WHY use coal to produce electricity? It will only endanger the environment with its high ash content. Then what are the alternatives? Hydro-electricity, for one. Nuclear energy would be another obvious option. But, getting increasingly relevant are two other, and what seem better, options: wind powers and solar power. In large parts of India solar power should be the easiest to harness considering that sunshine is available practically round the year. Depending on wind power can be somewhat dicey. So, it is said, why not go for solar power?
Many nations are already on the job, like Germany, where solar power has created about 75,000 jobs in 2008. Last year, half of the new solar plants in the world were built in Germany. India needs energy badly. Some 80,000 Indian villages have no electricity and in all, some 40 per cent of Indians have no access to the electricity grid. Indeed, the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) projects a growth of nuclear generation capacity from the present 370 GWE to between 600 and 1,400 GWE by the year 2050. (1 GWE equals 1,000 MWE and one Megawatt is enough to cover the power demand of about 200 homes or 1,000 people). But people are a little cautious or concerned about nuclear plants (remember Bhopal). So solar energy has become a preferred alternative.
In India, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) has set down its aims, identifying development of solar energy in three phases: Phase 1 (2009-2012) aims at producing between 1,000 to 1,500 MW; in Phase II the aim is to produce between 6,000 to 7,000 MW (2012-2017) of energy and in the third quinquennium raise production to 20,000 MW (2012-2017). An ambitious hope indeed, but more easily said than done. In phase I, the aim is modest: deploy solar rooftops (panels) in all government buildings, Public Sector Undertakings, commercial and industrial establishments. And install solar panels in vacant land. That brings us to an important point: use of land. Solar Power is an extremely land-intensive electricity generation option, as anything between five to ten acres of land are needed to generate one MW of electricity. To generate 20 gigawattes (GWs) of installed power, it is estimated that we need 40 million sq. meters of land. Can India afford such land use?
Then there is another issue seldom discussed: the serious environmental ramifications due to the involvement of hazardous waste and processes in the manufacture of solar cells and equipment. No one talks about it. In India, presently, there are about 500 MW Solar PV (photo voltaic ) cells manufacturing capacity, and 1,000 MW Solar PC modules manufacturing capacity. It is not so well known, but India has six active Solar PV cells manufacturers and about 20 Solar Module manufactures. At present, a company called Websol is exporting more than 95 per cent of Solar Cells and Modules to European countries and US.
Within the next ten years, India could turn out to be among the ten global Solar Solution providers and a leading contributor in developing solar power in the Indian market. A beginning has been made. Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Farooq Abdullah has already inaugurated at three MW-capacity plant in Kolar (Karnataka). As he put it in this inaugural address, Karnataka is a leader in solar energy and is doing well in promoting the use of solar water heaters and solar cookers. As of now, the Kolar plant is the biggest solar plant in the country and was constructed at a cost of Rs 58.65 crore. It is expected to meet the needs of 20 nearby villages. The managing director of the plant, SM Jaamdas is quoted as saying that while presently the cost of production is around Rs 14 crore per MW, it is possible to bring it down to between Rs 10 to Rs 12 crore. But even that is too much. Cost is only one of the factors that might keep people away from solar energy.
As of now, the demand for solar energy is very low. Households can go for solar energy but the initial cost is considered high and may not attract customers. It is the government that should come in the picture in a big way. For example, there are solar plants in Belgaum, Kolar and Raichur, each of which is expected to provide three MW of electricity from 11 am to 5 pm which would be enough to run around 600 irrigation pumpsets and irrigate 1,200 acres of land. There are apparently schemes under which the Government of Karnataka can use energy-saving LED (Light Emitting Diode) lights for streets in Bangalore. Apparently LEDs use less power and hence are energy efficient.
No doubt, as the years pass, the production cost of solar energy would come down. According to knowledgeable sources, solar power today cost between Rs 9 to Rs 10 per unit in roof-top photo-Voltaic panels and other applications. It would seem that the National Solar Mission Plan hopes to bring down the cost of solar power to Rs four to Rs five per unit by 2017-2020. But it is still only a hope, Besides, the amount is still higher than the tariff per unit for India’s ultra-mega (coal run) power projects at Sasan (Rs 1.19), Tilaiya (Rs 1.77), Mundra (Rs 2.26) and Krishnapatnam (Rs 2.33). It is one thing to have roof top panels and quite another to manufacture solar energy on a mega-scale to feed urban areas. The problem is land. The biggest Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST) project in the US use between six to ten acres of land per MW of power. If one wants to set up a 100 MW Solar Plant in India, it may require anything between 600 to 1,000 acres of land.
If we presume that the market rate for land is between Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh per acre, just imagine what even a small Solar Project could cost ! It would be around Rs 100 to Rs 200 crore. Who would be so foolish to spend that much money just on the infrastructure? That is only one aspect of the problem. There is the question of use of chemicals in solar technology which are detrimental to health, when released into the environment, either as emissions or discharge as effluents. How is one to deal with them? Just as importantly, it is claimed, is the need for water. According to experts, solar thermal technology, successful in areas with high solar radiation, requires large volumes of water to cool down steam. To quote one expert: “Much like conventional power plants, concentrated solar power plants most commonly use the Rankine Steam Cycle which requires water to cool the system used to power the electric turbine.” Solar Power , then, is not to be taken lightly. But with petrol prices rising, the use of coal being increasingly frowned upon as environmentally unacceptable and nuclear energy having its own detractors, solar energy may come to be taken as inevitable. Time alone can tell.
