The Surprising Real Reason Why Indian PM Modi Visited Tesla

90% of power needs being satisfied will be a big booster for solar energy! Well done Modi! You deserve our support!





[h=2]Prashin Chaturvedi[/h]Business Transformation Leader

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[h=1]The Surprising Real Reason Why Indian PM Modi Visited Tesla[/h]Oct 10, 2015


India's Prime Minister Mr. Modi visited the Silicon Valley last month, and on the itinerary were the obvious inclusions - Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft. Also on the list was a curious entry - Tesla. Why Tesla? Modi surely did not make the high profile visit to get an early sneak peak into the new Model X. Modi, it turns out, wasn't there to bring Tesla's relatively expensive electric car technology to India, he was there to learn more about one of Tesla's lesser known products - their lithium-ion home battery system - Powerwall.
Powerwall is a wall-mounted lithium-ion home battery system designed to store energy from rooftop solar panels. It can hold up to 10 kilowatt-hours of energy, enough to power a typical home for about 10 hours. It enables homes to be powered by solar energy during the day and by battery during the night time. In effect, the rooftop solar + Powerwall combination can enable consumers to fulfill 90% of their electricity needs off-the-grid in sun-rich regions- like India.
I wrote last month that the price of a Tesla Powerwall could come down to half, and the price of solar energy could come down to one fourth of what it is today by 2020. This together with the fact that there is strong and growing public support for solar energy - indicates that we are on the cusp of a residential rooftop solar + battery revolution. Powerwall could be a major cash cow for Tesla in 5 years time, and there is no international market in which it could have more of an impact than in India. Here's 5 Reasons why -
[h=2]1. India's Power Grid System Is Broken [/h] More than half of India's population has very little access to electricity. The problem is complex and multi-dimensional, but the bottom line is this - the power needs of Indians are just not getting met by the unreliable power grids. The fact that the the power demand of Indians is likely to double over the next 10 years means that there is a massive opportunity for a market solution.
[h=2]2. India Has Massive Solar Power Potential[/h] It wouldn't come as a surprise to most that India gets tons of sun, which obviously implies a massive solar power potential. In fact, a recent study estimated that India has solar power potential of 750 GW, which is more than six times India's current power demand (120 GW). India's current solar power installed capacity is 3GW, or less than 0.5% of this potential.
[h=2]3. Indian Private Solar Sector Is Booming [/h] According to a recent report, India's solar industry is expected to grow by 250% just this year. Softbank, Foxconn, and Bharti recently announced a three-way joint venture to invest $20 billion in the solar sector. Other large private sector firms have also committed investments worth more than $5 billion. A private sector driven marketplace for solar industry is certainly booming in India.
[h=2]4. Indian Government Is Making A Big Solar Push[/h] The new Indian government under PM Modi has committed itself to a massive push towards solar energy. In fact, Indian government has increased its solar power capacity addition target five-fold, from the initial target of 22 GW to 100 GW of installed power capacity by 2022. Government support is likely to enable a conducive ecosystem for rooftop solar solutions to flourish.
[h=2]5. Indians Are Adept At Solving Their Own Problems[/h] India, they say, grows despite the government. Indian jugaad - or frugal ingenuity - is now a global management buzzword, but in India it just means getting stuff done with minimal resourcesand despite the government. The private sector has stepped in and solved many problems caused by ineffective governance. Unreliable supply of electricity is easily one of the biggest problems that remain to be solved, and the private enterprise is gearing up to solve that as well.
A large portion of Indian population leapfrogged the landline directly to mobile. It used to take years to get a landline installed, largely because of administrative incompetence of public sector telecom companies. Now, it takes a few hours to get a mobile phone activated by one of the many private company. A similar moment is emerging with regards to energy consumption in India.

