India’s emergence as a
new frontier for solar power has turned it into a key market for solar power
developers. Plummeting prices and a push by the government have made solar
energy a viable option in the sun-drenched country.
Thousands of blinking,
photovoltaic solar panels sprawled in a barren, arid region in the western
state of Gujarat have been lighting up homes for nearly a year.
Asia’s largest solar
energy park, near Charanka village, was established last April by more than a
dozen international companies to produce 214 megawatts of power daily.
Since then, more solar
parks have come on line in a country that produced virtually no solar energy three
years ago.
Amit Kumar at the The
Energy and Resources Institute in New Delhi says rapidly falling prices for
solar energy have made it commercially viable to harness the power of the sun.
“In a year’s time, as
far as progress is concerned we have about 1500 megawatts of solar power and
that is an achievement. Prices are also continuously coming down, and we feel
again the target that cost of solar power should be equal to conventional power,
we feel it could be achieved by 2017 itself,” said Kumar.
Conventional fossil
fuels produce most of India’s power, but the government has set an ambitious
goal of producing 20,000 megawatts of solar power by 2022.
On Wednesday, Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh urged global companies to make India a solar energy hub
at a conference on clean energy.
With nearly 400 million
people without access to power, mostly in rural areas, India desperately needs
new sources of energy. Even urban areas reel under chronic power shortages. And
the focus on solar energy to fill the gap is attracting companies to grab a
slice of the emerging solar power sector.
Some companies are
establishing big solar parks attracted by government assurances to buy the
power at subsidized rates.
Others are producing
small solar systems for village communities. They are companies like Bangalore
based SELCO India, whose solar systems help power low wattage appliances such
as lights, fans, television sets, lamps, mobile chargers and sewing machines.
Prasant Biswal at SELCO
gives an example of how access to power improves the livelihoods of low-income
families.
“You have a sewing
machine which can be powered by electricity, but unfortunately in most of these
areas where there is no electricity, the entrepreneur is forced to use manually
operated machines. When we power it on solar, what happens is instead of
producing 10 or 20 saris, the person produces say about 80 or 100 saris,” said
Biswal.
Analysts say with vast
tropical areas and ample sunshine for much of the year, India could emerge as a
hot market for solar power if government policies continue to support the
sector.
Sources :
http://www.voanews.com/content/india-emerges-as-new-frontier-for-solar-power-developers/1644898.html
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