Indian Power Sector

[indian_blues]

India sets out ambitious solar power plan to be paid for by rich nations

India has decided to push ahead with a vastly ambitious plan to tap the power of the sun to generate clean electricity, and after a meeting chaired by the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, it wants rich nations to pay the bill.

Although India has virtually no solar power now, the plan envisages the country generating 20GW from sunlight by 2020. Global solar capacity is predicted to be 27GW by then, according to the International Energy Agency, meaning India expects to be producing 75% of this within just 10 years.

Four-hundred million Indians have no electricity and the solar power would help spark the country's development and end the power cuts that plague the nation. It would also, say some analysts, assuage international criticism that India is not doing enough to confront its carbon emissions. It is currently heavily reliant on highly polluting coal for power.

The plan provoked prolonged discussion at a meeting of the national climate change council in New Dehli yesterday, which resulted in major changes from early drafts. The draft document had envisaged a government subsidy of around $20bn (£11bn), and falling production costs, in order to achieve a long-term 2040 target of 200GW of solar power.

But experts pointed out that a large government subsidy contradicted the Indian government's stated position in the negotiations to agree a treaty to fight global warming. India, along with China and others, has demanded that the costs of clean technologies should be carried by developed nations, which have grown rich through their heavy use of fossil fuels.

Under the revised plan, India's solar mission will seek to achieve its targets by demanding technological and financial support from the developed nations. "In order to achieve its renewable energy targets, the Indian government expects international financing as well as technology at an affordable cost," said Leena Srivastava of the TERI energy research institute.

The move suggests New Delhi could use its solar energy plan as a bargaining chip at the forthcoming climate change summit in Copenhagen. The government reaffirmed its hardline position last month when the environment minister, Jairam Ramesh, told the visiting US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton: "There is simply no case for the pressure that we, who have been among the lowest emitters per capita, [have] to actually reduce emissions." If rich nations do fund the solar plan, the aim of both sides – economic growth for developing countries but with low-carbon emissions – will have been met.

Nonetheless, the plan's optimistic cost projections were debunked at the meeting, leaving it unclear how much money the 2020 target would need. "In terms of vision, it's a very good plan," said Kushal Singh Yadav of the Centre for Science and Environment. "But the nuts and bolts will remain uncertain until we get a fix on how much money is needed, and where it will come from."

Yadav pointed out that India has taken significant strides in wind energy production thanks to a shift in government policy.

Spain, for instance, added 3GW of solar power capacity in just one year in 2008.

In another significant policy shift following the meeting, solar thermal power (which heats water) will be given as much importance as photovoltaic (which generates electricity).

The Tamil Nadu government has already asked for New Delhi's assistance for setting up a 100MW solar thermal plant in the southern state.

India sets out ambitious solar power plan to be paid for by rich nations | Environment | guardian.co.uk

 

[macintosh]

Good thing if they agreed to pay. Also read in today's TOI about Gujrat Govt.'s plan to have investment to the tune of Rs.12000 crore in Rann of kutch for generating Solar power in which many US and international companies are ready to invest.

 

[EnlightenedMonk]

Investing is fine, I'd like to know the following -

• Terms of investment
• Ratio of profit sharing
• Cost of generated electricity

These are the most important factors... Because if the electricity is too expensive, then the rural masses might not be able to afford it...

 

[RPK]

India?s Solar Power Will Generate 20GW Electricity. | Ub News

Monday, India’s renewable energy secretary revealed the fact that our country will rollout a 20 Gigawatt electricity from solar power plan by the end of this year. It is considered as a massive expansion in already installed solar capacity.

Deepak Gupta said “We expect to be able to roll out the plan by the end of this calender year.” “It is in the cabinet and should be okayed in the next couple of months.”
Farooq Abdullah, India’s federal minister for new and renewable energy has stated the fact that India is among the few countries on this Earth with up to 300 days of sunshine annually, making solar energy a viable substitute for this power-starved nation.

