Bulk of India’s future energy to come from renewables

Mar 1, 2012 - Ritwik Mukherjee - www.mydigitalfc.com

By 2050, nearly 69 per cent of the electricity produced in India will come from renewables like solar energy, suggests a recent market insight on the “BIPV (Building-integrated photovoltaics) Market — Emerging Opportunities through Sustainable Resources” by Frost & Sullivan. India’s strategic geographical location enables it to tap the vast potential for solar power generation, with about 300 clear sunny days in a year, the Frost & Sullivan report says.

Significantly, India, at present, is facing a severe electricity deficit, amounting to 67.148 billion KWH during 2010-11. The overall consumption of electricity in India in 2010 was 601 billion KWH with industrial, residential, commercial, and other sectors contributing 35 per cent, 28 per cent, 9 per cent, and 28 per cent respectively. This is likely to surpass 1,000 billion KWH annually by 2020.

Therefore BIPV projects are the only viable solution for every individual/corporate to be aware of and be self-dependent to generate power on their own and also to contribute to overcome the energy deficit in the country, the report says.

BIPV are photovoltaic materials used to replace conventional building materials (such as glass facades/panels, or aluminium cladding/structural glazing, and so on) in parts of the building envelope. The concept of BIPV is new and at a very nascent stage in India. In developed countries, the BIPV system is interfaced with the available utility grid, but BIPV may also be used in standalone, off-grid systems, and is cost-effective.

“The costs of BIPV building envelope materials are more than the conventional building envelope materials that are commonly used in building construction. However, by replacing and avoiding the cost of the conventional materials and power generator, the incremental cost of the BIPV is reduced and their lifecycle cost is improved. That is, the cost of BIPV systems often has lower overall costs than PV systems that require separate dedicated mounting systems,” Frost & Sullivan mentions.

Interestingly, India, at present, does not have any infrastructure for raw material production for solar panels (polysilicon) and is entirely dependent on imports.