India's Solar Potential
TDA

Context

There is a demand for data-centric reassessment of India’s solar energy potential to attract investment, push innovation, and hasten the transition to net-zero emissions to achieve the targets.

About Solar Power in India

India is emerging at a faster pace as a global leader in renewable energy, with more than 100 gigawatts of installed solar capacity. India’s total renewable energy capacity reached 237.5 GW.

(i) India’s Solar Potential: According to The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), India’s total solar potential is estimated at 10,830 GW. It includes:

(a) Ground-mounted solar on barren land: 4,909 GW.

(b) Agri-PV (on plantations): 4,177 GW.

(c) Rural and urban rooftop solar: 960 GW.

(d) Rail, road, and building-integrated PV: 684 GW.

(e) Also, floating solar PV: 100 GW.

India's Solar Potential

(ii) Global Comparison: As per the Global Solar Atlas:

(a) India is in line with top countries with remarkably good solar PV conditions, with high irradiance as well as low seasonality.

(b) Countries like Australia, and parts of the Middle East, as well as North Africa, boast high solar PV potential.

(c) China and the US, though they lead the installed capacity, have lower average solar irradiance concerning India.

Challenges in Leveraging Solar Power Potential

(i) Outdated Estimates: It had inadequate strategic planning and investment in the segment. Lack of specific and minute geospatial data on irradiance, land use, and large infrastructure distance. Also, friction in coordination between central and state agencies when it comes to finance and resource allocation.

(ii) Changing India’s Land Use Pattern: More urban areas, more industries, Agricultural land diversion, and digitalisation are transforming India’s land-use patterns.

(iii) Integration of grids and Infra Gaps: Transmission hurdles restrict the evacuation of solar power from generation sites to consumption centers. Unavailability of smart grid systems hinders efficient load balancing and storage integration.

(iv) Weak Domestic Manufacturing Ecosystem: India is inept in backward integration in the solar value chain, as there is no domestic production of wafers. Overdependency on imports, especially from China, along with inadequate R&D and innovation in high-efficiency modules and recycling technologies.

(v) Low Adoption and Policy Barriers in Rooftop Solar: Net metering issues, bureaucratic hurdles, and irregular state policies discourage adoption.

Initiatives taken to date

(i) Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme: Aims to encourage domestic manufacturing of high-efficiency solar PV modules.

(ii) Solar Park Scheme: Aims to establish fifty solar parks with a collective capacity of around thirty-eight gigawatts by 2026. These parks attract investment and enable economies of scale.

(iii) PM Surya Ghar: Provides up to three hundred units of free electricity per month to one crore households through rooftop solar.

(iv) International Solar Alliance (ISA): India-led global initiative with 120+ member countries. Promotes solar deployment in developing nations, especially Africa. Programs include SolarX Startup Challenge, Green Hydrogen Innovation Centre, and Solar Data Portal.

(v) Grid and Storage Integration: The Green Energy Corridor project increases transmission infrastructure. Smart grid, along with energy storage solutions, is on its way to support a continuous solar supply.

Way Forward

(i) Floating Solar PV (FSPV): Issues related to land scarcity and water body utilisation get solved here. Comprehensive mapping of water surfaces, better understanding of localised evaporation losses, and regional performance data can unfurl solar potential. It can be more than one hundred GW.

(ii) Methodologies Reflecting Present-Day Realities: Advanced, data-filled, and minute assessments need to incorporate solar irradiance and land gradient. Also, proximity to substations and roads, and ISRO’s remote sensing data are a few must-do steps.

(iii) Economic Implications of Reassessing the Solar Potential: A strong demand pipeline will push the solar panel recycling industry, especially for materials such as silver, copper, and silicon.

(a) Attract larger domestic and foreign investments;

(b) Accelerate solar manufacturing ecosystems;

(c) Encourage production of cells, wafers, polysilicon, and metallurgical-grade silicon;

(d) Boost ancillary industries and generate thousands of green jobs

(iv) Enabling Smarter Land and Resource Planning: It increases India’s energy security and gives strength to its vision of becoming a global solar hub. State and central governments can:

(a) Strategically allocate land, water, and transmission corridors.

(b) Encourage shared infrastructure for roads, power lines, and worker townships.

(c) Achieve economies of scale and increase deployment efficiency.

Conclusion

India’s pragmatic solar goals are not only significant to achieving energy independence but also critical for nudging economic growth, climate action, and technological innovation. By handholding of private players, efficient financing for projects, and a nudge to domestic manufacturing can unlock the full potential of its solar energy sector, can also become a global leader in renewable energy production.