Solar Mission with a Vision

Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission

Towards Building SOLAR INDIA
1. Introduction

The National Solar Mission is a major initiative of the Government of India and State
Governments to promote ecologically sustainable growth while addressing India’s
energy security challenge. It will also constitute a major contribution by India to the
global effort to meet the challenges of climate change.
In launching India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change on June 30, 2008, the
Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh stated:
“Our vision is to make India’s economic development energy-efficient. Over a period
of time, we must pioneer a graduated shift from economic activity based on fossil
fuels to one based on non-fossil fuels and from reliance on non-renewable and
depleting sources of energy to renewable sources of energy. In this strategy, the sun
occupies centre-stage, as it should, being literally the original source of all energy.
We will pool our scientific, technical and managerial talents, with sufficient financial
resources, to develop solar energy as a source of abundant energy to power our
economy and to transform the lives of our people. Our success in this endeavour will
change the face of India. It would also enable India to help change the destinies of
people around the world.”
The National Action Plan on Climate Change also points out: “India is a tropical
country, where sunshine is available for longer hours per day and in great intensity.
Solar energy, therefore, has great potential as future energy source. It also has the
advantage of permitting the decentralized distribution of energy, thereby empowering
people at the grassroots level”.
Based on this vision a National Solar Mission is being launched under the brand
name “Solar India”.
2. Importance and relevance of solar energy for India
1. Cost: Solar is currently high on absolute costs compared to other sources of
power such as coal. The objective of the Solar Mission is to create
conditions, through rapid scale-up of capacity and technological innovation to
drive down costs towards grid parity. The Mission anticipates achieving grid
parity by 2022 and parity with coal-based thermal power by 2030, but
recognizes that this cost trajectory will depend upon the scale of global
deployment and technology development and transfer. The cost projections
vary – from 22% for every doubling of capacity to a reduction of only 60% with
global deployment increasing 16 times the current level. The Mission
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recognizes that there are a number of off-grid solar applications particularly
for meeting rural energy needs, which are already cost-effective and provides
for their rapid expansion.
2. Scalability: India is endowed with vast solar energy potential. About 5,000
trillion kWh per year energy is incident over India’s land area with most parts
receiving 4-7 kWh per sq. m per day. Hence both technology routes for
conversion of solar radiation into heat and electricity, namely, solar thermal
and solar photovoltaics, can effectively be harnessed providing huge
scalability for solar in India. Solar also provides the ability to generate power
on a distributed basis and enables rapid capacity addition with short lead
times. Off-grid decentralized and low-temperature applications will be
advantageous from a rural electrification perspective and meeting other
energy needs for power and heating and cooling in both rural and urban
areas. The constraint on scalability will be the availability of space, since in all
current applications, solar power is space intensive. In addition, without
effective storage, solar power is characterized by a high degree of variability.
In India, this would be particularly true in the monsoon season.
3. Environmental impact: Solar energy is environmentally friendly as it has
zero emissions while generating electricity or heat.
4. Security of source: From an energy security perspective, solar is the most
secure of all sources, since it is abundantly available. Theoretically, a small
fraction of the total incident solar energy (if captured effectively) can meet the
entire country’s power requirements. It is also clear that given the large
proportion of poor and energy un-served population in the country, every
effort needs to be made to exploit the relatively abundant sources of energy
available to the country. While, today, domestic coal based power generation
is the cheapest electricity source, future scenarios suggest that this could well
change. Already, faced with crippling electricity shortages, price of electricity
traded internally, touched Rs 7 per unit for base loads and around Rs 8.50 per
unit during peak periods. The situation will also change, as the country moves
towards imported coal to meet its energy demand. The price of power will
have to factor in the availability of coal in international markets and the cost of
developing import infrastructure. It is also evident that as the cost of
environmental degradation is factored into the mining of coal, as it must, the
price of this raw material will increase. In the situation of energy shortages,
the country is increasing the use of diesel-based electricity, which is both
expensive – costs as high as Rs 15 per unit - and polluting. It is in this
situation the solar imperative is both urgent and feasible to enable the country
to meet long-term energy needs.