Today’s declaration also indicated that regional governments would be the main authorities for approving proposed solar energy projects. The federal government’s role would be limited to making decision on whether projects are eligible for federal grants or subsidies.

Presently India has nine solar cell manufacturers and nearabout 20 module manufacturers. However, it still wants a domestic supplier of polysilicon and other solar materials also a wafer manufacturing capacity.

Manufacturers such as Tata BP Solar are aiming the export market. Present proposals before the government also seems to be aimed at the export market, with reference to a position paper released by SEMI India previously this year.

The Proposals in front of govt. include investments totalling about $20 billion for new solar projects, including one by EDA industry veteran Prabhu Goel, to set up manufacturing facilities under a national semiconductor policy revealed two years ago.

-

 

[Koji]

and contrary to whats reported indian carbon pollution is much lower than China who has 4 times the carbon pollution of India

It's in accordance with the economy size difference.

 

[ajay_ijn]

i think the plan is simply to woo western countries and organisations around the world with paper plans. India simply cannot afford/will not subsidize 20 GW Solar power. if market prices of PV cells fall then its good otherwise our leaders will simply blame western countries for not providing funds to meet targets. Its just that India doesn't want to seen as badguy by not accepting international emission targets. if western countries with all their financial strength are not able to meet the targets then India simply cannot think of it.

US is putting lot of pressure on India & China to accept legally binding emission targets. once India begins high industrial growth rate, there will be lot of more emissions.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

India?s Gujarat to Give Contracts for Solar Project (Update1) - Bloomberg.com

India’s Gujarat to Give Contracts for Solar Project

By Abhay Singh

Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Contracts to build the world’s largest solar power facility in India’s Gujarat state, valued at $10 billion and backed by former U.S. President Bill Clinton, will be awarded by January, a state government official said.

The 3,000 megawatt project will get help with logistics and finding financing from the William J. Clinton Foundation, a charitable group started by the former president, said S. Jagdeesan, principal secretary, energy and petrochemicals in the government of Gujarat. The foundation and the Gujarat government signed a preliminary agreement on Sept. 8.

“The Clinton Foundation will help us in bringing manufacturers and power generators and also in providing access to international funding at cost-effective interest rates,” Jagdeesan said in an interview. “They are facilitators. We will invest in the infrastructure.” The project may be developed on 10,000 hectares of land spread across three locations within an area of 150 square kilometers (58 square miles) in Gujarat.

India has joined China in trying to reduce emissions and dependence on coal by betting on alternative energy sources such as solar and wind. The Indian government is working on a National Solar Mission that envisages putting up 20,000 megawatts of solar power capacity by 2020.

India receives the equivalent of 5,000 trillion kilowatt hours of solar energy a year, the government said response to a parliament question in February. At present, the country has just 2.1 megawatts of installed solar power capacity.

China Deal

First Solar Inc., a U.S.-based renewable energy company, announced this month it will build a 2,000-megawatt solar plant in China. One megawatt is sufficient to power a 10-storey office building.

The Clinton Climate Initiative, a part of the foundation, will help identify manufacturers of solar thermal equipment, which uses the sun’s rays to heat a medium such as water to turn turbines. The manufacturers will be selected in three to four months, Jagdeesan said.

The Gujarat government will set up the so-called solar parks in special economic zones and encourage equipment suppliers to set up manufacturing facilities close to the generation site to reduce costs, he said.

“Three-thousand megawatts is huge,” said Keith Hays, director of research at Emerging Energy Research in Barcelona, Spain. “Most solar thermal projects we’ve seen are several 100 megawatts. With solar thermal, you get more megawatts per square hectare of land” compared with other technologies to harness the sun’s energy such as photovoltaic, he said.

Cheap Financing

The project will take a minimum of five years to develop and the Gujarat government hopes to get cheap financing from multilateral agencies such as the Asian Development Bank, Jagdeesan said.

