India’s Plans To Become The Next Global Superpower Using Solar
Sep 19, 2023 7:01 am
India’s Plans To Become The Next Global Superpower Using Solar
3 min read
In 2022 the world consumed 22 500 TWh of electricity with 1 300 TWh, or 5%, being generated by solar energy. In 2022, India was the 5th largest country by solar energy generation but was the third largest by overall electricity consumption. Almost 80% of this electricity is produced using fossil fuels, namely coal and oil.
Hence, India is trying its best to reduce the fossil fuel dependency of its electric grid. But India also aims to become the next global superpower, and they want to use something that works better in their country than in competing countries to help them achieve this – solar.
How does India have an edge over other countries in solar output?
- The torrid zone – the torrid zone is the part of the earth between the tropic of Cancer and the tropic of Capricorn. Countries in this zone include Kenya, Nigeria, Australia, Brazil, Chile, India and Saudi Arabia. Countries in this zone receive the most amount of sunlight per year, 300 days on average.
2. Sunlight intensity – the angle of incidence of sunlight at the equator is almost 90⁰ to the earth’s surface. The angle of incidence gets less the further you move from the equator, meaning that the torrid zone has a more direct angle of incidence. This means that the countries in the torrid zone receive more focused sunlight, resulting in higher energy absorption by solar panels.
3. Cost – When analysing costs such as solar installation costs, energy storage costs, maintenance costs, depreciation, and the lessening of efficiency over time, the cost of electricity produced by solar is cheapest in countries such as China, India, Chile, Namibia and Australia. Solar energy produced in these countries is 2-4 times cheaper than in most other countries around the world.
These three factors make countries like India very ideal when it comes to adopting solar power. It is for this reason that India has decided to establish the ISA (International Solar Alliance). Through this alliance, India aims to partner with other sunlight rich countries to increase the rollout of solar energy to the world.
To do this, the ISA came up with the One Sun One World One Grid (OSOWOG) initiative which aims to connect solar energy supply across borders to eventually reach the whole world. This is similar to the supergrids I wrote about which you can check out here.
India wants to connect their grid to the world in 3 phases, starting with other countries in the middle east, then southeast Asia and Africa, and ending off with the Americas and Australasia. For this to be a success, other countries will need a decent amount of solar infrastructure. The ISA plans to insure this infrastructure to a certain extent. This will help more unstable countries receive investment as investors will be more inclined to invest knowing that there will be insurance to protect them if things go wrong.
The ISA also plans to have ‘Star-C’ centres in member countries, where people can receive training and education on all things solar.
But the major benefit of the ISA is that countries all over the world will be able to receive solar energy at night without having to store any power. This is because when one part of the world is in daytime, it can transfer energy to parts of the world experiencing nighttime. For example, during mid-September when it is 10AM in Chile, it is 12AM (midnight) in Australia. Solar energy can then be transported through the power lines from Chile to Australia. In theory, this should make energy cheaper because it is cheaper to transport energy than to store it.
Through the ISA, countries can also share information on developments and breakthroughs in solar technology, reducing the money spent on research and development by each country. As the originator of the ISA, India has indicated $2 billion for financing through their Export-Import (EXIM) Bank for member countries. In exchange for the financing, these solar projects must primarily contract Indian companies for their goods and services. So far, more than $1.4 billion of financing has already been approved.
Despite how grand this project may seem, it does come with its concerns. The ISA was established back in 2015 and there is still little progress in terms of Star-C centres opened, there are very few companies involved in ISA-related projects (including Indian companies), and the political relationship between India and China, on which the success of the ISA largely depends upon due to India being the head of the ISA and China being the largest supplier of solar products to India and the ISA, is still strained.
It is going to be interesting to see how India goes about scaling this alliance, ensuring that it benefits from the alliance, and how it goes about managing any disagreements and conflicts between countries within the alliance. Most of all, I think it will be interesting to see how this alliance changes the solar industry and the global energy industry as a whole.
What do you think of the ISA? Do you think it will establish a global solar powered electricity grid? Share your thoughts by replying to this email!
For more information on solar alliances, or any other energy related articles, view the blog posts on my website and be sure to open my weekly emails every Tuesday at 9AM CAT.
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