Photo: Dennis C J/ Research Matters
What can your rooftop solar do for you; do for your country? In a one-day workshop held on the 11th of January at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bangalore, in collaboration with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, scientists and practitioners brainstormed to discuss the challenges in setting up rooftop solar systems and solutions for the same. Prof. Baldev Raj, Director, NIAS gave the inaugural address, and Shri R.N. Nayak, Ex-CMD, Power Grid, delivered the keynote speech highlighting the policy, regulatory, socio-economic, and technical issues involving rooftop solar. The workshop saw participation from Solar Energy Corporation of India, BESCOM, Power Company of Karnataka Ltd., IIT-Mumbai, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Syndicate Bank, Thermax, Renew Power, New India Solar, Prayas, and other representatives from academia and industry.
The use of renewable energy sources has gained prominence in recent times owing to India’s climate commitments and increasing pollution level due to use of fossil fuels. A recently announced ambitious project by the Government of India targeting the generation of 100 GW of electricity through solar by 2022 is a major push towards the move to renewable resources. The project aims to generate 40GW of power from the rooftop solar and the rest through utility scale solar. “Success in this critical mission will require huge financial investments, new policies and regulations for the electricity sector, new business models, significant increase in technological and manufacturing capacity, and improved finances of electricity distribution companies”, called out Shri. Nayak, setting the context of the workshop.
“We need the technological foresight to efficiently use the available space to generate energy. Besides, all states in India, except Uttar Pradesh, have promised to provide power to all its citizens round the clock by the year 2019. Solar energy is going to play an important role in this endeavour in the years to come”, remarked Prof. Baldev Raj, emphasising the need for a dialogue around this. “So this dialogue at NIAS brings everybody together, including citizens who use the power, the manufacturers, the maintenance personnel and academicians, to discuss and hopefully come up with some recommendations to achieve the government’s target”, he added.
The workshop focused on addressing the technical and implementation challenges in rooftop solar plants and possible mitigation options. The participants also discussed the financial sustainability of such rooftop solar plants for different stakeholders – producers/consumers, distribution agencies, and entrepreneurs/investors and looked into the need for changes in policies and regulations to promote rooftop solar power plants.
The workshop discussed recommendations on conducting a detailed and extensive survey to study the degradation pattern on the type of roofs on which the solar plant is installed and ways to mitigate them, developing indigenous capacity on new material alternative to silicon leading to commercial development reducing imports, and the need to use models and software to determine how much solar share we can have in different grid networks. An equitable distribution tariff was proposed that could help DISCOMs work as a facilitator for higher penetration and not as a reluctant partner. DISCOMs today need the capacity development to standardize installation methodology, avoid delays in installation and bear the cost of distribution system augmentation due to solar rooftop installation. A nodal agency, which can be mandated to implement rooftop solar plants, was also proposed.
The workshop reiterated that policies for solar rooftops must integrate with the policies to develop skilled manpower in solar installation, operation and maintenance. There was an emphasis for stricter quality control like that of star ratings in appliances on solar modules available in the open market. The workshop discussed various business models need to be pursued for mass implementation and considering solar rooftop to be a capital intensive, thrust should be given on third party enablers to reach millions of end-users. “Awareness campaigns are necessary to rope in all stakeholders and make this a ‘Peoples Movement’”, remarked Shri Nayak.
“Though the challenges are many, it can be handled if analysed in a systematic way. This workshop is an attempt towards that”, said Dr. Hippu Salk Kristle Nathan, an Assistant Professor in the Energy Environment Programme at NIAS who was the coordinator of the workshop. During the workshop, a report authored by a Ms. Anasuya Gangopadhyay and Dr. Nathan on the experience of NIAS with its own 100kW solar rooftop, was released. Commissioned in October 2014, the electricity generated from the plant accounts for 60-65% of NIAS’s monthly electricity consumption showing a payback period of eight years. “This solar plant also aims to motivate other institutes of the country. A million more of such units, and we already at the 100 GW mark!” signs off Dr. Nathan.