career in solar

 

Solar Energy Industry in India has achieved an impressive growth in the last few years , manly aided by a steep fall in the Per MW Capex requirements & possible low cost funding

In the recent bids per unit costs have come down to less than Rs 2.50 ( much less than cost from a new coal based power plant) Govt is committed to add almost 100 GW of solar power in the next 5 years

But things are not very rosy

• The grid connected roof top systems have not added the planned capacity . People still feel the investments are high , not sure about the realisation of incentives being offered by Govt , not sure of getting money for surplus generation being pumped into the grid
• The Panels/modules , almost 85 % , being imported from China / Taiwan etc. So indigenous manufacturers are in bad shape and enough jobs are not created
• Profitable Industries are not investing in solar power for their captive reqmt or committing to buy from solar power sellers
• Very aggressive /unviable quotes in recent tenders by the developers , poor financial health , banks vary of advancing loans for such projects

No Govt can afford to ignore Solar energy and I am sure Govt will find ways of accelerating the projects in this sector . More important , Govt has to find practical solutions to the problems raised above so that roof top / small industrial/commercial and large utility projects can be viable and sustainable. While this may take care of installation and usage , how do we ensure that domestic industry gets a fair share of the market ? The solution is not very easy - Chinese /Taiwanese companies work on massive volumes /economies of scale & good financial schemes backed by Govt . This requires a separate focussed approach.

The unfortunate thing about our country is we seem to always lag in Technology development , Economies of scale , Policy Eco-system for ensuring world class Productivity . The world is moving towards renewables dominated energy , Electric & autonomous cars etc as part of Ecologically sustainable Economies in which solar energy will be the key .

I sincerely hope our country will take the lead and establish the supremacy not only in usage but also in Technology development