The state government may include hybrid plants in the project that use both solar energy and natural gas to generate power, Jagdeesan said.

“When there is sunshine we’ll generate using solar and when the sun is not shining we’ll generate using natural gas,” he said. “Gas is available to us in Gujarat. We will provide gas connectivity.”

The Gujarat government, headed by Chief Minister Narendra Modi, has taken the lead among Indian states in promoting solar power. It has allotted 716 megawatts of solar generation capacity to 34 Indian and international developers, apart from the Clinton Foundation-backed plan. The developers include Arlington, Virginia-based AES Solar Energy Ltd., a joint venture between AES Corp. and Riverstone Holdings LLC, and Spain’s Abengoa SA.

“Gujarat is the only state to take this initiative, while many people have just talked about renewable energy,” Ira Magaziner, chairman of the Clinton Climate Initiative, was cited as saying in the government press release announcing the agreement.

The Clinton Foundation focuses on issues such as AIDS, poverty and climate change.

 

[Singh]

kuku as it becomes more widely accepted the cost should come down.

Why should we take the plunge ?
Let America develop a cost-effective kit.

India needs CHEAP power, present rates in India are more expensive than US or China. If we will not be able to provide cheap quality plentiful electricity; our economic growth and development will halt.

One cost-effective way is thermal power plants, we have plenty of coal.

 

[Rage]

India tops with US in solar power

In similar news....

This is significant: Solar and Wind energy production seem to have exploded in India like never before....


India tops with US in solar power

26 Oct 2009, 0530 hrs IST, Chittaranjan Tembhekar, TNN


MUMBAI: The green energy revolution is not miles away from India. The country has emerged as the world’s number one, along with United States, in annual solar power generation.

In wind power production, India ranks fifth in the world. And when it comes to space, scope and facilities for renewable energy expansion, India ranks fourth in the world.

McKinsey & Company, in its survey ended in May 2009, has stated that India has one of the world’s highest solar intensities with an annual solar energy yield of 1,700 to 1,900 kilowatt hours per kilowatt peak (kWh/KWp) of the installed capacity.

This is similar to the US and Hawaii, the two other countries which have been ranked first along with India. After India, US (mainly California state), Hawaii and Spain are the largest solar power producers with 1,500 to 1,600 kWh/KWp followed by Italy, Australia, China, Japan and Germany.

Similarly, in the BP statistical review of world energy, India has been ranked as fifth in the world. While United States contributes 20.7% of the total wind energy in the world, Germany produces 19.6%, followed by Spain (14%), India (8%), China (6%) and Denmark (3%).

According to Ernst & Young’s renewable energy country attractiveness indices, which ranks countries based on regulatory environment, fiscal support, unexploited resources, suitability to different technologies and other factors determining renewable energy growth in a country, India maintains a ranking within the top five countries in the world.

Besides solar and wind, India’s index for development of renewable energy resources in hydropower sector is the fourth topmost in the world after US, Germany and China. Similarly, the country’s development index in biomass is ranked third in the world after US and Germany. Countries like Italy, UK, France, Canada and Australia lag behind India in this world index.

“This implies enormous potential in energy generation running into several hundred Giga Watts with current solar technologies. As the cost of building solar capacity continues to fall over the next five to 10 years, a significant scale-up of solar generation (in multiples of tens of GW) is a very realistic possibility in India,’’ the McKinsey report stated.

It further reveals that India’s biomass potential could be as high as 70 Giga Watts, bagasse 5 GW and agro-waste 18 GW. Use of wasteland for growing feedstock (woody biomass) is another potential source of biomass and a programme to cultivate such crops like poplars and cottonwoods on just a quarter of country’s 80 million hectares of degraded land, it could generate 45 to 50 GW of power.

The Ernst & Young’s report stated that India’s gross renewable energy potential (up to 2032) is estimated at 220 GW.