3. Objectives and Targets
The objective of the National Solar Mission is to establish India as a global leader in
solar energy, by creating the policy conditions for its diffusion across the country as
quickly as possible.
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The Mission will adopt a 3-phase approach, spanning the remaining period of the
11th Plan and first year of the 12th Plan (up to 2012-13) as Phase 1, the remaining 4
years of the 12th Plan (2013-17) as Phase 2 and the 13th Plan (2017-22) as Phase 3.
At the end of each plan, and mid-term during the 12th and 13th Plans, there will be an
evaluation of progress, review of capacity and targets for subsequent phases, based
on emerging cost and technology trends, both domestic and global. The aim would
be to protect Government from subsidy exposure in case expected cost reduction
does not materialize or is more rapid than expected.
The immediate aim of the Mission is to focus on setting up an enabling environment
for solar technology penetration in the country both at a centralized and
decentralized level. The first phase (up to 2013) will focus on capturing of the lowhanging
options in solar thermal; on promoting off-grid systems to serve populations
without access to commercial energy and modest capacity addition in grid-based
systems. In the second phase, after taking into account the experience of the initial
years, capacity will be aggressively ramped up to create conditions for up scaled and
competitive solar energy penetration in the country.
To achieve this, the Mission targets are:
· To create an enabling policy framework for the deployment of 20,000 MW
of solar power by 2022.
· To ramp up capacity of grid-connected solar power generation to 1000 MW
within three years – by 2013; an additional 3000 MW by 2017 through the
mandatory use of the renewable purchase obligation by utilities backed with a
preferential tariff. This capacity can be more than doubled – reaching
10,000MW installed power by 2017 or more, based on the enhanced and
enabled international finance and technology transfer. The ambitious target
for 2022 of 20,000 MW or more, will be dependent on the ‘learning’ of the first
two phases, which if successful, could lead to conditions of grid-competitive
solar power. The transition could be appropriately up scaled, based on
availability of international finance and technology.
· To create favourable conditions for solar manufacturing capability, particularly
solar thermal for indigenous production and market leadership.
· To promote programmes for off grid applications, reaching 1000 MW by 2017
and 2000 MW by 2022 .
· To achieve 15 million sq. meters solar thermal collector area by 2017 and 20
million by 2022.
· To deploy 20 million solar lighting systems for rural areas by 2022.
4. Mission strategy (phase 1 and 2)
The first phase will announce the broad policy frame work to achieve the objectives
of the National Solar Mission by 2022. The policy announcement will create the
necessary environment to attract industry and project developers to invest in
research, domestic manufacturing and development of solar power generation and
thus create the critical mass for a domestic solar industry. The Mission will work
closely with State Governments, Regulators, Power utilities and Local Self
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Government bodies to ensure that the activities and policy framework being laid out
can be implemented effectively. Since some State Governments have already
announced initiatives on solar, the Mission will draw up a suitable transition
framework to enable an early and aggressive start-up.
A. Utility connected applications: constructing the solar grid
The key driver for promoting solar power would be through a Renewable Purchase
Obligation (RPO) mandated for power utilities, with a specific solar component. This
will drive utility scale power generation, whether solar PV or solar thermal. The Solar
Purchase Obligation will be gradually increased while the tariff fixed for Solar power
purchase will decline over time.
B. The below 80°C challenge – solar collectors
The Mission in its first two phases will promote solar heating systems, which are
already using proven technology and are commercially viable. The Mission is
setting an ambitious target for ensuring that applications, domestic and industrial,
below 80 °C are solarised. The key strategy of the Mission will be to make necessary
policy changes to meet this objective:
· Firstly, make solar heaters mandatory, through building byelaws and
incorporation in the National Building Code,
· Secondly, ensure the introduction of effective mechanisms for certification and
rating of manufacturers of solar thermal applications,
· Thirdly, facilitate measurement and promotion of these individual devices
through local agencies and power utilities, and
· Fourthly, support the upgrading of technologies and manufacturing capacities
through soft loans, to achieve higher efficiencies and further cost reduction.
