Recent Advances In Renewable Energy Sources And Control-2015, VSSUT

Continual Technological Up gradation in use

of Solar Energy
- A Panacea for Indias Energy Security by
2050
Binamrata Mishra
Department of EEE , VSSUT, Burla, Odisha, India
ABSTRACT--In todays technosavy world energy
plays a prime role and due to rising economic
standards of people the use of conventional forms of
energy has increased to its peak level.Theres a high
time we need to switch over to renewable sources of
energy such as solar,wind ,and hydro energy.Special
emphasis can be putforth on the solar form of energy
as its occupies the centre-stage..India has the highest
solar radiation ,in the range of 4-7 kwh/m2/day with
the glaring example of Thar Desert that has the
potential of becoming the largest solar power hub of
India.But the major constraints for the growth of the
solar energy that is its high generating cost needed to
overcomed as soon as possible by developing the
quality of solar cells using Nanotechnology based
thin-film solar cells..Even
the record-breaking
attempt to fly around the world in a solar powered
plane i.e Solar Impulse2 has opened the eyes of the
whole world i.e the worlds first solar-powered
aircraft.Further it focuses and ellabrotes upon the
status of India about solar power generating capacity
and the reserve position of coal,lignite etc of top ten
countries of the world to ignite our young
generations mind for energy security of the future
generation.

I.

INTRODUCTION

Cooking a dinner, cooling a room , lighting a street,

keeping a hospital open, running a factory every
facets of life require energy. Energy is thus at the
heart of everybody's quality of life and a crucial
factor for economic competitiveness . Global
population and energy needs are increasing handin-hand but the current fossil-fuel based energy
system is not sustainable as it contributes
substantially to climate change and depends heavily
on imports of oil from very few countries. Today
the quality of our environment is threatened due to
the earths atmospheric carbon dioxide levels rise
from an estimated 280 parts per million in 1950 to
390 parts per million , the highest levels
experienced so far in last 200 years . The
environmental damages caused on our water supply
which we drink , the air we breathe, the food we eat

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etc are incalculable . The current trends in energy

supply and demand are definitely unsustainable
economically, environmentally and socially .
As per latest report of World Energy Council ,
energy supplies must double by the year 2050 to
meet the energy demand of all households .
Answers to such a big challenge of satisfying
increasing energy needs and combating climate
change at the same time are urgently needed and
energy research can play an essential role .
Renewable Energy has assumed greater
significance in this 21st Century as it is clean &
green. Renewable energy is the energy obtained
from sources that are essentially inexhaustible such
as sun , wind , tide , bio-fuels and hydropower. A
renewable energy system converts the energy found
in sunlight, wind, falling-water, sea-waves,
geothermal heat, or biomass into a form which can
be used as heat or electricity without the release of
harmful pollutants .

II.

DEMAND VS. RESERVES OF FINITE

CONVENTIONAL RESOURCES
The fossil fuel resources like coal, crude oil, natural
gas and peat are finite and depleting fast to meet
the present requirement of consumptions . Coal has
a recoverable reserve to production ratio of just
over 100 years, compared with 54 years for natural
gas and 41 years for oil . Unimaginable hike in
prices and short supply of both coal and petroleum
products have threatened the economic conditions
of Common people , Transporters , Industries ,
Power producers of our country as a whole .
Energy Security has become a buzzword for the
long term survival of this modern society . The
high cost of procurement of fossil fuels , their cost
of handling and appropriate technological steps to
prevent rampant pollutions after their burning in
furnaces have awakened all concerned to think

Recent Advances In Renewable Energy Sources And Control-2015, VSSUT

about alternatives of this conventional sources of

energy . The reserve position of fossil fuels
mainly coal , crude oil & natural gas of top ten

countries of the world are stated below in Table I

to think about our energy security .

Sl. No.

Country

Coal reserve in
million Tons

Country

Crude oil reserve

in million barrels
*

Country

Natural Gas reserve in

million cubic meter .

