Op-Ed: Rooftop Solar - The Hindu (08.03.18)

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Rooftop energy: on boosting solar power (08.03.018)

Bengaluru’s aerial mission to produce a three dimensional map of rooftop solar power potential using Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) data can give this key source of power a big boost. Similar mapping exercises have been carried out in several countries over the past few years to assess how much of a city’s power needs can be met through rooftop solar installations. A survey helps determine usable rooftops, separating them from green spaces, and analyses the quality of the solar resource. With steady urbanisation, solar maps of this kind will help electricity utilities come up with good business cases and investment vehicles and give residents an opportunity to become partners in the effort. An initiative to rapidly scale up rooftop solar installations is needed if the target of creating 40 GW of capacity connected to the grid by 2022 is to be realised. Rooftop solar power growth has demonstrated an overall positive trend, including in the fourth quarter of 2017 when tenders for 220 MW represented a doubling of the achievement in the previous quarter. But this will need to be scaled up massively to achieve the national target. Going forward, domestic policy has to evaluate the impact of factors such as imposition of safeguard duty and anti-dumping duty on imports, and levy of the goods and services tax on photovoltaic modules. The industry is apprehensive that the shine could diminish for the sector during the current year, unless policy is attuned to the overall objective of augmenting capacity.

Major solar projects that connect to the grid often face the challenge of land acquisition and transmission connectivity. This has led to a delay in planned capacity coming on stream during 2017: nearly 3,600 MW did not get commissioned during the last quarter, out of a scheduled 5,100 MW. What this underscores is the importance of exploiting rooftop solar, which represents only about 11% of the country’s 19,516 MW total installed capacity at the start of 2018. The Centre should come up with incentives, given the enormous investment potential waiting to be tapped and the real estate that can be rented. The southern States and Rajasthan together host the bulk of national solar infrastructure on a large scale. With some forward-looking policymaking, they can continue to lead by adding rooftop capacity. India, which is a founder-member of the International Solar Alliance launched in Paris during the climate change conference more than two years ago, must strive to be a global leader. Initiatives such as the Bengaluru mapping project can contribute to assessments of both real potential and risk. This is crucial for projects on a large scale involving significant exposure for financial institutions, including banks. With ongoing improvements to solar cell efficiency and battery technology, rooftops will only get more attractive in the future.

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Older Op-Eds

Solar sunrise (16.02.17)

By finalising a bid price of ₹3.29 per kwH over 25 years (and ₹2.97 a kwH in the first year), the 750-MW Rewa ultra mega solar power project marks a watershed in India’s solar power programme. It is the first project to breach the ₹4-kwH barrier (the lowest tariff prior to this was ₹4.34/kwH), thanks essentially to panel costs, which account for 40 per cent of the fixed costs, falling by 25-30 per cent worldwide in 2016. The winning bidders for three units at the park, Mahindra Renewables, ACME Solar Holdings and Solengeri Power, prevailed over 18 others, affirming that solar power is a truly happening sector. What makes this bid unique is the enabling role played by the Madhya Pradesh government. It not only provided guarantees for grid availability and payment of dues but also time to bidders to familiarise themselves with the site, and enough time —18 months against the usual 12 months — to set up their projects. While the bids essentially involve a bet on global trends in panel prices, there is little reason to believe that these technology-led advances will be reversed in the foreseeable future. India’s solar installations have grown remarkably in the last two years, with more than half of its 10-GW installed capacity having come up since April 2015. This trend promises to continue, with 10 GW expected to come up in 2017-18 alone. Even if India reaches only 70 per cent of the targeted 100-GW solar by 2022, it will be a game-changer. Solar power accounts for just 2.5 per cent of total installed capacity in power at present, but this may look very different five years from now.

At ₹3/kwh, solar poses a threat not just to wind, whose tariffs are in the range of ₹4/kwH but even coal, whose price outlook over the next two decades cannot be easily predicted. The Government must revisit the viability of future investments in both wind and thermal power; uncertainties over coal prices, as well as the financial health of discoms, more generally speaking, pose risks.

However, the solar story has some grey areas. The impact of GST on project costs is not known, unless these are placed in the zero-per cent bracket. It is unclear whether the bids and contracts have taken this into account. Land could account for a major share of costs, unless rooftop solar (which accounts for just 1-GW capacity) gathers momentum. Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh account for 60 per cent of solar installations as land is quite easily available in these States. The discoms should facilitate open access to large consumers, as stipulated under the Electricity Act, so that society benefits from the falling trend in power prices. But finally, India has most to gain from decentralised rooftop solar and medium-scale plants to meet rural demands. This can resolve last-mile electricity access issues and usher in numerous socio-economic benefits.