C. The off-grid opportunity - lighting homes of the power- deprived poor:
A key opportunity for solar power lies in decentralized and off-grid applications. In
remote and far-flung areas where grid penetration is neither feasible nor cost
effective, solar energy applications are cost-effective. They ensure that people with
no access, currently, to light and power, move directly to solar, leap-frogging the
fossil fuel trajectory of growth. The key problem is to find the optimum financial
strategy to pay for the high-end initial costs in these applications through appropriate
Government support .
Currently, market based and even micro-credit based schemes have achieved only
limited penetration in this segment. The Government has promoted the use of
decentralized applications through financial incentives and promotional schemes.
While the Solar Mission has set a target of 1000 MW by 2017, which may appear
small, but its reach will add up to bringing changes in millions of households . The
strategy will be learn from and innovate on existing schemes to improve
effectiveness. The Mission plans to:
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· Provide solar lighting systems under the ongoing remote village electrification
programme of MNRE to cover about 10,000 villages and hamlets. The use of
solar lights for lighting purposes would be promoted in settlements without
access to grid electricity and since most of these settlements are remote tribal
settlements, 90% subsidy is provided. The subsidy and the demand so
generated would be leveraged to achieve indigenization as well as lowering of
prices through the scale effect. For other villages which are connected to grid ,
solar lights would be promoted through market mode by enabling banks to
offer low cost credit.
· Set up stand alone rural solar power plants in special category States and
remote and difficult areas such as Lakshadweep, Andaman & Nicobar Islands,
Ladakh region of J&K. Border areas would also be included.
Promotion of other off grid solar applications would also be encouraged. This
would include hybrid systems to meet power, heating and cooling energy
requirements currently being met by use of diesel and other fossil fuels. These
devices would still require interventions to bring down costs but the key challenge
would be to provide an enabling framework and support for entrepreneurs to develop
markets.
Solar energy to power computers to assist learning in schools and hostels,
Management Information System (MIS) to assist better management of forests in
MP, powering milk chilling plants in Gujarat, empowering women Self Help Groups
(SHGs) involved in tussar reeling in Jharkhand, cold chain management for Primary
Health Centres (PHCs) are some examples of new areas, being tried successfully in
the country. The Mission would consider up to 30 per cent capital subsidy (which
would progressively decline over time) for promoting such innovative applications of
solar energy and would structure a non-distorting framework to support
entrepreneurship, up-scaling and innovation.
In order to create a sustained interest within the banking community, it is proposed to
provide a soft re-finance facility through Indian Renewable Energy Development
Agency (IREDA) for which Government will provide budgetary support. IREDA would
in turn provide refinance to NBFCs & banks with the condition that it is on-lend to the
consumer at rates of interest not more than 5 per cent. The Mission would provide
an annual tranche for the purpose which would be used for refinance operations for
a period of ten years at the end of which the funds shall stand transferred to IREDA
as capital and revenue grants for on-lending to future renewable energy projects.
D. Manufacturing capabilities: innovate, expand and disseminate Currently, the
bulk of India’s Solar PV industry is dependent on imports of critical raw materials and
components – including silicon wafers. Transforming India into a solar energy hub
would include a leadership role in low-cost, high quality solar manufacturing,
including balance of system components. Proactive implementation of Special
Incentive Package (SIPs) policy, to promote PV manufacturing plants, including
domestic manufacture of silicon material, would be necessary.
Indigenous manufacturing of low temperature solar collectors is already available;
however, manufacturing capacities for advanced solar collectors for low temperature
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and concentrating solar collectors and their components for medium and high
temperature applications need to be built. An incentive package, similar to SIPS,
could be considered for setting up manufacturing plants for solar thermal systems/
devices and components.
The SME sector forms the backbone for manufacture of various components and
systems for solar systems. It would be supported through soft loans for expansion of
facilities, technology upgradation and working capital. IREDA would provide this
support through refinance operations.
It should be ensured that transfer of technology is built into Government and private
procurement from foreign sources.
