India’s solar potential
There are about 25 crore households in India. These households have power-hungry electrical appliances like ACs, washing machines, fridges, televisions etc. India’s current residential sector demand for electricity is about 310 TWh.
And as our per capita income rises, our per capita electricity consumption will also escalate. Is adopting solar energy the solution to the exorbitantly high electricity bills?
The actual technical potential is upwards of 600 to 700 GW of plant capacity. If you take account of the actual household electricity demand and eliminate the ones not having economic viability, we’ll still have a little over 100 GW potential.
So far we have installed around 12 GW of rooftop capacity in our country. 60% of rooftop potential in seven states- Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
For more than 80% of residential households in India electricity bills fall in the lowest slab, hence adopting solar is not economically feasible for them. This is termed as a lack of economic viability.
Rooftop solar is not only environmentally-friendly, but also affordable. The usual payback period is 2 to 5 years. Solar energy is renewable, inexhaustible and abundant. Solar panels require minimal maintenance, with a monthly visit sufficing in most of the cases.
Solar can also be seen as an investment. Having a solarified household increases the property value. According to NREL, solar can increase the property value by 4%. Most of the renowned solar EPCs also offer zero-cost EMIs.
Net metering is the process of connecting the solar system to the grid. Net-metering allows the import of energy from the grid in case of a shortage and export and sell the extra power produced in case of a surplus.
In the interim budget of 2024, the Pradhan Mantri Suryodaya Yojana was announced. PMSY is a government initiative to install solar rooftop systems for 1 crore households. Furthermore 300 units of free electricity every month will be provided.
In emerging fields like renewable energy, education is the best marketing. More the awareness, more the demand. But the ground reality is that less than 50% of Indians know about solar and what are the potential benefits.
Solar- Downsides
Moreover, we need innovative financing models like zero-cost EMI to reduce the financial burden on potential customers if any. Some of the deterrents to quicker adoption of solar are the high upfront cost, the lack of familiarity with technology, and the not-so-smooth net-metering procedure.
EV- A shining example
In emerging markets like renewable energy, education is the best marketing. More the awareness, more the demand. The ground reality today is that less than 50% of Indians are cognizant of solar and its potential benefits.
EVs are a great guidebook on how to approach such a novel, high-concept, accessible, and part of day-to-day conversions. Once the demand reaches a magnitude, the scale of economies helps in achieving price parity with the existing alternatives. Aggressive and persistent marketing for years has finally created a sizable appetite for EVs.
In conclusion, under the National Solar Mission, we were to install 100 GW by 2022, and 40 GW were to come from the rooftop segment, yet we have done only 12 GW. We are lagging quite a bit in our targets. However, the recent momentum indicates we are on our path to forging a record number of solar installations in the years ahead. In the past few decades, we have made significant improvements as an industry in making solar accessible and affordable. We expect to double the already existing capacity in the next 5 years.
Statistics source: – CEEW (Council on Energy, Environment and Water)
Ravi Kumar
The author is a founding team member and Vice President (VP) of Oorjan Cleantech (https://www.oorjan.com). Oorjan is co-founded by IITians and ex-bankers and is one of the fastest-growing solar companies in India.
