Photon Story

8/13/2019 Photon Story

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Slug: India / Solar Mission Phase II

A new urgency

Phase II of Indias solar program promises moreprotection to Indias solar manufacturers and ruralconsumers

(for PHOTON International by Padma Rao Sundarji)

In June 202 and despite some !umps" the first phase of Indias three#phase Jawaharlal $ehru $ational Solar Mission %$SM& crossed '( of its20) target of *2 '( of grid#connected power generation*

+or ,- years" all infrastructural pro.ects in India hae !een marred !y scamand scandal* he $SMs achieement 1 whose progress" as a relatielyindependent and transparent !ody" can !e traced online 1 gae Indianssome cause for cele!ration*

3ut within a month" India had notched up another" not so flatteringstatistic: the worst power outage in the history of manind*

+or eight hours" oer ,-0 million Indians in 20 of its 24 states 1 more thantwice the population of the 5nited States 1 went without power* Minerswere trapped in pits" trains and metros stopped" hospital generators ranout" critical operations were held up* 5r!an" rural and industrial India cameto a shattering halt*

6utages are nothing new* India routinely suffers a shortfall of around 78 inmeeting pea power demand* 3ut the South Asian giant is alreadystruggling with a depreciating rupee" inflation" stagnating industrial growth"a stalling '9P and downgrading !y some international credit ratingagencies* ast years outage caused a further degradation to Indias annualeconomic growth rate !y at least *2 percentage points* According to the;onfederation of Indian Industry %;II&" the July 202 !lac#out alone costcompanies a!out 5S9 7


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In early 9ecem!er 202 and a wee !efore the $SM released a draftdocument %see !o=& on Phase II %20) #20P;s crowded the Missions office in the Indian capital $ew 9elhi withsuggestions on how to aoid the pro!lems that the first Phase had run into*%see P?66$ April 202&*

$SM s chief arun @apoor" too" addressed the issues %see !o= interiewwith P?66$& !ut pointed that as far as solar energy is concerned" India isstill on a learning graph*

# Much has !een written a!out Phase Is reerse auction and the firstwinning !id for a solar PB pro.ect at Cs


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!e Indias largest" stopped construction for a year !ecause part of the land1 though entirely !arren # was classified as Fforest land*G Ironically" theinha!itants of the area who were looing forward to energy 1 and .o!s #protested against the stoppage and Sari is to once again commenceconstruction*

'u.arats ;harana Solar Par too" has run foul of farmers in the areawhose land it is seeing for e=pansion*

%Interestingly" a study conducted !y the Indian Institute of Science in3angalore in 6cto!er 202 found that een at the current leel of aaila!lePB technology and if only D* 8 of uncultia!le and waste land with highirradiance were sourced" India could meet its pro.ected annual demand of)D00 terrawatt#hour !y 20P; companies" deelopers andconsultants e=pect" a wee ahead of the release of the draft document ofPhase II of the $SM


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FIndia must deelop an eco#system for manufacturing in such a way thateen ;hina and Japan will set up manufacturing units here"G said IndosolarM9" Cahul 'upta* FPhase I highlighted the urgency of Indias energysecurity 1 its time to act" otherwise our manufacturing sector will find itselfin the same place as the 5nited States did is#a#is Cussia and ;hina*G

he company" which has technology from Schmid 'm!? and a productioncapacity for !oth multi and mono crystalline solar photooltaic cells of ),0M(p has !een idle for the past 2 years* It re#started 2-8 of itsmanufacturing capacity in late 202" !ut its small orders will only last somemonths*

ata Solar too e=pects a leel playing field for all manufacturers*

F o manufacture a panel" we still hae to import and pay duty on certaincomponents" whereas there is no duty on importing finished products "G

points Suparna 3aner.ee of ata Solar* Fhe $SM cannot !e only a!out!oosting '( capacity" it must also support Indian manufacturing andcreate .o!s*G

3e it PB or ;SP" on#grid pro.ects gra! the headlines in India today*

3ut small deelopers and $'6s lie $ew 9elhis ;entre for Science and>nironment %;S>& point out that the real challenge for India will !e toaddress the urgent energy needs of hundreds of millions of rural Indiansdependent on agriculture" which contri!utes a fifth towards Indias 'ross9omestic Product %'9P&*

>ighty per cent of Indias rural population lies off farming" ,08 of thatnum!er is unconnected to a source of water and dependent on rain" -D8in e=tremely remote illages is not connected to the grid* hose with gridconnectiity suffer freEuent power outages* 'round water leels are downacross the country" only few credit institutions will lend poor farmersmoney to !uy e=pensie diesel and pumps*

>ery year towards the end of Indias !listering summer and .ust !efore theSouth#(est monsoon is due to arrie" millions of farmers eep their fingerscrossed* (hether due to glo!al warming or not" in recent years they hae