“Clearly, with a renewable energy capacity of 14.8 GW i.e, 9.7% of the total installed generation capacities of 150 GW (as on June 30, 2009), India has barely scratched the surface of a huge opportunity. However, given that in the last couple of years itself, the share of renewable energy in installed capacity has grown from 5% to 9.7%, India is definitely looking to make up for the lost time rapidly,’’ stated the report.


India tops with US in solar power- Power-Energy-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times

 

[ppgj]

India must win this 20:20 contest

Deepak Puri

India must win this 20:20 contest- View Point-Opinion-The Economic Times

THE 19th century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer put it best. He declared that truth passes through three stages - first it is ridiculed, next it is actively opposed and, finally, it is accepted as being self-evident.
For me the potential of the sun in helping the world deal with its inexhaustible energy needs has passed through all stages of truth to a stage where we now have individuals, companies, governments and heads of state proclaiming that by not harnessing the abundant sunlight we receive, India would be wasting a great source of uninterrupted energy. This has been evident for a long time. However, it is for the first time that we are witnessing seriousness of intent on the part of the Indian government.
In June this year while launching India’s National Action Plan on climate change, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared that the sun would occupy centrestage in making India’s economic development energy-efficient. He said: “We will pool our scientific, technical and managerial talents, with sufficient financial resources, to develop solar as a source of abundant energy to power our economy and to transform the lives of our people.”
The subsequent announcement of a plan to scale up solar power
generation from almost nothing at present to 20 gigawatts (that’s 20,000 megawatts) by 2020 has made the world sit up and take notice. It seems the lure of 20:20 isn’t about to go away. The Indian cricket team won the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007, sowing the seeds for the country’s tempestuous affair with the shortest form of the game. The 20GW in 2020 plan has similar potential to grab popular imagination. Or so I hope.
The 20:20 plan is the great hope for energy starved India. If realised, it will make India a superpower in the renewable energy space and will make power affordable for the common Indian. It is a plan of colossal proportions considering that the entire world can together generate no more than 15GW of solar power today.
There are many people I have met recently who are sceptical about the plan. The question they are asking is: can it be done. And the answer they seem to be coming up with is not in the affirmative. My own view is, yes, it can be done, but it depends on several things changing and several factors combining to make India a solar superpower by 2020.
For more than half-a-billion people in India who still don’t have access to power, I am convinced their biggest hope for a better quality of life lies in the rays of the sun. Solar energy makes the most sense for India. Most parts of the country are blessed with the sun in abundance. Reasons why solar energy makes the most sense for India are many:

• It’s the smartest and most effective way for India to bridge the energy deficit;

• There is no gestation period, unlike large conventional power projects that can take years to get off the ground;

