Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency

The novel coronavirus pandemic has brought the world to a standstill. It has created a lot of uncertainty for many businesses. The outbreak has affected the Indian solar industry, hampering manufacturing and project development. According to CRISIL, 3 GW-solar projects of ₹160 billion are likely to get affected due to delays. This is a matter of concern for Indian project developers. But, amid this gloom, there is a silver lining. There is a lot to discuss about how India has achieved new records in solar power generation.

In the race to achieve India's National Solar Mission (NSM) targets, one important solar technology is slowly disappearing. Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), a solar thermal-based technology for power generation, which showed considerable technical potential, is being sidelined. It is losing out due to economics compared to its rival, solar photovoltaics (PV).

India ranks ninth overall on Ernst and Young LLP's most recent renewables attractiveness Index. Though solar energy has received much attention from the government, this article takes a look at how the nation has fared in other renewable energies important for environment sustainability.

This study evaluates options for deployment configurations of current CSP technologies that may decrease the LCOE or exploit other attributes of the technology that could make it a more attractive investment in India (e.g., shift the time of availability).

The Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP) entered into a tripartite agreement with Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) and Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited (KREDL) to promote RTPV in Bengaluru. CSTEP is using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology to obtain aerial images of the city. A helicopter, coupled with a LiDAR system, flew over the city to map the RTPV potential. The flights covered almost 1,100 sq. km and captured high-resolution images, including topography, buildings and trees.

This chapter covers the integrated analysis component of the program, which provided a critical resource to help define the optimal research agenda. This work includes assessing the solar resource across the various climate zones in India and a coupling of this to the technology roadmaps in India and the United States. The analysis was coupled with mapping optimal site selections for diverse applications of photovoltaics (PV) and concentrated solar power (CSP) from village power to national grid.

The chapter discusses the three distinct themes of the largest set of projects in SERIIUS.

The State’s capacity addition plans seem inadequate to meet projected demand in the next 5 years. If the current situation continues, the State is likely to face about 21-26% annual energy shortfall (12,000 – 18,000 Million units) and 15-17% peak shortfall (~ 2000 MW) in the short-term (2 years) and 13-8% (~10,000 Million Units) and 16% (~2500 MW) in the medium term (5 years). This is after  accounting for all likely capacity addition. This implies that the State will have to rely on widespread load shedding or rely on short-term power purchases.

India’s present installed capacity, 1,62,366.80 MW excluding captive power, allows for a modest per capita consumption of some 800 kWh/capita (CSTEP’s estimate). The mix is dominated by coal, which is only 53% of the capacity but higher when it comes to generation. The generation is insufficient to meet the demand, resulting in a shortfall of both peak capacity as well as energy overall (officially 12.6% and 9.9%, respectively). There is a large push towards increasing supply, with an aim of tripling capacity in the coming 1-2 decades.