It is estimated that solar will reach grid parity in India by 2019, which means that solar power will cost less than or equal to power from the conventional grid. Indian households, currently suffering the tyranny of power cuts could install a rooftop solar + battery combination, utilizing the grid electricity only as a backup, in case rooftop solar + battery could not meet their needs.
The incentives to move to an individual power generation model are far higher for India, than they are many countries in the West. A common joke in India is that the only government action you can rely to happen on time is the power cut. India has solved many of its problems through private action, and macro-economics may be coming in place for Indians to solve their electricity problem.
What India expects from Mr. Modi is to operationalize his maxim of "minimum government, maximum governance" and develop an ecosystem in which India can shift from a dirty coal-powered economy to a clean solar-powered economy. He was a big supporter of solar as CM of his home state, Gujarat, and perhaps he can bring the same level of enthusiasm to the national level.
For each house that would move from grid electricity to rooftop solar, we would be taking equivalent of 3 cars off the road a year. As India overtakes China in terms of population in 2028, hopefully many of its homes and businesses would be powered by rooftop solar and battery, for the sake of our future generations. It's an idea whose time has come.


https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/surprising-real-reason-why-indian-pm-modi-visited-tesla-chaturvedi

Modi is a visionary and firmly established in Indian culture and soil. He must be supported.

vgane said:

90% of power needs being satisfied will be a big booster for solar energy! Well done Modi! You deserve our support!

Prashin Chaturvedi

Business Transformation Leader

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The Surprising Real Reason Why Indian PM Modi Visited Tesla

Oct 10, 2015


India's Prime Minister Mr. Modi visited the Silicon Valley last month, and on the itinerary were the obvious inclusions - Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft. Also on the list was a curious entry - Tesla. Why Tesla? Modi surely did not make the high profile visit to get an early sneak peak into the new Model X. Modi, it turns out, wasn't there to bring Tesla's relatively expensive electric car technology to India, he was there to learn more about one of Tesla's lesser known products - their lithium-ion home battery system - Powerwall.

Great discussion about solar/batteries empowering rural communities — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) Sep 27, 2015​

Powerwall is a wall-mounted lithium-ion home battery system designed to store energy from rooftop solar panels. It can hold up to 10 kilowatt-hours of energy, enough to power a typical home for about 10 hours. It enables homes to be powered by solar energy during the day and by battery during the night time. In effect, the rooftop solar + Powerwall combination can enable consumers to fulfill 90% of their electricity needs off-the-grid in sun-rich regions- like India.
I wrote last month that the price of a Tesla Powerwall could come down to half, and the price of solar energy could come down to one fourth of what it is today by 2020. This together with the fact that there is strong and growing public support for solar energy - indicates that we are on the cusp of a residential rooftop solar + battery revolution. Powerwall could be a major cash cow for Tesla in 5 years time, and there is no international market in which it could have more of an impact than in India. Here's 5 Reasons why -
1. India's Power Grid System Is Broken

More than half of India's population has very little access to electricity. The problem is complex and multi-dimensional, but the bottom line is this - the power needs of Indians are just not getting met by the unreliable power grids. The fact that the the power demand of Indians is likely to double over the next 10 years means that there is a massive opportunity for a market solution.
2. India Has Massive Solar Power Potential

It wouldn't come as a surprise to most that India gets tons of sun, which obviously implies a massive solar power potential. In fact, a recent study estimated that India has solar power potential of 750 GW, which is more than six times India's current power demand (120 GW). India's current solar power installed capacity is 3GW, or less than 0.5% of this potential.
3. Indian Private Solar Sector Is Booming

According to a recent report, India's solar industry is expected to grow by 250% just this year. Softbank, Foxconn, and Bharti recently announced a three-way joint venture to invest $20 billion in the solar sector. Other large private sector firms have also committed investments worth more than $5 billion. A private sector driven marketplace for solar industry is certainly booming in India.
4. Indian Government Is Making A Big Solar Push

The new Indian government under PM Modi has committed itself to a massive push towards solar energy. In fact, Indian government has increased its solar power capacity addition target five-fold, from the initial target of 22 GW to 100 GW of installed power capacity by 2022. Government support is likely to enable a conducive ecosystem for rooftop solar solutions to flourish.
5. Indians Are Adept At Solving Their Own Problems

India, they say, grows despite the government. Indian jugaad - or frugal ingenuity - is now a global management buzzword, but in India it just means getting stuff done with minimal resourcesand despite the government. The private sector has stepped in and solved many problems caused by ineffective governance. Unreliable supply of electricity is easily one of the biggest problems that remain to be solved, and the private enterprise is gearing up to solve that as well.

