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1. Potential of Solar
Energy
in
India
NITT
Tiruchirappalli
2009

2. Solar PV energy applications outside
India
Opportunities for India to
Leapfrog technology,
Achieve energy security and
Create high employment
Considerable saving in import of oil and
generate exports and employment as good as, if not
better, than the ICT sector
How it is done in the world?
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3. Solar Energy Potential
Kwh/m2 energy availability from the Sun
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4. 4

5. Germany –Solar Data
No. of Sunny days/year 95
Highest daytime temp. 22-280C
Lowest daytime temp. 2-60C
Solar insolation kwh/m2 1050-1200
PV electricity 2005 (MW) 837 MW
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6. Solar PV in India- Opportunities
Solar Data India Germany
No. of Sunny days/year 300-320 95
Highest daytime temp. 35-480C 22-280C
Lowest daytime temp. 10-250C 2-60C
Solar insolation kwh/m2 1900-2100 1050-1200
PV electricity 2005 (MW) 55 MW 837 MW
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7. In 2004 installed capacity of solar PV
in the EU countries is higher than
India.
Most European countries have about 80 to 100 sunny
days in a year compared to 300 to 320 days in India.
EU Total 1010.13 MW
Germany 798.00 MW
Netherlands: 49.08 MW
Spain: 37.70 MW
Italy: 30.70 MW
Rest EU: 50.95 MW
India 45.00 MW
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8. PV in India- Opportunities
India has ideal solar conditions for applications
of PV technology nearly similar to California,
Spain and Australia and far better than Germany
Experience of Germany, Japan, USA and other
Western Countries show that the solar
technology is more suitable for commercialised
major cities and urban areas
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9. Solar PV power
for rural Electrification

10. Definition of Rural
From Socio-economic perspective the
definition of rural areas is based on
population densities and living conditions.
Let us define rural as areas remote from the
national grid and have no chances of
accessing the grid even in the near future
But these areas have a potential for the
demand of electric energy services or expect
to develop the potential in the foreseeable
future.
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11. Solar Photovoltaic Energy Systems
Battery charging system,
Electrical power for lighting,
Electrical Power for pumping water,
Electrical Power for telecommunication
Electrical Power for rural industry
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12. Rural Electrification
Storage batteries are widely used in remote
areas to provide low voltage electrical power
for lighting and communications as well as for
vehicles.
A PV powered battery charging system
usually consists of a small PV array plus a
charge controller.
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13. Components for stand-alone
PV Systems-1
Stand-alone (off-grid) PV systems require a battery,
[the lead acid type], to store the energy for future
use.
High-quality batteries designed for solar applications
with lifetimes of up to 15 years are available.
However, the lifetime of the battery strongly
depends on the battery management and the user’s
behaviour.
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14. Components for stand-alone
PV Systems-2
The battery is connected to the PV array via
a charge controller. The charge controller
protects the battery from overcharging or
discharging, and can also provide information
about the state of the system or enable
metering and pre-payment for the electricity
used.
If AC output is needed, an inverter is
required to convert the DC power from the
array.
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15. 15

16. Solar powered lamp-posts
[with battery backup preferably]
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17. Remote Lighting Systems
Lighting is required at remote locations where the cost of
power is too high to consider using the grid.
Such applications include security lighting, navigation aids,
illuminated road signs, railway crossing signs and village
lighting.
Solar PV are suited to such applications, although a
storage battery is always required in such systems. They
usually consist of a PV panel plus a storage battery, power
conditioner and a low voltage, high efficiency DC
fluorescent lamp.
These systems are viable for remote areas, and this is one
of the major applications of solar PV.
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18. Battery Charging
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19. Water Treatment Systems
In remote areas electric power is often used
to disinfect or purify drinking water.
Photovoltaic cells are used to power a
strong ultraviolet light that can be used to
kill bacteria in drinking water. This can be
combined with a solar powered water
pumping system.
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20. Telecommunications and Remote
Monitoring Systems
Photovoltaics provides a cost-effective
development of remote area telecommunications
repeater stations.
Similar principles apply to solar powered radios and
television sets, emergency telephones and
monitoring systems.
Remote monitoring systems may be used for
collecting weather data or other environmental
information and for transmitting it automatically via
radio to the home base.
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21. 21

