Essay on Solar Energy Solutions

India's abundant solar energy potential provides a clean and sustainable energy that can replace the extremely harmful, polluting and rapidly depleting conventional sources of energy. The development of policies and promotion of renewable energy will help India meet the solar target. This paper presents a comprehensive study of the current scenario of solar energy in India along with the challenges and trends of solar energy. A brief overview of developments taking place globally and how they can improve our future.

1. Introduction

Energy plays a crucial part in running our economy. The important part is how the energy is being generated. Even in 2020, we mostly depend on fossil fuels for most of the use cases. Some steps are taken toward green energy but are not so reliable or are quite costly. Apart from the problem of global warming, there is no abundant amount of fossil fuel to sustain future needs. We require energy in some form or other to fulfill our demands. The earth receives a lot of solar power, 173 thousand terawatts. Which is ten thousand times more power than the planet's population uses. But the fact that billions of people don’t have access to a reliable electric grid. Most of them belong to the developing nation, and many of them are sunny. So the cost of solar energy is quite low in those areas. But still, there is no such development in those areas. Before discussing the causes we should understand how solar energy is produced.

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Solar energy is generated through small solar cells, which are mainly made of silicon. A semiconductor which is the second most abundant element on earth. In a solar cell, crystalline silicon is a sandwich between two conductive layers. Each silicon atom is connected to its neighbor by four strong bonds, which keep electrons in place so no current can flow. A silicon cell uses two different layers of silicon. N-type silicon has extra electrons, and p-type silicon has extra spaces for electrons, called holes. Where the two types of silicon meet electrons can wander across the p/n junction, leaving a positive charge on one side and creating a negative charge on others. When a photon strikes the silicon cell with enough energy, it can knock an electron from its bond leaving a hole. The negatively charged electron and the location of the positively charged hole move freely around. However, due to the electric field at the p/n junction, they will only go one way. The electron is drawn to the n-side, while the hole is drawn to the p-side. The free electrons are collected by thin metal fingers at the top of the cell. From there, they flow through an external circuit, doing electrical work like charging a battery, before returning through the conductive aluminum sheet on the back. Each silicon cell puts out half a volt, but we can string them together in a module to draw more power. For example, twelve photo-voltaic cells can charge a cell phone. Electrons are the only moving parts in solar cells, and they all return from where they came. There is nothing to get worn out or used up, so the solar cells can last for decades. So, then what stops us from doing so? In this paper, we will attempt to understand the policies, trends, and challenges of solar energy in India. Many studies have shown that the position of India is suitable for cheap solar energy.

2. Solar demand in the market

Most of the energy demand is dependent on coal or fossil fuels. The increase in awareness about the environmental hazards due to greenhouse gases has pushed the development of alternative clean energy. Earlier the price of PV cells was high and gave a low efficiency whereas the energy generated through coal was cheap and easily available. But over the years, we have seen an exponential decline in the price of PV technologies. Some studies show that the price of solar panels has dropped by 80% since 2009 alone. This decrease in cost has boosted the PV installation. The costs of solar PV have seen a downward trend from 2010 to 2015, illustrating a drop in prices from 0.285 USD/kWh to 0.126 USD/kWh. A report published by the International Energy Agency in 2018 describes the low cost of PV tenders in countries around the world. The Levelized Cost of electricity was at a record low of 2.1 USD cents/kWh in Chile and Mexico while Europe saw the costs go down to 5 USD cents/kWh.

2.1 Development in solar

Over time we have seen a significant increase in the efficiency of solar panels. We have reached an efficiency of almost 20% and up to 45% in some cases. The rapid development and research in the area of solar technology have also reduced the cost per watt, thus increasing demand. Even though the cost per peak watt has decreased still we have not been able to shift to solar. Some steps must be taken by our government so that awareness can be increased along the way to shift from coal to solar or other renewable energy.

2.2 Future technology in solar

With all the development in solar, we can generate huge amounts of energy, but without a proper storage and distribution system, we are unable to efficiently use solar power. As the demand is quite high during the night. However, energy production is limited to daytime when abundant sunlight is available. To help supplement solar power technology, scientists are proposing the use of a new type of solar cell that can produce electricity at night through a radiative cooling mechanism. This technology is in its early phase and we can hope that in the future we can fully rely on solar technology.

3. Global solar power scenario

The Paris Agreement to decrease GHG emissions has given a push to the development of new and efficient renewable energy technology. Due to the continuous increase of greenhouse gases and pollution, many countries are moving toward renewable energy as an energy source. In 2013, approximately 19.1% of global total energy consumption was provided by renewable energy sources. Renewable energy has added approximately 58.5% of net additions of global power capacity, with significant progress in all areas of the world in 2014. At the end of 2014, renewable resources supplied 27.7% of the world's total power generation capacities. The increase in capacity and rapid growth occurred in the renewable power sector, which is led by SPV, wind, and hydropower. With 153 GW capacities, China obtained the top rank in the world in renewable power installation in the year 2014. Along with China, the U.S., Brazil, India, and Germany are the top five countries in installed renewable energy capacity worldwide in 2019. The overall investment in clean energy is dominated by solar and wind energy. The global investment in solar energy has increased from 10.7 billion dollars in 2004 to around 141 billion dollars in 2019. Solar technologies have been steadily progressing towards new materials that will be much more efficient than current silicon cells. For example, the use of multi-junction cells with several layers that can harvest energy from different parts of the solar spectrum may dramatically increase solar power shortly. The global renewable energy sector employed 11 million people in 2018. As compared to 10.3 million people in 2017, based on available information. Employment remains concentrated in a handful of countries, with China, Brazil, the United States, India, and members of the European Union in the lead. Asian countries’ contribution remained at 60% of the global total. 3.6 million jobs are in the solar PV industry and 32 % of renewable energy jobs are held by women.