India has a big opportunity to leapfrog the power grid to individual power generation​

A large portion of Indian population leapfrogged the landline directly to mobile. It used to take years to get a landline installed, largely because of administrative incompetence of public sector telecom companies. Now, it takes a few hours to get a mobile phone activated by one of the many private company. A similar moment is emerging with regards to energy consumption in India.

It is estimated that solar will reach grid parity in India by 2019, which means that solar power will cost less than or equal to power from the conventional grid. Indian households, currently suffering the tyranny of power cuts could install a rooftop solar + battery combination, utilizing the grid electricity only as a backup, in case rooftop solar + battery could not meet their needs.
The incentives to move to an individual power generation model are far higher for India, than they are many countries in the West. A common joke in India is that the only government action you can rely to happen on time is the power cut. India has solved many of its problems through private action, and macro-economics may be coming in place for Indians to solve their electricity problem.
What India expects from Mr. Modi is to operationalize his maxim of "minimum government, maximum governance" and develop an ecosystem in which India can shift from a dirty coal-powered economy to a clean solar-powered economy. He was a big supporter of solar as CM of his home state, Gujarat, and perhaps he can bring the same level of enthusiasm to the national level.
For each house that would move from grid electricity to rooftop solar, we would be taking equivalent of 3 cars off the road a year. As India overtakes China in terms of population in 2028, hopefully many of its homes and businesses would be powered by rooftop solar and battery, for the sake of our future generations. It's an idea whose time has come.


https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/surprising-real-reason-why-indian-pm-modi-visited-tesla-chaturvedi

Click to expand...

How many people/families have 'houses' and roof tops on which solar panels can be fitted? And what happens to the overall damages during rainy seasons and /or dust storms?

Let us wait for one year and see what progress happens. Most probably this will go the way of "Clean Ganga". But Modi has to be supported because he alone will be responsible for all the mess!

sangom said:

How many people/families have 'houses' and roof tops on which solar panels can be fitted? And what happens to the overall damages during rainy seasons and /or dust storms?

Let us wait for one year and see what progress happens. Most probably this will go the way of "Clean Ganga". But Modi has to be supported because he alone will be responsible for all the mess!

Click to expand...

Sir,

Why are you pessimistic...Work has already started for a massive increase in solar power generation!

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-pape...p-solar-targets-for-states/article7393201.ece

vgane said:

Sir,

Why are you pessimistic...Work has already started for a massive increase in solar power generation!

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-pape...p-solar-targets-for-states/article7393201.ece

Click to expand...

Shri Ganesh ji,

Kerala embarked on this about two years ago. (Of course what resulted in Kerala was a large scandal with a woman Saritha Nair whose name was linked to many of the powers that be, etc., but she is a free citizen now!) But, already, it is reported that during cloudy and rainy days the power production is nearly zero. Then there are reports that linking to the state's grid is beset with more difficulties than envisaged and so the producer has to use this power himself! After a good rain, the entire thing requires a maintenance by the authorized technicians. Do we have the proper solutions for all these?

People's enthusiasm has waned because subsidy is not given to most people.

This country is rich in sunlight and hence solar energy. When this energy is converted into electricity and stored for use or distributed in real time across the country it is as good and reliable as the hydro/thermal and nuclear energy based electricity. The likely hitches that need to be addressed and solved are these:

1. As solar electricity needs to be lifted/evacuated for distribiution across the country we need a robust distribution system and this is called wheeling in technical paralance. The role of grids becomes important in this. If there is not adequate grids available the electricity produced at one centre can not be wheeled to the needy place. Our power grid network in the country is totally inadequate at present to handle even the current generation in full. Before building more capacities the wheeling has to be addressed first. Right now the wind power generation is suffering because of inadequacy of grids and the same problem may make the solar power costly.

2. At the basic manufacturing level we do not produce the good quality solar cells and we depend on cheap imports from , who else, China.

3. The SME institute in Guindy in Chennai and in Madurai is doing wonderful service by conducting regular short term courses to equip technicians with adequate knowledgfe about solar power systems and such courses should be conducted all over India.

4. To start with, as it has been done in Gujarat, we can cover our east flowing rivers-there are many- and the numerous irrigation tanks with an array/cluster of solar panels so that the cost of land becomes zero for a large sized solar power project. By doing this we score another gain also-that of saving loss of water from the large surface area of waterbodies due to evaporation. The evaporation losses, as they come down, will put that much more of irrigation water in the hands of farmers.