• Solar power installation is modular and it can be scaled up easily; and

• Solar energy, of all forms of potential sources of power generation, has the greatest capacity to meet the country’s peaking power needs.
Most of all, solar photovoltaic can be produced where it is required; hence there are no transmission costs. Equally, it does not have to be consumed where (and when) it is produced. When solar PV energy isn’t needed at the address where it is being produced, it can be seamlessly sold to the electric utility and add to the total grid capacity.
With so much going for it, why isn’t India - and the world - rushing to embrace solar photovoltaic? High costs and limited government subsidies have held back the growth of solar power in India. The solar PV cell and module manufacturers based in India are focused on the European PV market because the margins are better since these markets are supported by government subsidies and feed-in tariffs. The big hope is that the soon-to-be-announced National Solar Mission will address this.
From the customer standpoint, the initial installation cost is high and the cost of power consumed also remains high. However, the recent global economic downturn has indirectly benefitted solar energy. Excess supply has forced the prices of solar panels down substantially.
This dramatic fall in the price of solar panels may have hurt manufacturers but it has been a boon for customers, as the cost of the renewable energy source approaches that of power generated from polluting sources such as natural gas and coal even more rapidly than before we were hit by the downturn. In fact, in terms of daytime peaking power, solar energy may already be grid competitive and over the next five years it will be among the most inexpensive sources of daytime peaking power.
That is why it is difficult to quarrel with the prognosis offered by analysts, who say that the pain we are seeing in the industry right now is going to manifest itself into stronger growth in 2010 and the following years because of the fall in prices. Additionally, R&D efforts that are afoot all over the world, including in India, will almost certainly bring down solar energy prices close to grid parity sooner rather than later.
So, that brings us back to India and the question: is this 20:20 contest winnable. I believe with a clear roadmap, complete with budgetary allocations, clear timelines and a slew of policies and incentives it is doable. The solar push will not come easy. After all, we are talking about the world’s second most populous nation transitioning from fossil-fuel energy - which accounts for nearly 60% of our electricity generation - to solar power becoming a substantial part of the country’s energy mix.
We need to create an eco-system that encourages large-scale capital investment in solar power generation projects. Let’s put solar on the fast track by making it attractive for both producers and consumers. In the Indian context, mandating the use of solar power will have to be a key element in this 20:20 push - I call it using the stick, not the carrot. We need a mandate, whether pushed centrally or through states, that forces utilities to derive a portion of their electricity from solar sources.
Why not mandate, for instance, that all power plants should create a certain additional percentage of their total power generation capacity by building solar farms? Also, that public buildings like airports, railway stations, hospitals, large government offices, among others, mandatorily use solar for a part of their power needs?
All this and more is needed to generate the momentum India needs for realising the 20:20 vision. The vision is not new. In the early 20th century, Thomas Edison said that he would put his money on the sun and solar energy. “What a source of power!” he famously said, adding, “I hope we don’t wait until oil and coal run out.”
We have waited long enough to accept the truth. But now that the truth is self-evident, I hope a large number of green shoots will spring forth through innovation and R&D. By adjusting feed-in tariffs and creating an environment which offers ease of doing business the solar way, India can win this 20:20 contest. It is one contest we cannot afford to lose.

(The author is chairman and managing director of Moser Baer India Ltd, which has ventured into solar power)

 

[ppgj]

India's first grid-connected solar power plant generates 3 lakh units news

12 December 2009

The country's first megawatt size grid-connected solar power plant, set up at Jamuria, in Asansol district of West Bengal, has already generated over three lakh units of power in the last three months, union minister for new and renewable energy Farooq Abdullah said in the Lok Sabha on Friday.

Two more plants of two megawatt capacity each have been set up in Karnataka - at Kolar and Belgaum districts - the minister said, adding, the two plants will add one megawatt capacity each very soon. One more plant of one megawatt will be set up in Raichur district in Karnataka, the minister added.

The ministry of new and renewable energy has recently cleared proposals for setting up another 28 megawatt capacity solar plants in the country. Several private companies are also preparing to set up solar power projects in the country, he added.

Earlier, replying to questions in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, the minister said the country had targeted creation of 20,000 MW solar power grid capacity, including 20 million solar lights in the country by 2022.

In addition, the minister said, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar also aims at installation of 20 million square metres of solar thermal collector area by 2022. The mission will be implemented in three phases.


The first phase of the mission, approved by the government, targets setting up of 1,100 MW grid connected solar plants, including 100 MW capacity plants as rooftop and small solar plants. In addition, 200 MW capacity equivalent off-grid solar applications and seven million square metre solar thermal collector area are also proposed in the first phase of the mission, till 2012-13.

The National Solar Mission will also support research and capacity building activities in solar energy. An amount of Rs4,337 crore has been approved for the first phase of the mission.

domain-b.com : India's first grid-connected solar power plant generates 3 lakh units

 

[CS1.6]

good news,

though the solar power may more expensive, but it should be the trend;

clean energy.

