Solar Energy: The Energy for Future of India

Solar Energy is the energy that is radiated by the sun that travels to the Earth. The amount of solar energy falling on Earth is far more than we currently need but also we might ever need.

How Solar Energy is harnessed?

Solar energy can be harnessed by using Photovoltaic Technology which has a panel made up of semiconductors and bus bars. When sunlight falls on the panel, the semiconductors free an electron which travels through the bus bar, that is the electric current produced. The generated electric current is in direct form, which is converted in alternating current through an inverter, because most appliances use alternating current.

What are the benefits of Solar Energy over other sources?

Solar energy is a renewable source of energy and also non-polluting source, which when generated does not harm nature in any way. It is much more environment friendly than any of the conventional energy sources like coal, or petroleum. Also solar energy generating does not require any moving parts, which prevents any mechanical wear and tear, significantly reducing the maintenance cost and resources, unlike hydro or wind power, which have huge turbines which turn to produce the energy inevitably causing mechanical tear due to friction. Solar energy is not only environmentally friendly, but also cost efficient.

Solar Energy Efficiency

Solar panel efficiency is determined through testing under the standard test conditions (25°C & 1000W/m2 irradiance). The solar cells can be up to 42% efficient, but the efficiency of a panel is not equal to the efficiency of its cells. Nowadays, panels as efficient as 20% are being used. The efficiency of solar panels is defined as that if a panel is 15% efficient of 1 m2, on a sunny day the sunlight hitting the panel inclined at 37°, will produce 150 Watts of energy. This efficiency is measured by rigorous testing. 

The most efficient type of solar panel in standard test conditions is called Monocrystalline solar panel, which is manufactured from the purest silicon. A crystal of this type of silicon is grown in a complex process to produce a long rod. The rod is then cut into wafers that will make the solar cells. Monocrystalline solar panels are known to deliver the highest efficiency of 22-27% in standard test conditions when compared to the other 2 types of solar cells (polycrystalline solar panel and thin film solar panel). The Monocrystalline solar panels can easily be recognized by their dark color and rounded edge.

How much Energy does India need?

India is a self-sustaining country in matters of energy production as India is capable of producing 3,221.93 billion kWh energy every year, while India’s energy requirements are 1,137.00 billion kWh per year (original data source here). India’s total production is actually 1,386.00 billion kWh energy every year due to lack of efficiency since not all power plants run at 100% capacity all the time. Solar energy is a mere fraction of this power produced.

About 5,000 trillion kWh energy per year is incident from the sun over India's land area with most parts receiving 4-7 kWh per m2 per day. 60.4 billion kWh energy is produced by India through solar energy sources. This can be increased significantly by having more solar power plants. By establishing solar power plants all over India where the minimum population has to displace, we can up our energy production. India is closer to the equator than most countries in the world, which means India receives more solar energy which can be much easily converted into electrical energy.

Reforms by the Government of India to harness this elixir

Solar energy is the elixir in terms of energy. It is simply the energy from the Gods. The Indian Government realizing this is reforming towards solar energy. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is focused on making India self-sustaining in terms of energy and also reducing its dependency over oil imports for domestic fuel. The MNRE is making new reforms and bringing up schemes to increase solar energy generation in India (Read more about it here).

The Government of India has also introduced subsidies for those using solar energy and solar panels on their rooftops. This is done so as to encourage more and more new constructions in India to have a self-sustaining source of energy which would make a huge dent in the electricity bills of the residents.

How is solar energy better than other sources?

India is reforming towards solar energy as the world scatters to look for new and renewable sources of energy. It is the future of energy generation. It is the most cost efficient energy source among all in the long run as fossil fuels are eventually going to run out and the world will have to rely on such energy sources. 

Fossil fuels and other non renewable sources of energy are not going to last long enough for future generations. Though these sources like coal power plants have much higher efficiency than that of renewable sources (up to 60% efficient in some cases), they cause much more harm to the environment to be efficient enough and even the extraction of the fossil fuels from the Earth requires much more energy and are not that efficient in the long run. The maintenance needed to keep these plants running is even more of an ill luck after all the other things counted.

While renewable energy sources other than solar power like hydropower, wind energy, geothermal energy, etc. may be more efficient than solar power but they all have their flaws, as most of these other sources depend upon mechanical power converters, like turbines and all these mechanical parts have motion and friction damages which significantly bump up the costs of maintenance. Turbines have huge blades that are rotated by the driving force, may be in the form of steam, or wind, causes friction within the axel and the blades of the turbine, this friction causes loss in efficiency, also there are other factors like water power plants do not run at their maximum speed at all times as water level keeps varying according to the tides, or wind speeds are not always constant. Similar factors affect the efficiency of energy generation through these methods. 

On the other hand solar energy does not include any motion among its parts, which resists the mechanical wear and tear in the plants helping reduce the costs of maintenance.

Another factor making solar power more pocket friendly is the ease of installation. All that is needed to be done is laying solar panels in a suitable position and connecting them to the grid, no large parts like huge blades or establishment of dams or any such structure is needed. The setting up of hydropower plants include redirecting existing rivers and building huge dams on the existing forests also displacing wildlife and destroying natural ecosystems, also requiring regulating water flow to generate electricity after establishing large turbines and generators, which require regular maintenance as well.

Wind power plants are established in hilly regions or near beaches for maximum possible efficiency, these areas are usually remote places, i.e., not easily accessible and definitely not easy to establish large turbines and blades at such heights.

Solar power plants are in much more less remote locations, hence their maintenance is also easier in terms of accessibility. Making it easier to establish such plants reduces cost of initialization.

Though we have to keep in mind that solar energy is not as efficient as well, the plants cannot work at nights or on cloudy days as there will be no solar energy to harvest. Solar energy also needs large areas to be established and occupy more than enough space. But this can be easily solved as we can place these solar panels on the roofs of our already existing buildings, that way we solve the problem of space occupancy and also make those buildings self-sustaining in terms of electricity generation.

Solar Energy is going to be the future of energy generation and it is also going to solve any future energy crisis we may have.