E. R&D for Solar India: creating conditions for research and application A
major R&D initiative to focus: firstly, on improvement of efficiencies in existing
materials, devices and applications and on reducing costs of balance of systems,
establishing new applications by addressing issues related to integration and
optimization; secondly, on developing cost-effective storage technologies which
would address both variability and storage constraints, and on targeting spaceintensity
through the use of better concentrators, application of nano-technology and
use of better and improved materials. The Mission will be technology neutral,
allowing technological innovation and market conditions to determine technology
winners.
A Solar Research Council will be set up to oversee the strategy, taking into account
ongoing projects, availability of research capabilities and resources and possibilities
of international collaboration.
An ambitious human resource development programme, across the skill-chain, will
be established to support an expanding and large-scale solar energy programme,
both for applied and R&D sectors. In Phase I, at least 1000 young scientists and
engineers would be incentivized to get trained on different solar energy technologies
as a part of the Mission’s long-term R&D and HRD plan.
Pilot demonstration projects would be closely aligned with the Mission’s R & D
priorities and designed to promote technology development and cost reduction. The
Mission, therefore, envisages the setting up of the following demonstration projects
in Phase I, in addition to those already initiated by MNRE and those, which may be
set up by corporate investors:
1. 50-100 MW Solar thermal plant with 4-6 hours’ storage (which can
meet both morning and evening peak loads and double plant load
factor up to 40%).
2. A 100-MW capacity parabolic trough technology based solar thermal
plant.
3. A 100-150 MW Solar hybrid plant with coal, gas or bio-mass to address
variability and space-constraints.
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4. 20-50 MW solar plants with/without storage, based on central receiver
technology with molten salt/steam as the working fluid and other
emerging technologies.
5. Grid-connected rooftops PV systems on selected government buildings
and installations, with net metering.
6. Solar-based space-cooling and refrigeration systems to meet daytime
and summer season peak load. These could be installed on selected
government buildings and installations.
The configurations and capacities as mentioned above are indicative and would be
firmed up after consultations with various stakeholders.Bidding process will be
adopted to set up solar power demonstration plants which would help in better price
discovery for determining tariff for solar power. It will be ensured that indigenous
content is maximized. The bid documents will also include a technology transfer
clause. It is expected that these plants will be commissioned in the 12th plan period.
5. Proposed Roadmap
The aspiration is to ensure large-scale deployment of solar generated power for gridconnected
as well as distributed and decentralized off-grid provision of commercial
energy services. The deployment across the application segments is envisaged as
follows:
S.
No.
Application segment Target for
Phase I (2010-
13)
Target for
Phase 2
(2013-17)
Target for
Phase 3
(2017-22)
1. Solar collectors 7 million sq
meters
15 million sq
meters
20 million sq
meters
2. Off grid solar
applications
200 MW 1000 MW 2000 MW
3. Utility grid power,
including roof top
1,000-2000
MW
4000-10,000
MW
20000 MW
6. Policy and regulatory framework
The objective of the Mission is to create a policy and regulatory environment which
provides a predictable incentive structure that enables rapid and large-scale capital
investment in solar energy applications and encourages technical innovation and
lowering of costs.
Although in the long run, the Mission would seek to establish a sector-specific legal
and regulatory framework for the development of solar power, in the shorter time
frame, it would be necessary to embed the activities of the Mission within the existing
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framework of the Electricity Act 2003. The Electricity Act already provides a role for
renewables but given the magnitude and importance of the activities under the
Mission, it would be necessary to make specific amendments. The National Tariff
Policy 2006 mandates the State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERC) to fix a
minimum percentage of energy purchase from renewable sources of energy taking
into account availability of such resources in the region and its impact on retail tariff.
National Tariff Policy, 2006 would be modified to mandate that the State electricity
regulators fix a percentage for purchase of solar power. The solar power purchase
obligation for States may start with 0.25% in the phase I and to go up to 3% by 2022.
This could be complemented with a solar specific Renewable Energy Certificate
(REC) mechanism to allow utilities and solar power generation companies to buy
and sell certificates to meet their solar power purchase obligations.