 

[ppgj]

India plans to install 20 million solar lights and 20 million square metres of solar panel to generate 20,000 MW by 2022 as part of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah said on Monday.

The Hindu : Sci-Tech / Energy & Environment : 20 m. solar lights planned by 2022

 

[LETHALFORCE]

India Outlines First Phase of 22 GW National Solar Mission = 1.3 GW by 2013 : TreeHugger

India Outlines First Phase of 22 GW National Solar Mission = 1.3 GW by 2013

Back in November India approved a National Solar Mission--officially the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission--which aims to get 22 GW of solar power online by 2022. Well, more has come out about the implementation of the first phase of that, 1.3 GW by March 2013:

Renewable Energy World says that total is to be made up of 1000 MW of grid-connected solar power plants, 100 MW of roof top and small-scale solar power, and 200 MW of non-grid connected power.

Government funding of Rs43.37 billion (USD 950 million) has been approved for the first phase.

Beyond the obvious goal of deploying more carbon-free electricity in a nation with a large coal habit, and do so at grid parity, India hopes to join the top tier of world solar power. Large scale solar power projects--up to 5 GW in Gujarat, and smaller but still substantial in other parts of the nation‚have been tossed around for at least the past eighteen months.

 

[sky]

India may not be blessed with huge reserves of oil but does have all year round sunshine.It may be very expensive to generate electricity from solar power now,but going forward it will become cheaper.And could be the future for clean energy.

I think time is on india's side,and the sun will keep shining.So for now india should use up its vast coal reserves and when they start to run out switch to solar power which will be a cheaper option in 30 years then it is today.

 

[mattster]

India?s Solar Power Will Generate 20GW Electricity. | Ub News

Monday, India’s renewable energy secretary revealed the fact that our country will rollout a 20 Gigawatt electricity from solar power plan by the end of this year. It is considered as a massive expansion in already installed solar capacity.

Deepak Gupta said “We expect to be able to roll out the plan by the end of this calender year.” “It is in the cabinet and should be okayed in the next couple of months.”
Farooq Abdullah, India’s federal minister for new and renewable energy has stated the fact that India is among the few countries on this Earth with up to 300 days of sunshine annually, making solar energy a viable substitute for this power-starved nation.

Today’s declaration also indicated that regional governments would be the main authorities for approving proposed solar energy projects. The federal government’s role would be limited to making decision on whether projects are eligible for federal grants or subsidies.

Presently India has nine solar cell manufacturers and nearabout 20 module manufacturers. However, it still wants a domestic supplier of polysilicon and other solar materials also a wafer manufacturing capacity.

Manufacturers such as Tata BP Solar are aiming the export market. Present proposals before the government also seems to be aimed at the export market, with reference to a position paper released by SEMI India previously this year.

The Proposals in front of govt. include investments totalling about $20 billion for new solar projects, including one by EDA industry veteran Prabhu Goel, to set up manufacturing facilities under a national semiconductor policy revealed two years ago.

-

I am have been hearing stories about the "non-existent" Indian solar semiconductor industry for years now and nothing has happened.

If India is going to create cheap solar power it would need to build its own fabs for solar cells etc.

This is not even close to being set up and its a huge capital investment that needs significant infusion of government capital - otherwise private players will not pony up the cash for such a high risk capital investment, unless there is some risk sharing by GOI.

Its just like the SEMINDIA story....nothing but fluff.

This whole article is a load of crap !!

 

[Rebelkid]

Potential places for installing these Solar plants are
Rajhastan
Tamil nadu and
Palghat

I have seen the once in palghat and Tamil Nadu.... they also look great

 

[..Azad]

I am a great fan of mr Abdullah, hope he can pull this off. Anyway Russian have just offered to be a party in it.

 

[satyam]

South Korea to help India cut power T&D losses

South Korea, which has succeeded in reducing its power transmission and distribution losses to a meagre 4 per cent, will now help India do the same.