As the current PM is familiar with all these issues because of his success in Gujarat with solar power generation we can hope that he will put this mission in the right hands and support it fully.

Today I read a news item which says "IBM opens public cloud data centre in Chennai".which is a good and bad news. Good because Chennai has been chosen bad because the data centre when it starts functioning will dip into the existing power sources to draw its huge appetitem for power. A sound policy support for solar power generation in Tamilnadu by Government will help us keep the cake and eat it too. But are we up to the task?

Vaagmi said:

This country is rich in sunlight and hence solar energy. When this energy is converted into electricity and stored for use or distributed in real time across the country it is as good and reliable as the hydro/thermal and nuclear energy based electricity. The likely hitches that need to be addressed and solved are these:

1. As solar electricity needs to be lifted/evacuated for distribiution across the country we need a robust distribution system and this is called wheeling in technical paralance. The role of grids becomes important in this. If there is not adequate grids available the electricity produced at one centre can not be wheeled to the needy place. Our power grid network in the country is totally inadequate at present to handle even the current generation in full. Before building more capacities the wheeling has to be addressed first. Right now the wind power generation is suffering because of inadequacy of grids and the same problem may make the solar power costly.

2. At the basic manufacturing level we do not produce the good quality solar cells and we depend on cheap imports from , who else, China.

3. The SME institute in Guindy in Chennai and in Madurai is doing wonderful service by conducting regular short term courses to equip technicians with adequate knowledgfe about solar power systems and such courses should be conducted all over India.

4. To start with, as it has been done in Gujarat, we can cover our east flowing rivers-there are many- and the numerous irrigation tanks with an array/cluster of solar panels so that the cost of land becomes zero for a large sized solar power project. By doing this we score another gain also-that of saving loss of water from the large surface area of waterbodies due to evaporation. The evaporation losses, as they come down, will put that much more of irrigation water in the hands of farmers.

As the current PM is familiar with all these issues because of his success in Gujarat with solar power generation we can hope that he will put this mission in the right hands and support it fully.

Today I read a news item which says "IBM opens public cloud data centre in Chennai".which is a good and bad news. Good because Chennai has been chosen bad because the data centre when it starts functioning will dip into the existing power sources to draw its huge appetitem for power. A sound policy support for solar power generation in Tamilnadu by Government will help us keep the cake and eat it too. But are we up to the task?

Click to expand...

Thank you, Vaagmi Sir.

In spite of the obvious importance of solar energy for our future energy reserves, and the huge amount of energy, that the sun provide us for free, I want’ to emphasize some of the draw-backs of solar energy, with the current technology, and share some of my worries about the problem that using solar energy still have.
I intend to drip some cool water on the entire hot “solar power” lobby, not to abolish it, but to speed them up, and causing them to think again about the problems.

Availability
Although solar energy is a great source of energy, it is still can be unavailable and unreliable some time. we need to remember that on our spherical earth, receiving different amount of light during the day and throughout the year, making it hard to retain constant energy supply. moreover, our current devices require a huge surfaces of panels in order to collect a small amount of energy, making it unachievable.

Price
solar energy, in our current situation is very expensive. Yes, sun is for free, but the current technology is very expensive, and in terms of surface needed relative to the production of electricity with fossil fuel, it is still very expensive. So prices have to be dramatically reduced , before it will become a good energy resource.

Efficiency
As I already said, our current technology is extremely inefficient. There are two main ways to produce electricity form solar energy: photovoltaic cells – which produce electricity directly from the sun, but are very inefficient and expensive, and heating fluids using the sun (like solar boiler), to drive turbines that produce energy. these two methods are still very ineffective, energetically speaking. There must be other ways to produce electricity efficiently from solar power.

