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Establishing effective operation of the Power System is the most predominant factor of any infrastructure designing. Unfortunately, this has always been a big challenge for the country and it still persists. Over the years of development and research, Indian Govt. has realized the importance of renewable energy to be an only preserver in such a critical situation. It has also been pointed out, that solar energy out of all renewable energy alternatives possesses the highest potential to bridge India’s energy demand and supply gap in the future. Realizing the importance of Solar, Government of India has taken various initiatives such as tax exemptions and subsidies to bolster the sector. Private solar companies are being encouraged by the government’s decision to reduce customs duty on solar panels by 5 percent and the exemption of excise duty on solar photo-voltaic panels.
Interestingly, India is endowed with vast solar energy potential due to its geographical location in the tropical region. It is one of the few countries to get 300-330 total clear sunny days in a year. Technically, India can produce enough solar power to meet its entire power requirements. The opportunities to grow and expand are huge since the country only taps 1% of this potential currently.
According to International Energy agency, the percentage of people that have access to electricity in India is only 64.5% .This means that more than 1 out of 3 people in India are still not able to meet their power requirements. McKinsey claims that India’s demand for electricity may soon cross 300 GW, and due to the high transmission and distribution losses, this would translate to 400 GW of installed capacity. Solar is integral in the plan to meet this growing demand and Indian Government plans to generate 100GW of Solar power by 2022 under Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM). This would mean no power cut issues and electricity to all and the remotest of villages to stay connected to the rest of the world.
As per a study conducted by Spheral solar, a leading supplier of solar products, efficiency and size of solar panels have improved dramatically in the last few years. In the earlier years of inception of solar panel technology, solar panels could only convert 4-5% of available energy to electricity. By 2012, solar panels had witnessed a noteworthy improvement because of its ability to convert 5-15 % of available energy into the electricity. In the last year, lab tested solar panel can now convert more than 23% of energy into electricity. This has led to huge reductions in the price of solar power, making it more competitive than conventional sources like coal. In the recent tender for projects in Andhra Pradesh under the National Solar Mission (NSM), the developers had quoted as low as Rs.5 per KWh. The gap between solar and coal is closing down. The average rate of electricity sold by NTPC’s coal-fuelled projects in 2014 was as high as Rs.3.25 per unit and these prices are only going northwards.
Since the international competition in the industry is high, government has done its fair share of helping domestic manufacturers. As per the Government norms, machinery which is imported to India and used to manufacture solar thermal components has been exempt from customs duty since July 2014 and importers of machinery equipment are free from paying excise and basic customs duty for solar electricity projects.
While the “MAKE IN INDIA” initiative is envisioned at a broad level and covers almost every sector, solar finds a special place in it. Along with wind and other renewable energy, the sector is forecasted to create a million jobs in the country by 2022. The renewable energy sector, had already generated 400,000 jobs in India till 2014 , according to a report released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).The 100 GW target of Government should be viewed in the context of not only addressing power deficit and climate goals, but also in terms of creating a flourishing domestic solar PV manufacturing industry.
Realizing the rigor of solar sector in India, IndiaMART has created a wide assortment of products category listing in renewable energy and solar industry. The site promotes suppliers who deal in products ranging from solar panels to solar home appliance like solar lights. Suppliers in the solar space have hugely benefited using IndiaMART portal. Visit our solar energy and renewable energy category page and watch one such supplier talk about his success story.