ITS Engg College : GUEST LECTURE REPORT on “Prospects & Scope of Solar Technology in India”

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Department of Mechanical Engineering organized a guest lecture on “Prospects & Scope of Solar Technology in India” by inviting Mr. Sunil Goel, Vice President of Maharishi Solar Technology (Pvt.) Limited on 18th November, 2014.

Introducing Maharishi Solar technology, Mr. Sunil discussed the achievements of the company in the field of solar energy developments and innovations as adopted by the company to promote the use of solar based energy. He said that the central emphasis of visualizing Maharishi Solar was to solve the energy problem by connecting it to the bountiful and perpetual reservoir of Mother Nature.

Delivering his lecture, Mr. Sunil described that the Indian solar energy sector has been growing rapidly, in the past few years, majorly due to Government’s initiatives such as tax exemptions and subsidies. Due to technical potential of 5,000 trillion kWh per year and minimum operating cost, Solar Power is considered the best suited energy source for India. Today the Solar power, has an installed capacity of 9.84 MW which is about less than 0.1 percent of the total installed renewable energy capacity of India as per MNRE.

He also said that India’s power sector has a total installed capacity of approximately 1,46,753 Megawatt (MW) of which 54% is coal-based, 25% hydro, 8% is renewable energy based and the balance is the gas and nuclear-based. Power shortages are estimated at about 11% of total energy and 15% of peak capacity requirements which is likely to increase in the coming years. The cost of production range is Rs 15 to Rs 20 per unit for the solar energy, which is very high when compared to, Rs 2 to Rs 5 per unit for other conventional sources in India.

It was informed that globally, India has been ranked 7th worldwide for solar photovoltaic (PV) cell production and secure 9th rank in solar thermal power generation. This capacity is growing rapidly due to the entry of various private players in manufacturing of solar energy equipment. According to the authors, the Indian solar energy sector is estimated to grow at 25% year on year in next few years.

Especially in developing countries, renewable energy investment and hence total generation costs, remains higher than those of existing coal or gas-fired power stations and this is unlikely to change in the next five to ten years. To bridge this investment and cost gap between conventional fossil fuel based power generation and renewable energy, a support mechanism is required.

 

In his concluding part, it was said that the future of renewable solar energy in India, is very bright, because of our strong leadership policies on clean energy programs, together with the economic and legal policies, which facilitate the use of solar energy as the main source of energy. We need a dedicated approach towards developing a structure for allowing solar panels, and solar technology to be used on a large scale in India.

This has been the second Guest Lecture in the past one week organized by the Mechanical Engineering Department. The last one was organized on 11 November 2014 on the topic “Industrial Engineering” by Prof. R. S. Jadoun of G. B. Pant University. The event has been a great success and beneficial to students. The coordinator of the program Mr. Manvendra Yadav and supporting members were thanked for organizing such a knowledgeable lecture related to solar energy.

 

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