Proponents of Nuclear Energy are Blatantly and Deliberately disregarding The Solar Energy Option, many with Their own Ulterior Agendas B&E Analyses why India needs to Urgently look Beyond Nuclear Energy towards The Solar Option for a Sustainable, Safe and Secure Energy future
At the same time, the turn of events at the proposed 9900 MW Jaitapur nuclear plant calls for a reality check in the backdrop of the risks that now are becoming evident – from earthquake (as the region is on a seismic zone), to Tsunami fears to the fact that there is no government-led research (perhaps deliberately) that confirms the radiation exposure to humans living in and around nuclear plants, all points reinforce the dictum that there is no fail safe reactor and there is no honest government. Reportedly, only 30 or so villagers out of the 2,000 plus living around Jaitapur have accepted compensation to be relocated.
In all this commentary, the solar energy option has been not followed rigorously by India so far as it has been traditionally regarded as a very expensive mode of power generation. As per market approximations, India produces less than 1% of its total energy through the solar route, while the same figure for some developed nations is as high as 15-20%. And that huge differential exists because in the developed word, solar projects are continuously getting cheaper whereas the cost of constructing a nuclear power plant is almost the same as it was in mid 1980s ($2-6 billion).
As more and more players slowly hop on to the solar bandwagon and invest in R&D, there has been a regular year on year decline of 3-4% on the cost of solar installations across the world as against a continuous increase of 4-5% for conventional sources. According to a recent report by KPMG, India will be able to reach solar grid parity by the year 2017- 2018. This means that by that stipulated time, the cost of power generation through non-renewable resources will be at par with the cost of the same amount of power generation through solar. The cost of solar power is expected to drop to Rs.10 per kWh by 2015-16.
Yes, this seems still not comparable to the lower cost of our non-renewable resources like coal and petroleum. Indian thermal power plants have been producing energy at the rate of Rs.5 to Rs.5.5 per kWh in comparison to solar installations at Rs.12-13 per kWh (2011 data). But as mentioned earlier, this cost is coming down with every passing year, while the cost of other energy sources has been in general rising up. Also, in the recent past, there has been acute shortage of raw materials to a variety of industries including iron ore and coking coal; engulfing the power generation, steel manufacturing and cement manufacturing industries. Our coal import requirement is expected to exceed 30% of our demand by 2017. The voluntary target of reducing 20- 25% carbon emission intensity of GDP by the year 2020 also needs to be achieved following the green initiative.
As per available estimates, solar power has the potential to almost meet 7% of our power needs by 2022. This shall also mitigate 2.6% of our carbon emissions and at the same time, will save 71 MTPA of imported coal in that year that accrues to $5.5 billion worth of imports. However, to realise the benefit out of solar energy and light up 40% of our rural households with a reliable and clean source, India needs to invest around $110 billion into this sector over the next decade.
In 2009, the Government had launched the Jawahar Lal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) as one of the eight missions under the Prime Minister’s National Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) to pursue our needs to rely on solar projects in India. But very recently, India’s Ministry of Renewable Energy in its new strategic plan has scaled down the share forecast of renewable energy in India’s energy mix from an initial 15% to a deplorable 6%! Currently, the share of renewable in India is around 3.5-4%. Besides increasing the overall pie of renewable energy, it is imperative for the government to invest in the proliferation of sustainable and safe power generation rather than invest into a high maintenance and highly susceptible and volatile technology, which is what the nuclear option really is. The new plan sets a target of a total of 21,700 MW for the next 6 years that will take the cumulative share of renewables to 41,400 MW. Earlier, under JNNSM, solar energy was supposed to see an addition of 22,000 MW of power by 2022. The erratic behaviour from the ministry has resulted in the scaling down of investments into solar power projects – and hence the 20-25% cut in emissions that India volunteered at Copenhagen will only see a reduction of around 2.5%.
The US has around 5% of the world’s population, but it uses almost a quarter of energy produced in the world. Despite the fact that in 2009, solar energy projects in the country gave employment to some 46,000 Americans directly and indirectly, even America seems reluctant at present to pursue the solar route as it demands huge investments. Compared to parts of Europe where the most solar projects have been installed, it is but thought provoking to see that the intensity of solar radiation in India is much higher as compared to what they have. The intensity of solar radiation falling on earth at the sea level at peak is 1,020 W/m2 but it differs considerably across the landscape. For example in North America, the average power of solar radiation is around 125-375 W/m2 that yields a power of 3-9 Kwh/m2. The average solar energy that falls on Australia is equivalent to 15,000 times its present energy requirements. India has the capacity to deploy 70 million square metres of solar collecting area to capture solar energy that can yield power close to 1600-2200 kWh/m2; with a potential of 6000 million GWh every year.