The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission has recently issued guidelines for
fixing feed-in-tariff for purchase of Solar power taking into account current cost and
technology trends. These will be revised on an annual basis. The CERC has also
stipulated that Power Purchase Agreement that utilities will conclude with Solar
power promoters, should be for a period of 25 years.
In order to enable the early launch of “Solar India” and encourage rapid scale up, a
scheme is being introduced in cooperation with the Ministry of Power, the NTPC and
the Central Electricity Authority, which would simplify the off-take of solar power and
minimize the financial burden on Government.
Many investors are willing to set up solar based power plants. However, sale of
power by the IPPs may be an issue due to the high cost of power and realization of
tariff for the same from the distribution companies.
In order to incentivise setting up of a large number of Solar Power Projects, while
minimizing the impact on tariff various alternatives were explored. One of the
options is to bundle solar power along with power out of the cheaper unallocated
quota of Central stations and selling this bundled power to state distribution utilities
at the CERC regulated price. This will bring down the gap between average cost of
power and sale price of power. For the purpose of bundling, power has to be
purchased by an entity and re-sold to the state power distribution utilities. Such
function can be done only by a trading company/Discoms, as per the existing
statutory provisions.
NTPC has a wholly owned subsidiary company engaged in the business of trading of
Power – NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd. (NVVN). NVVN will be designated as
nodal agency by the Ministry of Power (MoP) for entering into a Power Purchase
Agreement (PPA) with Solar Power Developers to purchase solar power fed to 33
KV and above grid, in accordance with the tariff and PPA duration as fixed by the
Central Electricity Regulatory Commission. The Ministry of Power shall allocate to
NVVN, equivalent megawatt capacity, from the Central unallocated quota, from
NTPC power stations, at the rate notified by the CERC for bundling together with
solar power. NVVN will undertake the sale of the bundled power to State utilities at
the rates determined as per CERC regulations. The above arrangement would be
subject to review by Government, in case of, significant price movement in the
market. The above arrangement will be limited to utility scale solar power generated
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from a maximum anticipated capacity of 1000 MW in the first phase. When NVVN
supplies bundled power to State utilities at the rates determined as per CERC
regulations, those State utilities will be entitled to use the solar part of the
bundled power for meeting their Renewable Purchase Obligations (RPO)
under the Electricity Act, 2003.The CERC may issue appropriate guidelines in this
regard. At the end of the first phase, well-performing utilities with proven financial
credentials and demonstrated willingness to absorb solar power shall be included in
the Scheme, in case it is decided to extend it into Phase II.
The requirement of phased indigenization would be specified while seeking
development of solar power projects under this scheme. The size of each project
would to determined so as to make phased indigenization feasible. The tariff and tax
regime for key components and segments would be suitably fine tuned so as to
promote the process of indigenization.
The Mission will encourage rooftop solar PV and other small solar power plants,
connected to LT/11 KV grid, to replace conventional power and diesel-based
generators. It is envisaged that distribution utility will pay the tariff determined by the
State Electricity Regulatory Commission for the metered electricity generated from
such applications (whether consumed by the grid connected owner of the
rooftop/ground mounted installation or fed into the grid). Under the Solar Mission, a
normative Generation Based Incentive will be payable to the utility and would be
derived as the difference between the solar tariff determined by the Central
Electricity Regulatory Commission for the concerned solar generation technology
less an assumed base price of Rs. 5.50/kWh with 3% annual escalation. Funds will
be disbursed through Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA), a
PSU under MNRE. The distribution utilities will be entitled to account such electricity
generated and consumed within their license areas for fulfillment of RPOs.The
metering and billing arrangements between the utility and the rooftop PV operator,
will be as per guidelines/regulations of the appropriate commission
State Governments would also be encouraged to promote and establish solar
generation Parks with dedicated infrastructure for setting up utility scale plants to
ensure ease of capacity creation.
Fiscal incentives
It is also recommended that custom duties and excise duties concessions/
exemptions be made available on specific capital equipment, critical materials ,
components and project imports.