!een left staring at cloudless sies" while their crops withered and died insearing pre#monsoon temperatures*

ear after year" there are reports of thousands of farmers committingsuicide due to destroyed crops and harassment from priate moneylenders*


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9e!ate in solar energy circles is primarily focused on whether ;SP or PB isa more ia!le solution for rural India" more so !ecause grid fed solarenergy" due to the moderniHation needed !y Indias grids" is still decadesaway" Phase Is ;SP pro.ects 1 which will only !e commissioned in May20) # are located too far from non#electrified illages* K9 losses"

currently at D08" would outweigh grid parity and render the pro.ect non#ia!le*

6f course" it is not .ust philanthropy that is shifting the focus to rural India*9eelopers lie to point to the cell#phone reolutionG in India and the manymillionaires it created* In the a!sence of landline connectiity in remoteillages and a sluggish" state#owned telecom sector" cell#phonemanufacturers made a illing !y focusing on rural India* here arecurrently more than 727 million cell#phone users in India" 'ien Indiaspopulation of *2 !illion and in .ust < years" the country has the secondlargest mo!ile telecommunications networ in the world*

6ff#grid solar lie micro#grids" rooftops" solar home lighting and irrigationpumps for rural India could see een greater success*

$ew 9elhi#!ased ;laro >nergy has !een deeloping and installing solar PBirrigation solutions in the north#eastern state of 3ihar" one of Indiaspoorest" which has launched an am!itious solar energy program* %see !o=on states& So far" only ,0 ;laro pumps are in operation* 3ut the deeloperis inoled in chaling out strategy along with the state goernment toe=tend the solution to millions of other cash#strapped farmers across thestate that is particularly prone to !oth flooding and drought*

'uddu @umar" a 2,#year#old farmer of Muraura" a illage in one of 3iharsdriest regions" lost his crops to a drought in 20* In March 202" a solarirrigation pump was installed at a community tu!e#well* In place of 2annual crops" @umar and -0 other farmers in his hamlet who share the well"now raise - crops and hae more than dou!led their aerage annualincomes*

Fhe pro!lem is consumer financing which ass poor farmers forimpossi!le collaterals"G says Amar.eet ada of ;laro >nergy* F3ansdont realiHe that if their annual income increases" farmers can and will pay!ac loans* Some!ody in the financing sector should understand thissimple truth* F

$AI6$A S6AC MISSI6$ P?AS> II '5I9>I$>S %see !o=&3ut energy#stared rural India now stands to !enefit*


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(hile the $SMs Phase I enisaged only 200 M( of off#grid power" Phase IIups that to 400 M(* 6ff#grid power will primarily focus on areas wherethere are massie outages or no grid* A!out 20"000 illages will receieoff#grid electricity generation pro.ects* +urther" one million off#grid lightingsystems hae !een factored in for rural India*

A wee !efore the release of the draft document of Phase II" ;S>researchers % who compiled two e=tensie studies # +acing he Sun and'oing Cemote on Indias on#grid and off#grid solar policies in 202&"pointed out that rural pro.ects need to !e de#centraliHed and de#su!sidiHed* heir countrywide research showed that there is no after#sales serice in remote illages for eEuipment su!sidiHed !y $ew 9elhisCemote Billage >lectrification Scheme %CB>P&* Since illagers receie italmost for free" it ends up in one of many solar !aHaars that haemushroomed across India or is smuggled across the !order to neigh!oringcountries*

$SM Phase IIs scrapping of CB>P will come as a relief to the ;S> researchteam*

In addition to !undling" the addition of Bia!ility 'ap +unding%B'+& # whichwill !e !orne !y Indias $ational ;lean >nergy +und from acess of I$C -0per tonne of coal# is e=pected to help utilities" while pro.ect deeloperscan !enefit from the new 'eneration 3ased Incenties %'3I& which willencourage roof#top PB and mini#grids*

6f the total of 7000 M( of grid#connected power" the $SM will finance ),00M( of grid#connected power while -D00 M( will !e left to Indian stateprogramms* %'ien the countrys siHe and as the case of 'u.arat hasshown" the e=ecution of pro.ects at state leel rather than from thenational capital" allows for fewer loopholes" faster commissioning andmore efficient monitoring&1

Phase I saw a 1much criticiHed 1 een split !etween PB and ;SP* 3ut thecommissioning of all seen ;SP pro.ects of Phase#I is delayed" at least twohae !een reportedly scrapped altogether*

;onceding that Fgrid connected solar PB power is now fairly esta!lishedGas opposed to ;SP which has yet to proe its operational prowess"G thedraft document of Phase II enisages a


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A day after reading the draft document" Indosolars Cahul 'upta" too" islooing forward to taing the dust coers off his production units ine 2and calling his staff !ac in*

FPhase II contains a list of options to protect and !oost localmanufacturing ranging from direct funding from the central goernment tosome !atches with 008 domestic content reEuirement"G he says* F(e may!e !ac in !usiness*G

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