Possible effect on the environment
Although it might sound strange, solar energy in its current form can be harmful to the environment. First, the materials used for the production of the panels, and the methods of production are very unfriendly to the environment. Second, these large surfaces, consume a huge space, and increasing the use of solar power will cost in many space wasted on solar panels. Third, increasing the reflecting surface of earth might cause a phenomenon of reflecting the sun light out, causing global cooling (this is not a joke!). Global cooling, looks good in first glance, might be horrific in the future. messing with earth climate was never a good idea. Not mention the effect that such a phenomenon might have on plants and photosynthesis, which are the basis for life.

effect on technology
Finally, since the current situation of solar energy in insufficiency and economically problematic, I think that the time to promote solar energy has not arrived yet, most of the concentration should be in increasing the investment in research and development, so the future generation will benefit from a good solar energy solutions.

http://www.streetdirectory.com/trav...easons_why_solar_power_is_not_the_answer.html

[h=1]Is the sun the answer to India’s energy problems?[/h]


ON A salt plain near the border with Pakistan lies half a billion dollars' worth of solar-energy kit paid for by firms from all over the world. A million panels stretch as far as the eye can see. Past a dishevelled brass band is a tent crammed with 5,000 people who cheer when Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat, declares the solar park open: “I pray, sun god, that today Gujarat will show the way to the rest of the world for solar energy.”

Currently Power stations charge local electricity boards 3-4 rupees ($0.06-0.08) per kilowatt hour.Many observers think the price of conventional power will have to rise to 5-6 rupees.
India's central government has set a target for 20,000MW of installed solar generation by 2022, from under 1,000MW today. That would still represent a miserly 5% or less of total power-generation capacity in India, and cost perhaps $30 billion-40 billion to build—a fraction of the investment in new coal-fired plants. So plenty of folk think the official target will be smashed. D.J. Pandian, a civil servant in charge of energy policy in Gujarat, believes his state alone will easily reach 10,000MW of capacity in a decade.
But not everyone agrees. “Half of these plants won't be here in ten years,” says a German boss at the new solar park—bad news, since the contracts are for 25 years. Too many firms have cut corners, he reckons. A Chinese executive raises his eyebrows at India's plans to force solar firms to buy some equipment locally. “The supply chain and economies of scale are not there,” he says. An American manager scoffs: “We've all been coming to India for years and they'll never get there…They don't have the infrastructure.” The difficulty of getting plugged into the grid and a shortage of water to clean panels are common worries.


Solar faces two other problems. First, Gujarat's state government has guaranteed high prices of 15 rupees for the first 12 years of operation to solar producers, which should mean they make money. But at the national level there is a separate system. It relies on “reverse auctions” in which those solar producers who commit to producing power at the lowest cost win the right to operate. In the second national solar auction, of 350MW, in December, the winning firms committed themselves to selling solar power for as little as 7.5 rupees.
Many people doubt that it is possible to make money at these prices. An Indian engineer says the auction was “a farce” and that it is impossible to build a solid plant and operate it for less than 10 rupees. Firms bidding below, say, 8.5 rupees must assume that technology will improve (likely), equipment prices will keep falling (perhaps, but some manufacturers are losing money), or that they can make their sums work by borrowing cheap dollars rather than dear rupees (a foolish risk).
Second, if prices do not fall steeply, there may be little appetite for solar power. The grid is rickety. Many states' distribution firms (the generators' main customers) are financial zombies. Today the cost of solar subsidies is hidden—pooled with the overall generation bill in states such as Gujarat or, for projects under the national scheme, buried in the finances of a big state-owned conventional power firm.
Such bureaucratic subterfuge works on a small scale. But if the bill for solar swells, it is not hard to imagine the kind of public backlash against subsidies that has hit cash-strapped Europe. India's politicians may then start to ignore contracts. To solve India's energy problems, solar firms must deliver blindingly low prices.

http://www.economist.com/node/21553480

For India a decentralized system would work better.
Decentralized power systems can ensure that ATC Losses are minimized. The Government must understand that PV Solar is safe for installations closer to human habitat and hence can be used for decentralized power generation. There need not be grid availability at such locations and hence saving on energy - due to minimized transmission & distribution losses. The decentralized power system would cost the Government a fraction of what it would cost them to lay down Transmission and Distribution grid.

o begin with the Government must itself start using solar power for all its offices and save fossil fuel - thus setting an example to others. I have seen the office of Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) in Chandigarh which uses only solar power in its office. It should have been the role model for the Government.