Solar Manufacturing in India
One of the Mission objectives is to take a global leadership role in solar
manufacturing (across the value chain) of leading edge solar technologies and target
a 4-5 GW equivalent of installed capacity by 2020, including setting up of dedicated
manufacturing capacities for poly silicon material to annually make about 2 GW
capacity of solar cells. India already has PV module manufacturing capacity of about
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700 MW, which is expected to increase in the next few years. The present
indigenous capacity to manufacture silicon material is very low, however, some
plants are likely to be set up soon in public and private sector. Currently, there is no
indigenous capacity/capability for solar thermal power projects; therefore new
facilities will be required to manufacture concentrator collectors, receivers and other
components to meet the demand for solar thermal power plants.
To achieve the installed capacity target, the Mission recommends the following:
· Local demand creation: The 20 GW plan supported with right level of
incentives for solar generation coupled with large government
pilot/demonstration programs will make the Indian market attractive for solar
manufacturers
· Financing & Incentives: SEZ like incentives to be provided to the
manufacturing parks which may include:
o Zero import duty on capital equipment, raw materials and excise duty
exemption
o Low interest rate loans, priority sector lending
o Incentives under Special Incentive Package (SIPs) policy to set up
integrated manufacturing plants; (i) from poly silicon material to solar
modules; and (ii) thin film based module manufacturing plants. . Under
the SIP scheme of the Department of Information Technology, there
are 15 applications in the domain of solar photovoltaic, which includes
cell manufacturing, (both crystalline and thin film) and poly-silicon
manufacturing among others. The combined capacity projected by
these 15 companies could result in the production of 8-10 GW solar
power by the year 2022 which would be sufficient for meeting the
Mission targets even after accounting for exports.
o It is also recommended that solar components be covered under the
Bureau of Energy Efficiency’s star rating programme to ensure high
standards.
Similar incentives will be required for manufacture of CSP systems and their
components. A Committee may be set up to formulate a policy for promotion of solar
thermal manufacture in the country.
· Ease of doing business: In consultation with States, create a single window
clearance mechanism for all related permissions.
· Infrastructure & ecosystem enablers: Create 2-3 large solar manufacturing
tech parks consisting of manufacturing units (across the solar value chain),
housing, offices, and research institutes. These will have 24x7 power and
water supply and will likely need to be located near large urban centres with
good linkages to ports and airports to ensure rapid access to imported raw
materials and high quality engineering talent.
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7. Research and Development
This Mission will launch a major R&D programme in Solar Energy, which will focus
on improving efficiency in existing applications, reducing costs of Balance of
Systems, testing hybrid co-generation and addressing constraints of variability,
space-intensity and lack of convenient and cost-effective storage.
The R&D strategy would comprise dealing with five categories viz. i) Basic research
having long term perspective for the development of innovative and new materials,
processes and applications, ii) Applied research aimed at improvement of the
existing processes, materials and the technology for enhanced performance,
durability and cost competitiveness of the systems/ devices, iii) Technology
validation and demonstration projects aimed at field evaluation of different
configurations including hybrids with conventional power systems for obtaining
feedback on the performance, operability and costs, iv) development of R&D
infrastructure in PPP mode, and v) support for incubation and start ups.
To support the R&D Strategy, the Mission may include the following:
- Setting up a high level Research Council comprising eminent scientists,
technical experts and representatives from academic and research
institutions, industry, Government and Civil Society to guide the overall
technology development strategy. The Council may invite eminent
international experts in the field to support its work. The Council will review
and update the technology roadmap to achieve more rapid technological
innovation and cost reduction.
- A National Centre of Excellence (NCE) shall be established to implement the
technology development plan formulated by the Research Council and serve
as its Secretariat. It will coordinate the work of various R&D centres, validate
research outcomes and serve as an apex centre for testing and certification
and for developing standards and specifications for the Solar industry. It is
envisaged that the Solar Energy Centre of the MNRE will become part of the
National Centre of Excellence.