4. Solar power scenario of India

Economic growth is quite important for any counties development. With the increase in economic growth, energy demand also increases. The relationship between economic growth and energy demand is non-linear. Even today a large amount of electricity generation depends on coal.

Coal-fired plants generate 72% of India’s electricity. This, including the growth of coal-consuming industrial sectors like steel, is why the solid fuel source will continue to be integral to India’s economy in the next couple of decades. There is a high potential for the generation of renewable energy from various sources such as wind, solar, biomass, small hydro, and cogeneration biogas. The overall potential for renewable energy generation in the country as of 31.03.18 is estimated at 1096081MW (Table 1.3). This includes solar power potential of 748990 MW (68.33%), the wind power potential of 302251 MW (27.58%) at 100m hub height, SHP (small-hydro power) potential of 19749 MW (1.80%), Biomass power of 17,536 MW (1.60%), 5000 MW (0.46%) from bagasse-based cogeneration in sugar mills and 2554 MW (0.23%) from waste to energy. Over 4.5 million jobs will be created in the renewable energy sector over 25 years. India was ranked as the fourth most attractive renewal energy market in the world, in 2019. India has set a target of 450 GW of renewable power by 2030. This is the world's largest expansion plan in renewable energy. As of 30 September 2020, the total installed capacity for Renewables is 89+ GW with the following break up:

• Wind power: 38 GW
• Solar Power: 36 GW
• BioPower: 10 GW
• Small Hydro Power: 5 GW

Solar capacity has increased by more than 11 times in the last five years from 2.6 GW to 28.18 GW in March 2019. 42 solar parks with an aggregate capacity of 23,499 MW have been approved in 17 states up to March 2019. Kurnool (1,000 MW) and Bhadla-II (648 MW) Solar Parks are fully operational. The largest Solar Park of 2,000 MW in Pavagada is under installation.

Karnataka and Rajasthan lead the installed solar capacity by 7.3 GW and 5.2 GW. India has approved around 36 solar parks to date, where Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Andra Pradesh have the most number of solar parks.

5. Trends and challenges of solar power

Solar energy seems to be a good alternative to conventional energy, but there are some challenges in achieving this. Following are some challenges faced to achieve complete solar dependence:

• Solar power is limited to daytime when abundant sunlight is available.
• The efficiency of the solar panel is still low. The most solar panel has an efficiency of 20%.
• The lower level of awareness.
• Lack of good policies from the government.
• The cost of the panel is high as well as the cost to store the energy produced during the daytime is high.

The awareness about the damages done by greenhouse gases and many developments are going on in solar energy. Here are some of the trends in solar energy.

Some study shows that the efficiency of the PV panel increased to 45%.

Some scientists have designed a prototype of a PV panel that can generate energy during the night.

Improvement in battery technology will also help in the storing and distribution of solar-generated electricity.

Many governments are taking some huge steps toward solar electrification.

6. Discussion

The government of India has taken some significant steps to improve solar dependency in India. Some studies have shown due to the rise in awareness of greenhouse gases, people are demanding cleaner energy sources. Even in 2020, the majority of our electricity generated comes from fossil fuels. The position of India makes it suitable for abundant cheap solar energy. But still, very small steps have been taken to implement it. A proper grid-like distribution system is required for better utilization of the energy generated. Some subsidiaries are provided by the government but this is not enough. The government must encourage local people to use solar roofs and aware them of the importance, and benefits of using solar energy. More discussion on the policies must be done.

7. Conclusion

This paper discusses the current solar scenario in India. Electricity production and distribution have always remained crucial for India, where the demand is increasing day by day. Till now coal remains a major source of electricity production. Our government has launched some schemes for solar power production, some of which have been successful. Educating people and promoting the use of renewable energy will boost the use of renewable energy. India's policies have increased investment both local and foreign for different activities related to solar energy.

But most importantly without local R&D and manufacturing the cost of solar cannot be reduced. To achieve the Solar target we all have to take initiative.

8. References

1. Santosh Kumar Suman, Jameel Ahamad, “Solar Energy Potential and Future Energy of India: An Overview”,2018
2. Gautam Rainaa, Sunanda Sinha, “Outlook on the Indian scenario of solar energy strategies: Policies and challenges”,2019
3. Subhojit Dawn, Prashant Kumar Tiwari, Arup Kumar Goswami, Manish Kumar Mishra,” Recent developments of solar energy in India: Perspectives, strategies, and future goals”,2016
4. Malti Goel,” Solar Rooftop in India: Policies, Challenges and Outlook”
5. Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Source India, Government of India. Available: 〈http://mnre.gov.in/mission-and-vision-2/achievements/〉.
6. Akshay Urja. Newsletter of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India 2010;4 (November–December (2–3)).
7. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/energy/power/india-will-not-be-able-to-achieve-its-renewable-energy-targets-anytime-soon/articleshow/69286279.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
8. International Energy Agency, https://www.iea.org/policiesandmeasures, (2019), Accessed date: 23 July 2019.