Harnessing Solar energy, Options for India

Executive Summary
The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) announced in December 2009 envisages the
installation of over 20,000 MW of grid-connected solar power and another 2,000 MW of off-grid
solar power by 2022. Since the announcement, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE)
has come up with several rounds of guidelines for various applications and the Central Electricity
Regulatory Commission (CERC) with tariff orders. Given that the current installed capacity stands at
merely 10 MW, to realise these targets, clear long-term policies have to be put in place and
implementation of the policies and projects has to be stringently monitored.
There are three primary solar technologies that convert solar energy into useful consumable forms
of energy:
Solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies convert solar energy directly into electrical energy
using solar PV cells. These can be strung together to form modules and can be scaled from a
few watts to light a single bulb to many megawatts for utility-scale generation. It is this
modular nature of solar PV that lends itself to decentralised generation.
Solar thermal technologies convert solar energy into heat energy for non-electrical use, for
example, in the residential and commercial sectors for heating water, in industries for
thermal heat application, and in agriculture for drying. Thus, these have tremendous
potential to reduce fossil fuel usage.
Concentrated solar thermal power technologies (CSP) consist of a configuration of mirrors,
called a solar field that concentrate solar energy on to a receiver, raising the temperature of
the heat transfer fluid it carries, thus generating heat energy, which can be stored and
transferred to a turbine for electricity generation on demand. Most CSP technologies are
meant for utility-scale production.
This report discusses the applications of the first two technologies. CSP technologies are intrinsically
different and merit a separate report.
Over the next few years, large outlays of public and private funds are expected for solar technologies.
Therefore, it is important for the public at large to be educated on several aspects of solar energy –
the techno-economics of its applications, government policies and their implications, and social,
environmental, health and employment benefits. The purpose of this report is to make the basic
information available on solar energy accessible to many. Hence, this report covers several topics
with a broad brush stroke, while it delves into a few applications in detail.
Utility-scale generation is important for India given our large electricity shortfall. On the other hand,
it is small-scale grid-connected generation and off-grid decentralised generation that can enable
socio-economic empowerment to millions. About 16% of villages in India are not connected to the
grid. Furthermore, many households even in electrified villages do not have grid supply due to
difficulties with last mile connectivity. This is where small decentralised solar applications can help
with access to clean energy for everyday needs like lighting and cooking.
The overall goal of the off-grid guidelines of the JNNSM is to achieve wider dissemination of solar
technology, and a generous capital subsidy of up to 90% is offered for rural applications. Even so,
there are several bottlenecks to large-scale dissemination. Primarily, the techno-economics,
financing and institutional mechanisms of several solar applications are not well understood.
Therefore, these form a focus of this study. In addition, this study looks at the Government of India’s
Executive Summary CSTEP | Page 11