- The Research Council, in coordination with the National Centre of Excellence,
inventorize existing institutional capabilities for Solar R&D and encourage the
setting up of a network of Centres of Excellence, each focusing on an R&D
area of its proven competence and capability. These Centres may be located
in research institutes, academic institutions or even private sector companies.
They will be encouraged to bid for various components of the Solar
Technology Development Plan, and may do so adopting a consortium
approach, collaborating with other institutions, including foreign collaboration,
with proven capabilities.
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- The NCE will provide a national platform for networking among different
centers of excellence and research institutions, including foreign R&D
institutions and high-tech companies.
- The NCE will serve as the funding agency to support performance-linked solar
R&D programmes. This will include funding, or co-funding of pilot
demonstration projects in areas relevant to Mission objectives. Funding will
need to be adequate, predictable and should typically cover a time frame
extending from 5-10 years.
- The NCE will be the main interface with international research institutions,
research groups from foreign countries, high-tech start-up companies and
multilateral programmes (such as those which may emerge from current
negotiations under the UNFCCC). It will encourage joint projects between
international partners and Indian centres of excellence, with sharing of IPR, as
also encourage the setting up of R&D bases in India by advanced high-tech
companies from abroad.
- The NCE will coordinate with the IMD, ISRO and other concerned agencies,
the detailed mapping of ground insulation, particularly in high potential solar
regions of the country. Accurate and reliable data is a critical requirement for
all solar applications, in particular, concentrated solar power (CSP).
- In drawing up the Solar Technology Development Plan, the Research Council
will review ongoing and proposed R&D initiatives of MNRE, the Department of
Science and Technology, the Ministry of Earth Sciences and other agencies
and institutions and incorporate them, as appropriate, in its Plan.
In order to provide support for incubation and start ups, the Mission could tie up with
institutions like Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) based
in IIM Ahmedabad to incubate solar energy start-ups and SMEs in India through
mentoring, networking and financial support. A fund could be established to aim at
supporting at least 50 start-ups developing and deploying solar related technologies
across India over the next 5 years and would be managed by a professional entity.
The Fund shall be structured as a Venture Fund and would be operated as a hub
and spoke model with the professional entity coordinating the fund activities and also
identifying like minded institutions for administering the fund. The Fund would
provide financial (equity/debt) support to start-ups, entrepreneurs and innovators for
R&D and pilot of new solar related technologies and for creating new and unique
business models which have a potential of increasing the deployment of solar related
technologies in India – for all segments including consumer, SME and commercial
usage. The initiative shall be structured ideally in a private-public partnership model,
to be able to provide risky capital to the aspiring entrepreneurs. It would also attract
contributions from private stakeholders, amounting to, at least 10% of that of the
Government. The returns generated on the Government support to the Fund shall be
ploughed back for further promoting incubation activities in this space.
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The Mission would also explore the possibility of collaborating with CSIR to launch
an Open Source Solar Development initiative on similar lines as the Open Source
Drug Discovery platform of CSIR
8. Human Resource Development
The rapid and large-scale diffusion of Solar Energy will require a concomitant
increase in technically qualified manpower of international standard. Some capacity
already exists in the country, though precise numbers need to be established.
However, it is envisaged that at the end of Mission period, Solar industry will employ
at least 100,000 trained and specialized personnel across the skill spectrum. These
will include engineering management and R&D functions.
The following steps may be required for Human Resource Development:
o IITs and premier Engineering Colleges will be involved to design and develop
specialized courses in Solar Energy, with financial assistance from
Government. These courses will be at B. Tech, M. Tech and Ph. D level.
Some of the IITs, Engineering Colleges and Universities are teaching solar
energy at graduation and post graduation level. Centres for Energy studies
have been set up by some of the IITs and engineering colleges. These
initiatives will be further strengthened. In addition, a countrywide training
programme and specialized courses for technicians will be taken up to meet
the requirement of skilled manpower for field installations and after sales
service network. The Directorate General of Education and Training under
the Ministry of Labour has agreed to introduce training modules for course
materials for technicians in order to create a skilled workforce which could
service and maintain solar applications. MNRE has already initiated this
activity with the Ministry of Labour and a short term training module is to be
introduced during the current academic session. In addition, industry is also
working with some of the ITIs to create a skilled work force.
o A Government Fellowship programme to train 100 selected engineers /
technologies and scientists in Solar Energy in world class institutions abroad
will be taken up. This may need to be sustained at progressively declining
levels for 10 years. This could be covered under the ongoing bilateral
programmes. Institution to institution arrangements will also be developed.
