The largest solar power plant in the world is now in our backyard - Hindustan Times
close_game
close_game

The largest solar power plant in the world is now in our backyard

ByNivedita Khandekar
Apr 24, 2018 02:20 PM IST

With the launch of the world’s largest solar plant, India could finally on its way to realising its energy potential.

When launching the .” The target up to March 2017 is 10,500 MW.

This is proof enough that India is on the right track. In its action plan to combat climate change – formally called Intended Nationally Determined Contributions – submitted to the UN, India has promised to increase its renewable energy target to a massive 175 GW, of which solar energy is expected to rise to 100 GW by year 2022. Of this, as much as 40 GW is slated for rooftop solar.

India is witnessing a huge paradigm shift when it comes to solar power. Airports (Kochi went fully solar in 2015), the Delhi Metro, the railways, solar-powered toll plazas, farmers’ cooperatives, canal-top solar generation in Gujarat and even a solar-powered blood bank in Arunachal Pradesh, the list goes on. But the best opportunity that remains as-yet untapped is the ‘roof top solar’ for the vast country as diverse in terrain as India.

Solar energy: an agent of change

Thousands of households across India still live under dark need de-centralised solar power rather than the cost-intensive grid power. Even when government has announced solar parks, and several of them are indeed coming up in many states, it is the off-grid solar power that will and should pave the way for not just for those households in rural, hinterlands but for urban roof tops too, not to mention hundreds and thousands of government buildings across the country.

The government is promoting its Surya Mitra skill development scheme in a big way and has completed training for a large number of youth. This, however, is fraught with its own set of problems. People in rural areas face an absence of point of sales for solar panels, post-sale maintenance and availability of spare parts.

A case in point is the Jammu Kashmir Energy Development Agency’s Surya Mitra youth. Of the 26 persons who completed the training in February 2016, many are still awaiting work. An official associated with the project told me that in absence of adequate opportunities in their own state, the students are mostly referred to institutions outside. “But we are hoping that things will change when the state cabinet approves of the proposed ‘Roof Top Technology’ policy,” he told me.

Not just roof top solar, there is immense potential for research and development in the solar energy field. The challenge is to come up with technology suitable to Indian market requirements even when several private companies, both domestic and foreign, are eyeing a big pie.

In its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions document, India said: “If climate change is a calamity that mankind must adapt to while taking mitigation action withal, it should not be used as a commercial opportunity. It is time that a mechanism is set up which will turn technology and innovation into effective instrument for global public good, not just private returns.”

This technology and finance, coming from private players, needs to be diverted for creating social change and not end up as another cause for capital funding.

Nivedita Khandekar is an independent journalist based in Delhi.

Unveiling 'Elections 2024: The Big Picture', a fresh segment in HT's talk show 'The Interview with Kumkum Chadha', where leaders across the political spectrum discuss the upcoming general elections. Watch Now!
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Share this article
SHARE
Story Saved
Live Score
OPEN APP
Saved Articles
Following
My Reads
Sign out
New Delhi 0C
Friday, March 15, 2024
Start 14 Days Free Trial Subscribe Now
Follow Us On