Reviving rooftop solar (27.12.17)

There is no better way to illustrate how much out of kilter things are in India’s rooftop solar programme than to juxtapose two figures. Against a target of 10,000 MW to be achieved by March 31, 2018, the country had 845 MW installed as of end-October this year. A failure of this order cannot but rankle and the Government has put out a ‘concept note’ for public comments, which outlines the Centre’s thinking on how to fix things. The note recognises that the biggest hurdle to mass roll-out of rooftop solar plants is the electricity distribution companies (discoms), most of which are State government-owned. These discoms have provided languid support to rooftop projects because of their instinct of self-preservation. The discoms stare at instant financial turmoil if well-paying industrial and commercial customers get their own sources of energy. As such, these companies have effectively derailed their customers’ rooftop ambitions by refusing to buy any surplus power from them. Therefore, factories and commercial establishments, like shopping malls, put up only as much rooftop solar capacity as would satisfy their demand, even if they have the space and wherewithal for more. As for individuals, rooftop solar has never been an attractive proposition even if they got the subsidy given by the Central and State governments. Recognising the need to bring discoms on board, the concept note aims to put them in the driver’s seat, by giving the discoms financial incentives for every MW of rooftop capacity created in their area of operation. However, to avail themselves of incentives, discoms should create the capacities through tariff-based competitive bidding. This, the Centre hopes, will egg the discoms on to creating an “enabling ecosystem for expeditious implementation” of rooftop projects.

There are many problems with this approach. First, the capacity-linked incentive reflects anachronistic thinking, which encourages disregard for quality. Second, the proposed scheme seeks to shift the game from captive players to energy companies (independent power producers, or IPPs). In a tariff-based competitive bidding scenario, individual and small producers will be at a disadvantage. Further, a competitive bidding process would culminate in a power purchase agreement and a PPA is not particularly appropriate for a sell-only-surplus situation. Another serious omission is the absence of any policy direction on ‘net metering’, which would allow owners of captive rooftop plants to sell surplus power to the grid. The Centre should bring in a generation-based incentive. Discoms could buy rooftop solar power at the weighted average cost of all the power they buy. The policy should also make way for standardisation and self-certification.

In fact, the fundamental premise on which the proposals are based, is flawed. At a time when rooftop solar power is on a par with or cheaper than grid power, there is no need to ask discoms to create an enabling ecosystem. In fact, the need is to get discoms out of the way, perhaps with financial incentives.

(All of the above articles have been taken straight from The Hindu. We owe it all to them. This is just an effort to consolidate opinions expressed in The Hindu in a subject-wise manner.)

Security Issues: Counter-terrorism Strategy

Security Issues: Counter-terrorism Strategy

UPSC General Studies: Paper III

Question: Research finds that many foreign fighters joining ISIS originate from countries with high levels of economic development, low income inequality, and highly developed political institutions. How do these findings affect the commonplace understanding of causes of terrorism? What policy measures would you suggest to stem the breeding of violent extremists?

Backgrounder: (This is just for the sake of putting things in a perspective and not for the actual answer)

It is generally believed that terrorists are from economically backward and educationally poor backgrounds. A growing body of economic research disputes this hypothesis.

Evidence in favor of above assertion: Perpetrators of the Dhaka terror attack were from well-off families and received good education.

Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Turkey and Jordan are the top five countries by number of foreign fighters.

However, an interesting picture emerges if one looks at the percentage share of foreign fighters in the total Muslim population of these countries. Four West European countries, Finland; Belgium; Ireland and Sweden are among the top five countries.

(India is at the bottom of the chart in terms of number of fighters as well as their share in total Muslim population.)

Pointers that will help tackle the above question:

Other causes of terrorism

Ideology and assimilation: Flow of foreign fighters to ISIS could be driven “not by economic or political conditions but rather by ideology and the difficulty of assimilation into homogeneous Western countries.”

Bloated sense of self-worth: the elite in a poor country might turn to terrorism while seeking to improve the condition of their society. Altruism and an exaggerated sense of importance plays an important role in driving terrorists including suicide attackers. The attackers often believe that their acts would force repressive forces to reverse their policies and hence improve the quality of life of the population whose cause the terrorist group claims to be fighting.

Socio-Economic roots of terrorism: Dependence on superficially benign organizations (often religious) for services/company/support, which eventually exposes the beneficiary to ideas of Jihad etc. If the member refuses to partake, he/she maybe threatened with exclusion from organization.

Policy Responses

Has to be multi-faceted.

Security policies should be but one component. There has to be others.

Policies need to be targeted at filling in the voids left by weak states and shifting incentive structures within societies away from the use of violence.

Associated Information

Specific Steps taken by India

Legislation: Amongst the specific steps, at the legal level, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) was strengthened, reinforced and equipped to handle terrorism in all its manifestations.

Logistics: The limitation of inadequate security forces were addressed by opening NSG hubs at places other than Manesar in order to ensure faster and more effective reaction to crisis situations.

Intelligence: Intelligence gathering, sharing and dissemination became a priority and the NATGRID was established, which is in the process of formalization.

A Multi Agency Centre was established which is likely to evolve into the NCTC, thereby honing the inter-agency capability to fight terrorism.

Diplomacy: At the diplomatic level as well, India has pushed for international recognition of terrorism in all its forms and a number of UN Resolutions have been passed to provide a cohesive effort against terrorism.

Finance: Yet another initiative has been the targeting of terrorism finance, which has received an impetus with both the UAPA and Anti Money Laundering legislations becoming more effective.

Socially: A long-term step has also been to address the alienation of certain sections of the population through better integration, concessions, and targeting of hardline propaganda machinery, both from within and outside the country.

Further Reading

http://www.cfr.org/india/counterterrorism-india/p11170