INDIA SUN TO BLAZE

India's Solar Spree
David Appleyard, March 10, 2010 (Renewable Energy World)

"…Given its abundant, year-round, solar resources, India is perhaps ideally placed to [realize its ambition to install up to 20 GW of solar photovoltaic and solar thermal capacity by 2022]…but the country is also faced with significant obstacles…Rural electrification is a major issue…the investment climate is challenging…[and] a nation of a billion souls is almost starting from virtually scratch.

"…[A]t the end of October 2009 India had installed 3.1 MW of grid-connected solar power in the previous year, bringing total installed grid-connected solar capacity to 6 MW. Off-grid solar, not including solar lighting, water heating etc, is at a similar level of development, with 86 kW installed in the past year and a grand total of below 2.4 MW…"

From a PriceWaterhouseCoopers 2010 presentation. (click to enlarge)

"Nonetheless…the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission expects US $23 billion of investment…[to] achieve grid parity with the cheapest coal-fired capacity by 2030 and establish India as a global leader in solar…Phase one of the three-part programme has already been approved…[It] will span the remaining period of the 11th Plan and first year of the 12th Plan, up to March 2013…to foster 1000 MW of grid-connected (33 kV and above) solar plants, as well as 100 MW of roof top and small solar plants connected to the low tension (11 kV grid) and 200 MW of off-grid solar applications. Rs.43.37 billion ($950 million) of funding is approved…

"…[T]he 1 GW grid-connected target will be through NVVN, a subsidiary of NTPC, the country’s largest utility company. NVVN will directly purchase the solar power from the project developers [at Rs.18.44/kWh (40 cents/kWh) for solar PV and Rs.13.45/kWh (29 cents/kWh) for grid-connected solar power plants (SPPs)]…"

From a PriceWaterhouseCoopers 2010 presentation. (click to enlarge)

"The 100 MW of solar roof top and smaller grid-connected solar power plants will be connected via the local distribution utility with power directly purchased by the companies concerned…[T]he 200 MW of off-grid solar thermal and photovoltaic capacity additions…[will be built] through a combination of low interest loans and central finance…

"Second phase targets include an additional 3000 MW grid-connected by 2017…Ambitious? India is already faced with crippling electricity shortages, peak prices of around Rs 8.50/kWh (US cents 18.5/kWh) and increasing use of diesel generators, costing up to Rs 15/kWh (32.6 cents/kWh), a price similar to that of solar. It has abundant solar resources, and some 400 million people without access to electricity. It is among the world’s top carbon emitters…Some point to the massive expansion in mobile phone and internet use in India, both of which are now close to ubiquitous yet were nonexistent less than a decade ago."