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India: Solar power can transform our energy landscape
Solar power can transform our energy landscape
05/06/2012
If we consider a middle class household, with a house on a plot of land 40X50 feet and assume that 20% of the plot area is covered by solar panels on rooftop or on ground, then using today's technology, we can generate almost 300 units of electricity per month which is more than its average monthly consumption! Yes, if this gets adopted on a wider scale, solar power can truly transform our energy landscape.
Until recently, the cost of installing solar panels was very high putting it beyond the reach of most middle class and even the upper income class households. However, in the past three years prices have fallen substantially from over $3/W to less than $1/W. For an average upper income household consuming say 300 units of power every month, an installation of 3kW costing between R4 lakh to R5 lakh today (without battery storage) would be able to meet their average power needs. That might still sound expensive but if this is accompanied by innovative consumer financing, the costs can be spread out over much longer periods. For example, an EMI of R10,000 per month for 5 years would be adequate to cover this installation cost.
As the supply chain develops, costs of making panels and installing them will get cheaper thereby bringing them more and more within reach of a middle class household. Further, conventional power prices are on their way up. In recent months, many state electricity utilities have raised tariffs by 15-20%. Upper income residential consumers pay in excess of R7/unit in many states and commercial consumers pay in excess of R10/kwh. If one takes the impact of future tariff increases into account then the average lifetime cost, called the levelised cost, of grid power will be in the range of R10-13/kWh for these consumers. That is exactly where solar power cost lies today (and even lower!). So, we have reached parity in many ways. ...
05/06/2012
If we consider a middle class household, with a house on a plot of land 40X50 feet and assume that 20% of the plot area is covered by solar panels on rooftop or on ground, then using today's technology, we can generate almost 300 units of electricity per month which is more than its average monthly consumption! Yes, if this gets adopted on a wider scale, solar power can truly transform our energy landscape.
Until recently, the cost of installing solar panels was very high putting it beyond the reach of most middle class and even the upper income class households. However, in the past three years prices have fallen substantially from over $3/W to less than $1/W. For an average upper income household consuming say 300 units of power every month, an installation of 3kW costing between R4 lakh to R5 lakh today (without battery storage) would be able to meet their average power needs. That might still sound expensive but if this is accompanied by innovative consumer financing, the costs can be spread out over much longer periods. For example, an EMI of R10,000 per month for 5 years would be adequate to cover this installation cost.
As the supply chain develops, costs of making panels and installing them will get cheaper thereby bringing them more and more within reach of a middle class household. Further, conventional power prices are on their way up. In recent months, many state electricity utilities have raised tariffs by 15-20%. Upper income residential consumers pay in excess of R7/unit in many states and commercial consumers pay in excess of R10/kwh. If one takes the impact of future tariff increases into account then the average lifetime cost, called the levelised cost, of grid power will be in the range of R10-13/kWh for these consumers. That is exactly where solar power cost lies today (and even lower!). So, we have reached parity in many ways. ...
http://www.power-eng.com/news/2012/05/06/solar-power-can-transform-our-energy-landscape.html
...
R4 lakh = 400,000 rupees or approx $7500
1 rupee (R) =1.8 cents US
1 lakh = 100,000
