop and Haryana and Orissa—to generate at least 10 focus on research on all aspects of solar
demonstrate the technical performance MW of power each through solar energy by energy generation, including materials and
of grid-interactive solar power generation 2009. The facilities must be commissioned development and also on converting the
and reduce the cost of grid-connected solar before December 31, 2009, to be eligible available technology into commercially-
power generation. for the financial support. viable products.
Accordingly, the five state government Industry experts suggest that with tech-
Generation-based incentive agencies involved called separate bids for nology getting efficient and even cheaper,
program solar power projects. A record number of the cost of solar power generation would
Under this project, the Ministry will companies came forward and submitted come down over the next eight to ten years
provide a generation-based incentive of bids to put up grid-connected solar photo- and would be even comparable to that of
a maximum of US $0.24 (Rs 0.12) per voltaic power generation projects in all the conventional power plants.
KWh for electricity generated from solar five states.
photovoltaics and a maximum of US $0.20 The West Bengal government laid Flurry of investments
(Rs 0.10) per KWh for the electricity gener- the foundation stone of the country’s New solar thermal and grid-interactive so-
ated through solar thermal power plants first grid-connected solar power plant by lar photovoltaic (PV) projects on the anvil
and fed to the grid from a grid-interactive West Bengal Green Energy Development include NTPC Ltd’s plans for a 10-MW
solar power plant of a capacity of 1 MWp Corporation Ltd. (WBGEDCL), an arm solar field at its Anta power project site in
and above. The incentive will be provided of the West Bengal government, along Baran, Rajasthan.
to the project developers at a fix rate for a with DPSC Ltd., in June 2008 at Asansol Another 10 MW demonstration proj-
period of ten years. in Burdwan district. The power from the ect, proposed by Gurgaon-based Acme Tele
MNRE envisaged 50MW solar power 2-MW plant, to be generated to the extent Power, is likely to come up near Nagpur in
generation for the 11th Five Year Plan of 3 million units annually, will be fed into Maharashtra, while the Clinton Founda-
26 – Global Solar Technology – November/December 2008 www.globalsolartechnology.com
issue_2.1.indd 26 2/22/09 9:40:04 PM
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