Cloudy plans

The official launch of India’s solar mission has been delayed due to opposition from coal and power ministries to the financial scheme. Discussions are on to arrive at some agreement. Meanwhile, India has also put off until 2022, from the targeted 2020, its grand plan to produce 20,000 MW from solar power. This is presumably to bring it in line with the fiver year plan cycle!

The mission slated as an ambitious one given that present solar generation is around 200 MW has had its critics from the hurried announcement earlier this year. For one, it was far too unrealistic, they said. Plus, was it just another gimmick to show off at Copenhagen?

The ministries of coal and power opposed a proposal to levy a cess of four paise a tonne of coal mined for research and development on solar energy. The main bottleneck in spreading solar energy today is cost. While it costs Rs.3-4 to generate one unit of electricity from coal (without factoring in environmental costs), it costs Rs.14 to do so from solar photovoltaic cells. Even after removing subsidies and factoring in costs, coal power is still cheaper.

But the advantage is that solar technology has been improving rapidly unlike coal powered plants. From Rs.27 to produce one unit of electricity from solar photovoltaic cells to Rs 14 in a few years tells the story.

Again, as we have been saying, the grandiose mission will need more than equal partnership from private players. How can the government make it attractive to investors, that is the big question? Any answers?