India’s renewable energy

India’s renewable energy

 

  • The Government of India has set a target to expand India’s renewable energy installed capacity to 500 GW by 2030.
  • India has set a target of reducing the country’s total estimated carbon emissions by 1 billion tonnes by 2030, reducing the carbon intensity of the country’s economy by 45% by the end of the decade, achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2070.
  • India has achieved significant photovoltaic capacity over the past decade, from less than 10 MW in 2010 to over 50 GW in 2022.
  • The total installed renewable energy capacity in India is 151.4 GW.

The following are the details of the total installed capacity for renewable energy:

  • Wind Power:08 GW
  • Solar Power:34 GW
  • Biopower:61 GW
  • Small Hydro Power:83 GW
  • Large Hydro:51 GW

Current Solar Power Capacity:

  • 45 solar parks with a total capacity of 37 GW have been approved in India.
  • Solar parks at Pavagadh (2 GW), Kurnool (1 GW) and Bhadla-II (648 MW) are among the top 5 operational solar parks in the country with a capacity of 7 GW.
  • The world’s largest renewable energy park of 30 GW solar-wind hybrid project is being set up in Gujarat.

Challenges:

 Excessive dependence on imports:

  • India does not have sufficient module and PV cell manufacturing capacity.
  • Current solar module manufacturing capacity is limited to 15 GW per annum, while domestic production is only around 3.5 GW.
  • Further, out of 15 GW of module manufacturing capacity, only 3-4 GW of modules are technically competitive and eligible for deployment in grid-based projects.

Size and technology:

  • Most of the Indian industry is based on the M2 type of wafer size, approximately 156×156 mm2, while the global industry is already moving to the M10 and M12 sizes, which are 182×182 mm2 and 210×210 mm2.
  • Large size wafer is advantageous as it is cost effective and has low power loss.

Raw Material Supply:

  • The most expensive raw material silicon wafer is not manufactured in India.
  • It currently imports 100% silicon wafers and about 80% cells.
  • Apart from this, almost 100% of the other major raw materials like silver and aluminum metal pastes are also imported for establishing electrical connectivity.

Government Initiatives:

 PLI Scheme to Support Manufacturing:

  • The scheme has provisions to support setting up of integrated manufacturing units of high efficiency solar PV modules by providing Production Linked Incentives (PLIs) on the sale of such solar PV modules.

Household Material Requirement (DCR):

  • Some of the existing schemes of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) include Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSU) Scheme Phase-II, PM-KUSUM, and Grid Connected Rooftop Solar Program Phase-II, with government subsidies. It has been made mandatory to source solar PV cells and modules from domestic sources.
  • In addition, the government has made it mandatory for grid connected state/central government projects to procure modules only from the approved list of manufacturers (ALMM).

Imposition of Basic Customs Duty on Import of Solar PV Cells and Modules:

  • The government has announced imposition of Basic Custom Duty (BCD) on the import of solar PV cells and modules.
  • In addition, it has imposed a duty of 40% on import of modules and 25% on import of SAIL.
  • Basic customs duty is a duty levied on the value of the commodity at a specified rate.

Revised Special Incentive Package Scheme (M-SIPS):

  • It is a scheme of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
  • The scheme mainly provides subsidy for capital expenditure on PV cells and modules – 20% for investment in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and 25% in non-SEZs.

Yojna ias daily current affairs eng med 10th August

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