01

USA

242721

Saudi Arabia

264063

Russia

47570000

02

Russia

1,57,010

Iran

137610

Iran

2,96,10,000

03
04

China
Australia

1,14,500
76,600

Iraq
Kuwait

115000
101500

Qatar
Turkmenistan

2,54,70,000
75,04,000

05

India

56,498

Venezuela

99377

Saudi Arabia

74,61,000

06

S. Africa

48,000

UAE

97800

USA

69,28,000

07

Ukraine

33,873

Russia

79000

UAE

60,71,000

08

Kazakhstan

31,300

Libya

44271

Nigeria

52,46,300

09

Serbia

13,885

Nigeria

37200

Venezuela

49,83,000

10

Poland

7,502

USA

28396

Algeria

45,02,000

Total World:

8,60,938

12,58,000

15,01,90,000

Table I , *01 barrel = 160 liters .

Source :- Survey Report of World Energy Council , 2014 & CIA World Fact Book , 2014 .

The Worlds top ten countries with Solar Power generating capacity as on October , 2011 were as follows :
Rank
No.

Countrys
name

Installed Solar power

capacity in MW

Rank
No.

Countrys name

Installed Solar power capacity in

MW

01

Jermany

10,000

06

Czech. Republic

600

02

Spain

3500

07

Belgium

450

03

Japan

2700

08

China

400

04

U.S.

1800

09

France

350

05

Italy

1300

10

India

200

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Recent Advances In Renewable Energy Sources And Control-2015, VSSUT

(a).Proved recoverable Coal , Crude Oil & Natural Gas reserves : The top ten countries .

area is about 5 trillion kwh/yr . As a glaring

example the vast Rajasthan Thar Desert has the
potential to become the largest solar power hub in
India. The average solar intensity in this zone is 6
kwh/m2/day or 250 W/M2 . Considering an
efficiency of conversion as 20 %, the power
produced would be 50 W/M2. i.e. 50 MW/KM2 or
around 1GW/20 KM2 . Out of around 2 lakh KM
of desert area available within India , around
35,000 KM2 area can be earmarked for solar power
projects, sufficient to generate 1,75,000 GW
( i.e.17,50,000 MW ) of power which is around 7
times more than our present total installed capacity
of around 2,50,000 MW as on 31/01/2015 .

This Table-1 indicates that our motherland India

which is the 2nd most populace county in the world
is heavily dependent on import of petroleum oil &
natural gas to meet its energy demand of 130 crore
population . Thus , without decisive and pragmatic
action , the growth and future of this country is not
sustainable . A paradigm shift in policy makers
approach towards present energy crisis of
sustainability on long term basis is needed to be
focused on Renewable Sources of Energy .

III.

WHY SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON SOLAR

ENERGY IN INDIA
Sun is the most abundant permanent source of
energy for its planet Earth . Solar energy is clean,
inexhaustible, sustainable, and secure . Solar
energy is available both directly as solar radiation
and indirectly in the form of power from wind,
biomass, hydro, and marine sources. The annual
solar radiation reaching the earth is over 7500 times
the worlds annual primary energy consumption of
500 exajoules .

Indias Solar Mission Target -2020 , intends to

increase the share of solar energy to 12 percent of
total generation . India is currently developing the
largest solar power plant in the world i.e an ultra
mega power plant of 4,000 MW to be located in
Rajasthan . The joint venture between five
government-owned companies i.e. BHEL , Power
Grid Corporation , Solar Energy Corporation of
India, Hindustan Salts and Rajasthan Electronics &
Instruments Limited is on focus and is expected to
be commissioned in 2016 . However , the focus on
solar energy need to be intensified further as India
is not proceeding at the same pace as the world is
proceeding in this area of clean energy .

Indias solar energy holds greater promise as it has

higher solar radiation , in the range of 4 to 7
kwh/m2/day . With about 300 clear sunny days in a
year, India's solar power reception on only land

However as on December , 2014, the world has quickly switched to affordable, clean & solar energy as
tabulated below :
Rank No.

Countrys name

Installed Solar power

capacity in MW

Rank No.

Countrys name

Installed Solar power

capacity in MW

01
02
03
04
05

Jermany
China
Italy
Japan
U.S.

35,500
18,300
17,600
13,600
12,000

06
07
08
09
10

Spain
France
Australia
Belgium
U.K.

5,600
4,600
3,300
3,000
2,900

Indias position has come down from 10th position to the

12th place , presently generating around 2,300 MW of
Solar energy where as our contender China has moved
from 8th place in 2011 to the 2nd position by 2014 .

