Hits and misses: India’s solar power energy targets

News: A report prepared by JMK Research and Analytics and the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis states that India is likely to miss the 2022 target of installing 100 GW of solar power capacity. This is because rooftop solar lagging behind.

What is India’s solar policy?

The National Solar Mission, 2010 started promotion and development of solar power in India. Since 2011, the solar sector has grown at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 59% from 0.5 GW in 2011 to 55 GW in 2021.

India currently ranks 5th after China, U.S, Japan and Germany in terms of installed solar power capacity. As of December 2021, solar installed capacity is 55GW, which is 14% of all power generation capacity of India. In this, 77% are grid connected utility-scale projects.

What does the report say?

As of April, only 50% of the 100 GW target has been met. A 25GW shortfall in the 40GW rooftop solar target is expected. Thus, it is in rooftop solar that the challenges of India’s solar-adoption policy stick out.

What are the reasons for rooftop solar adoption not meeting targets?

In early years, it was held back by the lack of consumer awareness, inconsistent policy frameworks of the Centre/State governments and financing.

Recently, there has been a sharp rise in rooftop solar installations due to falling technology costs, increasing grid tariffs, rising consumer awareness and the growing need for cutting energy costs.

Factors impeding include 1.) pandemic-induced supply chain disruption to policy restrictions, 2.) regulatory roadblocks; 3.)limits to net metering; 4.) taxes on imported cells and modules, 5.) unsigned power supply agreements (PSAs) and banking restrictions; 6.) financing issues plus delays or rejection of open access approval grants.

How critical is solar power to India’s commitment to mitigate climate change?

Solar power is a major prong to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2070. India also has a target to reach a non-fossil fuel energy capacity of 500 GW by 2030.

Way forward: Given the challenge of variable renewable energy, most of the RE capacity to be installed in this decade is likely to be based on wind solar hybrid, RE-plus-storage and round-the-clock RE projects rather than traditional solar/wind projects.

Source: This post is created based on the article “Hits and misses: India’s solar power energy targets” published on 14/April/2022 in The Hindu.