There are two main problems here that represent a mixture of policy and technology: First of all, India, already the sixth-largest electricity consumer in the world, depends almost entirely on hydro-electricity, which is not sufficient to supply its growing demand. Secondly, the grid is outdated, under-managed, abused and dangerously centralized.
Let’s start with the grid. As Carl Pope points out in a commentary for the Huffington Post, “the fundamental social contract surrounding electricity has broken down in India”. According to Pope, in the event of summer power shortages, system operators begin arbitrarily cutting off power to certain neighborhoods but in reality have no idea how much power these cuts are saving. This ad-hoc system is negatively compounded by the fact that there is a high incidence of illegal connections and unmetered users as well as business users who wastefully convert grid power to battery power during shortages when the quality of power is compromised and threatens to short out electronic equipment. The bottom line, Pope writes, is that electricity has been “radically individualized” and “every user is acting in their own short-term self interest, because the power system forces them to.”
MIT’s Technology Review recommends microgrids, reasoning that disruptions would be less frequent and less damaging with a decentralized system of local networks and smaller suppliers. These local networks would be linked together by microgrids, which Technology Review describes as “an intermediate step between individual generators and a fully national grid,” with the ability to connect and disconnect to the national grid depending on how it is functioning. Beyond that, microgrids can operate in part with renewable energy, from diesel power to solar and battery power.
And India is already working on some USAID-funded microgrid projects in around 50 villages, according to the Guardian.
But microgrids are a concrete solution to India’s electricity management problems, but the overall focus on hydro-power schemes in India is another serious problem. Renewable energy is urgent for India, while conventional power generation should be viewed as a back-up plan only. Certainly solar power generation would be extremely viable in sunny India where the sun has the potential to generate over 12 trillion watt-hours of energy per square mile every year.

As Pope opines, India’s grid “cannot meet the needs of its remote populations, regardless of how many tons of coal India burns; both wind and distributed solar are cheaper by far than remote coal as a power source; eliminating the enormous energy waste both on the grid and among end users could provide the nation with a huge increase in usable electricity for a tiny cost.”
http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Ene...-Power-the-Answer-to-Indias-Power-Crisis.html

To address energy poverty and energy security, India’s focus must be on encouraging locally-generated and indigenous renewable energy systems and moving towards decentralised electricity generation based on renewables.
Even if one percent of the country’s land area were to be used to harness the abundantly available solar insolation at an efficiency of 10%, the country could generate 570 times India’s current electricity demand.

prasad1 said:

In spite of the obvious importance of solar energy for our future energy reserves, and the huge amount of energy, that the sun provide us for free, I want’ to emphasize some of the draw-backs of solar energy, with the current technology, and share some of my worries about the problem that using solar energy still have.
I intend to drip some cool water on the entire hot “solar power” lobby, not to abolish it, but to speed them up, and causing them to think again about the problems.

Availability
Although solar energy is a great source of energy, it is still can be unavailable and unreliable some time. we need to remember that on our spherical earth, receiving different amount of light during the day and throughout the year, making it hard to retain constant energy supply. moreover, our current devices require a huge surfaces of panels in order to collect a small amount of energy, making it unachievable.

Price
solar energy, in our current situation is very expensive. Yes, sun is for free, but the current technology is very expensive, and in terms of surface needed relative to the production of electricity with fossil fuel, it is still very expensive. So prices have to be dramatically reduced , before it will become a good energy resource.

Efficiency
As I already said, our current technology is extremely inefficient. There are two main ways to produce electricity form solar energy: photovoltaic cells – which produce electricity directly from the sun, but are very inefficient and expensive, and heating fluids using the sun (like solar boiler), to drive turbines that produce energy. these two methods are still very ineffective, energetically speaking. There must be other ways to produce electricity efficiently from solar power.

Possible effect on the environment
Although it might sound strange, solar energy in its current form can be harmful to the environment. First, the materials used for the production of the panels, and the methods of production are very unfriendly to the environment. Second, these large surfaces, consume a huge space, and increasing the use of solar power will cost in many space wasted on solar panels. Third, increasing the reflecting surface of earth might cause a phenomenon of reflecting the sun light out, causing global cooling (this is not a joke!). Global cooling, looks good in first glance, might be horrific in the future. messing with earth climate was never a good idea. Not mention the effect that such a phenomenon might have on plants and photosynthesis, which are the basis for life.

effect on technology
Finally, since the current situation of solar energy in insufficiency and economically problematic, I think that the time to promote solar energy has not arrived yet, most of the concentration should be in increasing the investment in research and development, so the future generation will benefit from a good solar energy solutions.

http://www.streetdirectory.com/trav...easons_why_solar_power_is_not_the_answer.html

Click to expand...