IV.

STRIKING CONSTRAINTS FOR

GROWTH OF SOLAR ENERGY
The striking constraints for the large scale growth
of Solar Energy is the generating cost and the
efficiency of energy conversion from solar to
thermal or electrical energy . Despite remarkable
technological progress in various solar modules in

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the last decade , further drastic improvement is

needed to drive down the generating cost and
improved
performance . The technology
development and increased cost-efficiency is
expected to make solar energy a mainstream energy
source within the next decade. Costs are expected
to be further reduced to make it level playing with
conventional sources of energy .
Solar Power , a clean renewable resource
with zero emission, has got tremendous potential of
energy in India . Presently , India produces only
2300 MW of solar power at a cost of around

Recent Advances In Renewable Energy Sources And Control-2015, VSSUT

Rs.8.00 to Rs.10.00 per unit of energy i.e. around 3

to 4 times costlier than the conventional sources of
energy . The overall efficiency of a present day
mono crystalline / polycrystalline / amorphous
silicon based solar cell is around 18 - 22% in
practice against 25 30 % in research laboratories,
for which the commercially viability to the
Industries is not appealing . Hence , Govt. of India
need to undertake various supportive policies to
encourage the Solar Industries and the technocrats
in general to propel further the solar power
technologies to grater heights .
(V).ROLE OF
NANO TECHNOLOGY IN
DEVELOPMENT OF SOLAR CELLS :Nanotechnology enhanced thin-film solar cells are
a promising and potentially
important emerging technology. The entire world is
in the stage of great learning curve and several
research articles are readily available in different
countries including India but the commercial
viability at level playing rates have not been
established till date . PV modular solar cells need
further
improvement
with
the use of
nanotechnology and nano materials . The nano
structured ZnO thin-film Solar Cells , 3D dye
sensitized Solar Cells made from optical glass
fibers using nano crystalline titanium dioxide as
the working electrode
over which several
developed and developing countries are
concentrating a lot may be very promising in near
future .

The record-breaking latest attempt to fly around

the world in a solar-powered plane i.e. Solar
Impulse 2 has opened the eye of the whole world .
The world's 1st solar-powered aircraft, took off
from Abu Dhabi on 10th March, 2015 headed
towards Muscat in Oman and then landed in
Ahmedabad & Varanasi in India and is scheduled
to fly for next five months to skip from continent
to continent, crossing both the Pacific and Atlantic
oceans in the process .
Solar Impulse of 2300 kg weight , has 17,248 solar
cells and is the first aircraft to fly day and night
without a drop of fuel is an eye opener for the

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technocrat fraternity of the world to focus more and

more on the renewable solar energy .
V.

CONCLUSION

The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, Govt.

of India has revised its target of renewable energy
generation as 1,75,000 MW by the year 2022,
comprising 100,000 MW Solar, 60,000 MW Wind,
10,000 MW Biomass and 5000 MW Small Hydro .
In order to meet this stringent target , there is a
pressing need to accelerate the advancement in
clean energy technologies.
It is believed that the progressive development of
PV modules with nano technology will achieve
grid parity i.e. competitiveness with electricity
grid retail prices by the year 2020 in many
regions. As grid parity is achieved, the policy
framework should evolve towards fostering selfsustained markets , with the progressive phase-out
of economic incentives , maintaining grid access
guarantees and sustained R&D supports . There is
a need to expand international collaboration in PV
research and development, capacity building and
financing to accelerate learning and avoid
duplicating efforts so that this clean and green
solar energy can be the major source of energy by
the year 2050 and meet the major share of our
future generations .
The Government of India must take advantage of
the vast amounts of solar energy available from the
Rajasthan Thar Desert sun lights instead of
importing oil from the Arab nations to power its
future energy needs . A roadmap for full use of
solar energy by the year 2050 , need to be
developed by our fellow engineers and researchers
to avoid several gigatonnes (Gt) of CO2 emissions
.
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]

Website of The Ministry of New & Renewable

Energy , Govt. of India .
The Survey of energy Resources,2014 , The World
Energy Council .
Planet Editor, October 21, 2014 .
Report on Indias Solar Mission Target -2020
CIA
World
Fact
Book
,
2014.