Then again, Indian nuclear power plants are able to produce cost effective energy at an average rate of Rs.2.19-2.30 per kWh. The Tarapur reactor has been producing energy at the rate of 94 paise per kWh. But then, as Dr. Santwana Raychaudhuri of the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics opines, “Nothing is sure enough from the point of view of safety in the case of nuclear power. It is better to invest more in research for producing systems to store solar power for our daily needs.”
In all this commentary, the solar energy option has been not followed rigorously by India so far as it has been traditionally regarded as a very expensive mode of power generation. As per market approximations, India produces less than 1% of its total energy through the solar route, while the same figure for some developed nations is as high as 15-20%. And that huge differential exists because in the developed word, solar projects are continuously getting cheaper whereas the cost of constructing a nuclear power plant is almost the same as it was in mid 1980s ($2-6 billion).
As more and more players slowly hop on to the solar bandwagon and invest in R&D, there has been a regular year on year decline of 3-4% on the cost of solar installations across the world as against a continuous increase of 4-5% for conventional sources. According to a recent report by KPMG, India will be able to reach solar grid parity by the year 2017- 2018. This means that by that stipulated time, the cost of power generation through non-renewable resources will be at par with the cost of the same amount of power generation through solar. The cost of solar power is expected to drop to Rs.10 per kWh by 2015-16.
Yes, this seems still not comparable to the lower cost of our non-renewable resources like coal and petroleum. Indian thermal power plants have been producing energy at the rate of Rs.5 to Rs.5.5 per kWh in comparison to solar installations at Rs.12-13 per kWh (2011 data). But as mentioned earlier, this cost is coming down with every passing year, while the cost of other energy sources has been in general rising up. Also, in the recent past, there has been acute shortage of raw materials to a variety of industries including iron ore and coking coal; engulfing the power generation, steel manufacturing and cement manufacturing industries. Our coal import requirement is expected to exceed 30% of our demand by 2017. The voluntary target of reducing 20- 25% carbon emission intensity of GDP by the year 2020 also needs to be achieved following the green initiative.
As per available estimates, solar power has the potential to almost meet 7% of our power needs by 2022. This shall also mitigate 2.6% of our carbon emissions and at the same time, will save 71 MTPA of imported coal in that year that accrues to $5.5 billion worth of imports. However, to realise the benefit out of solar energy and light up 40% of our rural households with a reliable and clean source, India needs to invest around $110 billion into this sector over the next decade.
In 2009, the Government had launched the Jawahar Lal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) as one of the eight missions under the Prime Minister’s National Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) to pursue our needs to rely on solar projects in India. But very recently, India’s Ministry of Renewable Energy in its new strategic plan has scaled down the share forecast of renewable energy in India’s energy mix from an initial 15% to a deplorable 6%! Currently, the share of renewable in India is around 3.5-4%. Besides increasing the overall pie of renewable energy, it is imperative for the government to invest in the proliferation of sustainable and safe power generation rather than invest into a high maintenance and highly susceptible and volatile technology, which is what the nuclear option really is. The new plan sets a target of a total of 21,700 MW for the next 6 years that will take the cumulative share of renewables to 41,400 MW. Earlier, under JNNSM, solar energy was supposed to see an addition of 22,000 MW of power by 2022. The erratic behaviour from the ministry has resulted in the scaling down of investments into solar power projects – and hence the 20-25% cut in emissions that India volunteered at Copenhagen will only see a reduction of around 2.5%.
The US has around 5% of the world’s population, but it uses almost a quarter of energy produced in the world. Despite the fact that in 2009, solar energy projects in the country gave employment to some 46,000 Americans directly and indirectly, even America seems reluctant at present to pursue the solar route as it demands huge investments. Compared to parts of Europe where the most solar projects have been installed, it is but thought provoking to see that the intensity of solar radiation in India is much higher as compared to what they have. The intensity of solar radiation falling on earth at the sea level at peak is 1,020 W/m2 but it differs considerably across the landscape. For example in North America, the average power of solar radiation is around 125-375 W/m2 that yields a power of 3-9 Kwh/m2. The average solar energy that falls on Australia is equivalent to 15,000 times its present energy requirements. India has the capacity to deploy 70 million square metres of solar collecting area to capture solar energy that can yield power close to 1600-2200 kWh/m2; with a potential of 6000 million GWh every year.
Then again, Indian nuclear power plants are able to produce cost effective energy at an average rate of Rs.2.19-2.30 per kWh. The Tarapur reactor has been producing energy at the rate of 94 paise per kWh. But then, as Dr. Santwana Raychaudhuri of the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics opines, “Nothing is sure enough from the point of view of safety in the case of nuclear power. It is better to invest more in research for producing systems to store solar power for our daily needs.”
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
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IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM Best B School India
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age WomanIIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
IIPM Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri on Internet Hooliganism
Arindam Chaudhuri: We need Hazare's leadership
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
