For the moment at least, that is a “ contradiction in terms
“
The utility electricity sector in India has one National Grid with an installed
capacity of 334.40 GW
as on 31 January 2018.
Renewable power plants constituted 32.2% of total
installed capacity. Of this ,
Solar is just about 20 GW – mostly in the form of large land based ( 50 MW + )
installations
So , most of the power that we produce today , is “ dirty / polluting “
Sure , we have set a target to achieve 100 GW of Solar by 2022 – mostly in
land based projects
We might even succeed in reaching 40 % of total installed capacity by
way of solar by 2022 , by which time , most of the current coal-based power
plant would be operating at the PLF ( Plant Load Factor ) of under 50 % and would
find it impossible to survive without a massive government subsidy ( meaning , “
more taxes “ for citizens ! )
To totally get rid of dirty coal-based power plants , might take us to
2050
Till that time, there is no getting away from “ dirty power “ – and the
associated NPAs of lakhs of crores of rupees ! ( - a perpetual re-capitalization
of banks, using tax money ? )
But whether a coal-based power plant or a land based solar plant, both
require certain infrastructure for delivering that power to homes /
offices / factories
To better understand that “ infrastructure “ , look at the full page
advt brought out by Ministry of Power in today’s news papers
It reads :
INTEGRATED POWER
DEVELOPMENT SCHEME ( IPDS
)
Providing RELIABLE and QUALITY
power supply to cities
·
So far Rs 28,405 Crore sanctioned
·
Strengthening of DISTRIBUTION NETWORK in over 3600 towns
·
All towns to be IT Enabled for AUTOMATED MEASUREMENT of SYSTEM LOSSES
·
1100 SUBSTATIONS being added
·
1365 additional POWER TRANSFORMERS for Capacity Enhancement
·
55,318 km of HT–LT TRANSMISSION LINES being added to provide quality power
·
72,014 Km of AERIAL / UNDERGROUND CABLES for uninterrupted power supply
Look at the words highlighted in BOLD / RED
If we were
to go all out and enable citizens to install ROOF
TOP solar plants , then none of those
highlighted things would be required !
Each residential
building will produce / store and consume its OWN power , without having to
depend upon DISCOMS
No need for
metering / transformers / substations /
cables / transmission lines !
No need for
DISCOM to maintain the infrastructure ! or worry about thefts ! or sign Power
Purchase Agreements – and then worry about rescinding !
Now ,
recognizing that it is just not possible to switch-over to ROOF TOP SOLAR , overnight, we must appreciate
what the government is doing ( ref : above advt )
But what I
fail to understand is :
Why is govt not going all out to encourage ROOF TOP
SOLAR ?
I urge the
Policy Makers to read :
SolarRoofs ? Why not ? [ 06
Feb 2018 ]
For roof top installations , currently govt gives 30 % subsidy
Change this as follows :
# 30 % by way of subsidy
# 70 % by way of interest
free loan , repayable over 10 years
Why not save all the funds required
for the above-mentioned infrastructure and use for the interest free loans /
subsidy for Solar Roof Tops ?
16
March 2018
www.hemenparekh.in
/ blogs
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