Ministry of New and Renewable Energy SOLAR ENERGY GENERATION Rajya Sabha India receives solar energy equivalent to over 5,000 trillion kWh per year. The daily average solar energy incident over India varies from 4 -7 kWh per square meter depending upon the location. Solar energy can be harnessed through two routes, namely solar photovoltaic (PV) and solar thermal, by direct conversion to electricity and heat energy respectively. The utilization of solar energy in the country is regularly increasing, however, the high initial cost of the solar energy systems is a barrier in its large-scale utilization. The estimated unit cost of electricity from grid connected solar energy plant is estimated to be around Rs. 12 –15 per unit, which is very high compared to electricity generated from conventional sources including thermal power and other renewable energy sources such as wind, small hydro and biomass. A total of 33 grid interactive solar photovoltaic power plants have been installed in the country with financial assistance from the Ministry. These plants, with aggregate capacity of 2.125 Megawatt peak are estimated to generate about 2.5 million units of electricity in a year. In view of the high initial cost, at present, solar energy systems are mainly being used for stand-alone applications in lighting, telecommunication, small power requirements, battery charging, water heating and cooking etc. so far around 14 lakh solar photovoltaic systems aggregating to about 110 Megawatt peak solar photovoltaic module capacity have been installed in the country. In addition about 6 lakh solar cookers and about 20 lakh square metre collector area has been installed for solar water heating applications, which is equivalent to about 1400 Megawatt thermal capacity. The details of state-wise release of funds during the last three years for various solar energy programmes are given in Annexure-I. The state-wise details of manufacturers of solar photovoltaic cells/modules, solar cookers, flat plate solar thermal collector based water heating systems and suppliers of evacuated tube collector based water heating systems are given in Annexure II.
Annexure -I State-wise Release of Funds for Solar energy Programmes (Rs. in Lakhs) States & UTs/Financial Year Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam Bihar Chandigarh 2004-05 21.94 0 20.22 0 0 2005-06 49.8 34.81 50 9.12 0.08 2006-07 44.2 280.6 0 22.95 0
Chattisgarh Delhi Goa Gujarat Himachal Pradesh Haryana Jammu & Kashmir Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Orissa Pondicherry Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Tripura Uttar Pradesh Uttrakhand West Bengal IREDA / Banks/Others Total Annexure II
71.54 6.4 0 37.2 88.3 20.3 173.34 0 143.27 0.08 27.38 45.36 0 0.08 43.58 0 2.8 1.73 4 4.95 26 4.15 0 175.7 2.78 41.17 776.6 1738.87
14.16 17.5 0 36.97 1.77 165.78 3.2 5.91 326.35 74.54 3 107.97 24.98 154.76 110.71 6.98 2.26 5.09 11.8 246.16 0 107.23 1.71 174.99 273.23 325.81 3465.76 5812.43
47.7 8.5 13.25 280.59 505.62 355.32 210.33 0 312.23 0 129.01 270.88 15.95 424.78 100.9 94.9 76.48 2 62.9 396.82 110.14 253.27 0 171.85 1246.33 341.78 1706.03 7485.31
State-wise Manufacturers of Solar Photovoltaic Cells /Modules, Solar Water Heaters and Solar Cookers Solar Water Heaters Solar PV Solar Water Heaters (Evacuated tube) * Modules (Flat plate) 2 6 4 2 6 1 2 4 1 5 1 1 26 5 1 7
States /Financial Year Andhra Pradesh Chandigarh Delhi Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra
Solar Cookers 1 5 7
16
4 1 1 4
Punjab Rajasthan Tamil Nadu Uttar Pradesh Uttrakhand West Bengal Total
1 1 2 2 1 19
2
2 1 1 29
1 1 1 3 1 31
57
* Suppliers of evacuated tube collector based water heaters This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Shri Vilas Muttemwar in a written reply to question by Shri SHRI Abu Asim Azmi in the Rajya Sabha today.
Source: PIB