South Korea showed its willingness to help India reduce its T&D losses during a Power Ministry delegation's visit to Seoul, an official said.
"The modalities of the cooperation between the two countries on the subject would be discussed at a meeting scheduled on June 18 in Seoul, where representatives of the Ministry of External Affairs would meet their counterparts," he added.

South Korea reduced its transmission and distribution (T&D) losses to just 4 per cent from a level that was as high as 40 per cent about three decades ago.

The official said, "They have reduced their T&D losses by wheeling high voltage current. Now we want to do the same, but there is no testing facility in the country."

At present, power is wheeled into the country at 700 KVA. Though the voltage needs to be scaled up to 1,200 KVA for reducing T&D losses, the country lacks testing facilities for such high-voltage transmission equipment.

"As it would be unviable to get the high voltage transmission equipment tested abroad, we want to set up this facility here in India for which we would need South Korea's help," the official said.

At present, the country faces 30 per cent T&D losses, and the government is making every effort to reduce it to 15 per cent.

As per government estimates, T&D losses in the power sector amounted to Rs 45,000 crore for the fiscal ended March 31, 2010, and were likely to touch Rs 68,000 crore by the end of the current fiscal (2010-11).

The Planning Commission would set up an expert group to identify the causes for the T&D losses. A former Comptroller and Accountant General (CAG) would head the group, which would also have representatives from the power sector.

Source: PTI

 

[LETHALFORCE]

http://cleantechnica.com/2010/07/11...est-solar-pv-power-plant-with-50-mw-capacity/

Tata Power Planning India's Largest Solar PV Power Plant with 50 MW Capacity

Tata Power, a subsidiary of the famous Tata Group, is planning to set up India's largest solar PV power plant with a generation capacity of 50 MW. The company will set up this plant in Mithapur, Gujarat.


Tata Power is working on several projects to expand its generation capacity and even though most of those projects are directed towards coal-based power generation, the company has made significant progress as far as adding renewable energy sources to its portfolio is concerned. The company has announced massive expansion of its solar-based power generation in addition to several large and micro-scale wind energy generation schemes.

The project in this case would probably be used both for captive and export purpose. A part of the power generated would probably be used by the manufacturing plants of other subsidiaries of the Tata Group while the rest could be fed into the national grid.

In the last few months several private as well as government-controlled companies have announced renewable energy-based power plants. Since the National Solar Mission — aimed at installing 20,000 MW by 2020 — has been initiated by the government many companies have been attracted by the subsidies offered.

Several factors responsible for the sudden increased interest in the renewable energy sector include: rising demand for power, government regulations that require increased generation from renewable energy sources and potentially millions of dollars subsidies at offer.

Power generation even through conventional fossil fuels is not very profitable in India. There is shortage of coal, natural gas prices have been increased and with the recently unveiled coal tax of about $1 per tonne of coal used the generation companies are set to see a further decline in their revenues. Renewable energy-based power generation, on the other hand, is quite attractive with the incentives offered by the government.

Solar energy-based power plants enjoy added benefits as compared to other renewable energy-based power plants and conventional power plants. A solar based plant can sell power to the grid at a much higher rate as compared to a wind farm and coal/gas based power plants. The central as well as state governments offered subsidies on the import of equipment required for solar cell manufacturing and power generation. All power plants are recognized as infrastructure projects and thus enjoy tax holiday for up to ten years from the start of production. In addition, project developers can sell electricity to power exchanges at high rates which gives them the flexibility. Recently, the central government announced the solar energy securities fund which would compensate the project developers if the power distribution companies fail to pay the high tariff rates.

This is the reason why many private investors and even government-controlled oil companies are looking to invest in the solar energy sector. The Indian government is taking commendable steps in ensuring that the thrust for the expansion in the solar energy sector is backed strongly by the market and only through regulations. Hopefully, with the growing attraction of the private investors the sun would shine soon on the solar energy sector in India