Fuel for the future

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: generation from 46 yen per kilowatt hour to seven yen per KwH. Mass production of PV modules will enable India to intensify R&D efforts, so that it can reduce costs from current levels of Rs 15 per KwH to Rs 5 per KwH.

The Government has approved the creation of a national solar mission, on the lines of the Atomic Commission. This was done on the recommendations of the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council, Dr V Krishnamurthy, Chairman of the council. Commenting on the advantages of a ‘mission’, he said that a programme on a ‘mission mode’ would receive high priority and procedures and formalities would be passed through faster. Apart from the fact that India has the highest potential in the world to harness sun power (“the ‘irradiance factor’ for India is the highest in the world”), he added that the country had also the potential to be the least cost producer and assembler of solar cells — thanks to the abundant availability of silicon (sand). However, the Indian R&D effort in this area was very inadequate. The industry should focus more on R&D in areas such as raising the percentage of solar energy falling on the panels into electricity and bringing down the cost of production of raw materials in solar energies. Many corporate houses have planned investments aggregating Rs 50,000 crore in the solar photovoltaic industry.

The PV industry, especially in Europe, led by Germany, is making great strides in efficiency and cost, bringing solar power closer to price parity with fossil fuels, according to experts. In 2007, global production of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells increased by a 51% to 3,733 MW. According to estimates, more than 2,935 MW of solar modules were installed in 2007, bringing cumulative global installations of PVs since 1996 to more than 9,740 MW.