Fellowships will be at two levels (i) research and (ii) higher degree (M. Tech)
in solar energy. MNRE is already implementing a fellowship programme in
this regard, which will be expanded to include students from a larger number
of academic institutions. This may be done in consultation with industry to
offer employment opportunities.
o Setting up of a National Centre for Photovoltaic Research and Education at
IIT, Mumbai drawing upon its Department of Energy Science and Engineering
and its Centre for Excellence in Nano-Electronics.
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9. Institutional Arrangements for implementing the Mission
This Mission will be implemented by an autonomous Solar Energy Authority and or
an autonomous and enabled Solar Mission, embedded within the existing structure
of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. The Authority/Mission secretariat will
be responsible for monitoring technology developments, review and adjust
incentives, manage funding requirements and execute pilot projects. The Mission will
report to the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change on the status of its
programme.
The broad contours of an autonomous and enabled Mission would comprise of:
i) A Mission Steering Group, chaired by the Minister for New and Renewable
Energy and composed of representatives from all relevant Ministries and
other stakeholders, will be set up to over see the over all implementation of
the National Solar Mission. The Mission Steering Group will be fully
empowered to approve various schemes/ projects/ policies and the related
financial norms for all schemes covered under the National Solar Mission
(NSM). The Mission Steering group will also authorize any
modifications/deviations in the norms on ongoing schemes.
ii) A Mission Executive Committee, chaired by Secretary, Ministry of New and
Renewable Energy, will periodically review the progress of implementation of
the projects approved by the Mission Steering Group.
iii) An empowered Solar Research Council headed by an eminent scientist will
advise the Mission on all R&D, technology and capacity building related
matters. In addition, Industry Advisory Council will advise the Mission on all
matters relating to industrial development, technology
transfer/absorption/joint ventures, incentives and investment related matters.
iv) A Mission Director, with the rank of an Additional Secretary, would head the
Mission secretariat and be responsible for day to day functioning and also
achieving the goals laid out in a time bound manner. The Mission Secretariat
would have Joint secretary/ Scientist G level officers including other
scientists, experts and consultants.
10. International Collaboration
There is considerable work going on in several countries to develop Solar Energy as
a clean and alternative source of energy. Strategic international collaborations and
partnerships aimed at meeting the priorities set out under the Mission would be
developed, along with effective technology transfer mechanisms and strong IPR
protection.
Cooperation will be encouraged at the level of research organizations along with
industry partners and at individual level also to generate new ideas. Wherever
feasible, cooperation through bilateral and multilateral arrangements would be
facilitated. DST has been supporting joint research with several countries under
bilateral programmes. More recently a research programme is to be taken up by
DST, in consultation with MNRE, with the European Union. MNRE is also
implementing some bilateral projects under the Asia Pacific Partnership Programme
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with Japan and Australia. A project on solar radiation data collection is under
implementation with USA.
11. Financing the Mission activities
The fund requirements for the Mission would be met from the following sources or
combinations:
i) Budgetary support for the activities under the National Solar Mission
established under the MNRE;
ii) International Funds under the UNFCCC framework, which would enable
upscaling of Mission targets.
The Mission strategy has kept in mind the two-fold objectives, to scale-up
deployment of solar energy and to do this keeping in mind the financial constraints
and affordability challenge in a country where large numbers of people still have no
access to basic power and are poor and unable to pay for high cost solutions.
The funding requirements and arrangements for Phase II will be determined after a
review of progress achieved at the end of the 11th Plan and an analysis of the
efficacy of the model adopted for capacity building of utility scale solar power.
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