A Sea of Black
Renjini LIza Varghese
The recent launch of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission under the brand name “Solar India” was a boost to those companies which are already present in the segment. Small roof-top solar panels are giving way to large solar farms with larger capacities starting with one Mw capacity.
Large solar farms with larger capacities of solar energy generation is what is in the offing now. Moser Baer photo-voltaic is setting up solar farm with capacities of 700 Mw over next three years. Out of the said capacity, 200 Mw will be set up in the current year. The first two farms of five Mw each will be coming up in Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan, respectively, in February and April. The first farm in Maharashtra of one Mw capacity will be commissioned in February in Chandrapur near Nagpur. This facility is being created for the Maharashtra State Power Generation Co. Ltd (Mahagenco).
Moser Baer which entered the solar energy generation equipment division a couple of years back got a global presence with projects in 15 countries including Germany, Spain, Italy, US and UK. “It made sense for us to enter the solar energy business as we were already present in the semi-conductor based business with large volumes. We see large growth potential in this segment as the renewable energy sector is getting more and more attention domestically and internationally,” said Rajiv Arya, CEO, Moser Baer Photo Voltaic Ltd.
India is one of the countries where sunlight is in abundance and there are more than 300 sunny days which make it viable for solar developers.
But concerns like higher price per unit and inadequate after sales services, according to the industry representatives, are holding the sector back. In the current scenario, it costs Rs 18 per unit to produce a single unit of electricity using solar PV cells, compared to Rs 3-4 for coal-generated power.
Industry experts point out that prices are comparatively high largely because of the high cost of equipments and capital investments in technology. Arya counters by saying: “Even though the current cost of solar is high, it is declining rapidly as equipment costs continue to fall. In the interim, there is a need to support and promote solar as a viable energy alternative by way of subsidies and feed-in tariff. Solar energy constitutes only 0.001 per cent of the total grid power in India. Hence, high costs initially do not impact the consumer. And in the peak period, power is traded at a much higher regime; say around Rs 8 or 9. Hence the gap is not huge as is being projected and is attainable. Solar is socket head energy and therefore, does not have transmission and distribution costs.”
Technology is where the largest investment now happening from the company’s side. It is true that the solar sector has evolved considerably in last five years. The main three products, viz., crystalline silicon cells and modules, concentrator and thin film modules. Crystalline silicon continues to be the baseline product with over 80 per cent market share. However, other products like thin film are expanding due to their cost profiles or better energy generation capabilities in certain geographies.
“Moser Baer is straddling multiple technologies: Currently, crystalline silicon with 80 Mw and thin film with 40 Mw capacities and will expand to 500 Mw using both technologies. We have also invested concentrator technology which is in the validation stage. The business in short and medium term is all about crystalline silicon and thin film. However, we are very well positioned to capitalise on emerging technologies and mass manufacture them at an appropriate product evolution stage,” Arya said.
“India needs to install 15,000-20,000 Mw of power generation facilities every year to meet the GDP growth requirement. Solar energy forms a minor component of this capacity addition. Hence, affordability in the solar space is envisaged till 2030 is practical and doable,” added Arya.
Moser Baer has also put in place the country’s first off-grid solar project was put in place at Surat. The new municipal building in Surat is run completely on solar energy. Twenty-five installations from houses to malls and government buildings ranging from 10kV to 200kV solar energy have been installed.
Leave your response!