22. White LED Lamp for PV based systems
WLED lamps represent a new low-cost entry
point for rural households in less developed
countries.
LED-based lighting systems for PV rural
white lighting applications can help take the
one-third of the world literally still living in the
dark ages into the modern age.
Emerging high efficiency WLED technologies
can significantly improve the quality, safety,
and quantity of illumination for both rural and
urban homes, while reducing overall costs
and environmental emissions.
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23. White LED Lamp with PV system-1
PV modules are the best option to power WLEDs
lamps in rural areas, since they can be installed
at the site where the energy is needed and no
further imports are required.
Therefore, investment in infrastructure is not
required. There are projects that are promoting
WLEDs lamps technology powered with
photovoltaic modules, which are reporting
excellent technical results.
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24. White LED Lamp with PV system-2
However, the high initial cost, compared
with fuel based lighting, is a barrier to
achieve them, so other evaluation
methods must be used such as the life
cycle cost methodology, which found the
PV LEDs are twice as cost effective as
fluorescent lights, and three times more
cost effective than traditional kerosene
lighting technologies.
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25. Photovoltaic pumping systems
Photovoltaic pumping systems provide a
welcome alternative to fuel burning generators
or hand pumps.
They provide the most water precisely when it is
needed the most - when the sun shines the
brightest!
Solar pumps are simple to install and maintain.
The smallest systems can be installed by one
person in a couple hours, with no experience or
special equipment required.
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26. Advantages of using PV-powered
pumps
include:
low maintenance
ease of installation
reliability
scalability
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27. PV- powered pumps
Solar power differs fundamentally from
conventional electric or engine-powered
systems, so solar pumps often depart
from the conventional.
PV arrays produce DC power, rather than
the AC from conventional sources. And,
the power available varies with the sun’s
intensity.
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28. PV- powered pumps
Since it costs less to store water (in
tanks) than energy (in batteries) solar
pumps tend to be low in power, pumping
slowly through the duration of the solar
day.
Simple, efficient systems are the key to
economical solar pumping. Special, low-
power DC pumps are used without
batteries or AC conversion.
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29. Modern DC motors work well at varying
voltage and speed. The better DC motors
require maintenance (brush replacement)
only after periods of 5 years or more. Most
solar pumps used for small scale application
(homes, small irrigation, livestock) are
“positive displacement” pumps which seal
water in cavities and force it upward. This
differs from faster, conventional centrifugal
type pumps (including jet and submersible
pumps) which spin and “blow” the water up.
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30. Building integrated photovoltaics-1
BI-PV are components of buildings that
have photovoltaic cells embedded in them
–
For example, photovoltaic window glass or
roof shingles that can be used instead of
regular building materials to produce
electricity.
There are others where whole building
facades are made from photovoltaics.
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31. Building integrated photovoltaics-2
There are others where whole building facades
are made from photovoltaics.
The significance of this development is that these
photovoltaic materials can replace something else that
would have been used anyway, so the actual cost is the
incremental cost between the two.
This is often very small, which makes photovoltaics very
cost-effective in these applications.
In building facades, for example, they have made
photovoltaic panels that look like marble and that
actually cost less than the real thing!
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32. At present the initial cost of the PV system is high. The PV
modules account for a significant share of the overall cost
of a PV system. During the past five years a downward
trend in the cost of Photovoltaic modules in India has been
experienced. This reduction in cost was possible due to
• Expanded Government supported programme;
• Increasing competition among the PV products
manufacturers;
• Incentives provided by the government;
• Increased production volumes; and
• Improvements in the product quality and
performance.
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