Distributed solar

India needs to install an average of 25 GW solar capacity every year to reach its renewable energy target of ‘450 GW by 2030’ with over 60% (280 GW) from solar. The nation must build enough manufacturing capacity back home to be ready on the supply side to support the new installations. 

The International Solar Alliance (ISA), which aims to mobilize more than $1 trillion of solar power investment by 2030 in its member countries, expanded its scope of work by launching programs on solar panel and battery waste management and solar-powered hydrogen production in its fourth assembly held recently.

A robust distributed renewable energy ecosystem with a strong domestic industry will help provide good-quality, reliable electricity to rural households and enterprises and thus turbocharge green entrepreneurship—paving the way for a self-reliant India.

The EnerPack from Indian manufacturer Jakson consists of a hybrid inverter, lithium ferro phosphate batteries, and an intelligent energy management system that can smartly combine grid power, solar power, wind power, and even diesel generator power supply to maximize the use of renewable energy.

The Delhi-based distributed solar company secured the projects under Uttar Pradesh Power Transmission Corporation Limited’s Open Access solar scheme in the State.

The decentralized solar solutions provider shall use the amount to scale up its pay-per-use, solar-powered irrigation, milling, and cooling projects for farmers and to expand its operations. 

The company’s arm Tata Power Solar has landed the engineering, procurement, and construction work for a cumulative 100 MW of distributed solar capacity in Maharashtra. The awarded capacity includes multiple ground-mounted projects.  

Bids are invited to set up a cumulative 147 MW of grid-interactive decentralized solar capacity in Maharashtra. The solar power generating systems, in sizes ranging from 2 MW to 10 MW (AC), shall come up at lands within or around the various substations in the State.

India’s solar capacity growth up to 2030 also means the generation of a significant mass of PV module waste due to early failures or damages during transportation, installation, and operation. The waste generation could be 21 kilotonnes assuming India’s cumulative installed PV capacity grows to 287.4 GW by 2030 from 40 GW in 2020. This doesn’t include end-of-life panel waste as PV systems installed between 2020-30 are assumed to have at least 30 years of lifetime.

India will require large swaths of land for the huge expansion of renewable energy capacity over the coming decades. The energy transition requires planning for proper siting of these plants and solutions like agrivoltaics, distributed energy systems, and offshore wind to reduce land-use conflicts.