Solar energy has become a growing source of power for both commercial purposes and house usage. The increased usage of solar energy particularly in India has been on a rise, which is over 300 times between 2019 and 2020. Various technology innovations have given the customer the ability to opt for a rooftop solar panel not minding the installation cost. This has made the solar energy sector surge high. With the increased usage and demand of solar energy, a business guru and renewable energy expert, Boaz Augustin, co-founding father of BORG Energy India give insight on how India plans to achieve the 100 GW solar target by 2022.
Boaz Augustin, deduced that the target to achieve the Indian government goal of installing a hundred GW solar by 2022 is possible. The increase in the adoption of solar power by customers, coupled with the availability of solar batteries makes this achievable. Moreover, the rooftop panel providers now provide panels of different options, and technology like artificial intelligence and machinery are also transforming the industry. This results in its efficiency and durability.
The Sustainable Development goal of affordable and clean energy has recognized solar energy as one of the greenest ways of generating electricity. Different organizations and countries have encouraged the use of solar energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The Paris agreement with the NDC framework and the Central Electricity Authority determined to stop the use of coal-fired power plants. This hereby encourages solar parks instead. With this in place, prime minister Narendra Modi in 2015 under the national solar mission announced his plan of installing solar power by 2022 in India. To achieve this, the government in the 2018/2019 union budget gave the announcement that there will be zero import duty on parts used in manufacturing solar panels. Also, Atmanirbhar Abhiyan announces that there will be an increase in the economic activities in the country. This extends to the solar manufacturers in the markets.
The decision of the Indian government to increase the usage of solar power should be appreciated by the country. The pollution in the country due to the burning of fossil fuels is on a high rampage. With this government decision, grid-connected rooftop panel installation is now being encouraged in Indian households. Also, a larger amount of ground-mounted solar panels are used in industries for large scale purposes. The high usage of rooftop installation panels will become the future power source of India due to the abundant availability. Indian’s weather, especially during summer, will give them a higher advantage compared to other countries that are trying to venture into solar energy.
To accomplish this target of 100 GW of solar power, the country has decided to set up 37 GW till March 2020 with the help of the Central Electricity Authority.
What are the challenges faced?
Boaz Augustin highlighted the factors slowing down the adoption of the solar system. They include land acquisition, inconsistency in state policies, lack of finance, infrastructure evacuation, and negligence of distribution companies to procure power. The more grid-connected and ground-mounted solar power is installed the higher the demand for large acres of land.
With the use of aesthetic structures, net-metering, eco friendly, homeowners are more enlightened on the use of sustainable energy usage. Also, the beneficiary of grid-connected solar panels can be an advocate, enlightening others on the advantages of converting to a greener energy solution.
Some states also issued plans on how to utilize their wasteland to generate solar and green power projects. These states have demanded their solar panel producers and developers to install 50% of the generating capacity within three years.
Meanwhile, the Covid 19 pandemic has slowed down the Indian economy. This has made it a challenging task to achieve India’s ambition on renewable energy targets. Although India has the potential of achieving this target if various roadblocks are addressed. This can be achieved by educating the residential customer on the importance of using solar power. Also, encouraging rooftop solar panel setups more widely is another step to Indian’s journey to achieving this goal successfully.
The bottom line is if the roadblocks limiting India from achieving this great idea is dealt with, their target goals will be met.