More than 97% use Photovoltaic technology...Let us see country wise solar PV capacity in 2014

I think soon we will have an index of how much green power is actually green


Worldwide solar PV capacity. Total of 178 GW in 2014.

China & Taiwan (16.37%)
Japan (13.16%)
Germany (21.58%)
Italy (10.43%)
United Kingdom (2.88%)
Rest of Europe (14.52%)
United States (10.33%)
Canada (0.97%)
Australia (2.34%)
South Africa (0.52%)
Rest of the World (6.90%)


Source:Wikipedia

It will be inappropriate to write off solar power..But as pointed by you more research needs to be done to make solar power economically viable and also sustainable!

The situation and outlook for future are not as grim as is made out here. My this reply is only to bring some balance to the discussion and not to join issue with anyone here,

prasad1 said:

In spite of the obvious importance of solar energy for our future energy reserves, and the huge amount of energy, that the sun provide us for free, I want’ to emphasize some of the draw-backs of solar energy, with the current technology, and share some of my worries about the problem that using solar energy still have.
I intend to drip some cool water on the entire hot “solar power” lobby, not to abolish it, but to speed them up, and causing them to think again about the problems.

Click to expand...

Just as solar energy comes with some negatives even hydro power comes with negatives. the koyna dam causing repeated earthquakes in that region is still green in our memory.And down stream water availability for cultivation becoming scarce is also a reality. But we have not given up hydro power projects. We have reached saturation point in utilising hydro power. There are no more rivers in this country with scope for hydro power generation. so we have stoped.

In all such energy projects a careful assessment is made of the positives and negatives are made and when the positives are substantially attractive the project comes out of the drawing board. So solar power generation is not all that bad with negative factors outweighing positive factors. Let us see how it works out.

Availability
Although solar energy is a great source of energy, it is still can be unavailable and unreliable some time. we need to remember that on our spherical earth, receiving different amount of light during the day and throughout the year, making it hard to retain constant energy supply. moreover, our current devices require a huge surfaces of panels in order to collect a small amount of energy, making it unachievable.

Click to expand...

The energy supply from a solar cell will vary with the intensity of the impinging photons from the sun rays. But as long as the rays produce a threshold level of current density as out put the system will work. All solar energy systems are designed on this principle. The huge surfaces required for the extensive panels deployment can be got over in a vast country like India by spreading them out on the large water bodies as I mentioned in my earlier post. In fact Gujarat experiment has been successfull because they have adopted this strategy. These are surfaces which are open without shade and receive copious amount of sunrays without any interruption. And what more, for a Government Company the investment on huge amount on land is saved making the per unit cost of production that much more cheap. No productive land is lost to the project as in the case of other manufacturing industries and infra structure projects.

Price
solar energy, in our current situation is very expensive. Yes, sun is for free, but the current technology is very expensive, and in terms of surface needed relative to the production of electricity with fossil fuel, it is still very expensive. So prices have to be dramatically reduced , before it will become a good energy resource.

Click to expand...

Technology is dynamic. We have large teams of people working on thin films in premier labs across the country. They have produced some significant results too. Our weakness is in taking the technology from lab to fab. As the new gennext comes into the picture, we will have large scale manufacturing of solar cells. The collaterals can be managed.

Efficiency
As I already said, our current technology is extremely inefficient. There are two main ways to produce electricity form solar energy: photovoltaic cells – which produce electricity directly from the sun, but are very inefficient and expensive, and heating fluids using the sun (like solar boiler), to drive turbines that produce energy. these two methods are still very ineffective, energetically speaking. There must be other ways to produce electricity efficiently from solar power.

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Photovoltaic cells is the main technology that is considered when speaking about solar energy. and it is a proven technology.

Possible effect on the environment
Although it might sound strange, solar energy in its current form can be harmful to the environment. First, the materials used for the production of the panels, and the methods of production are very unfriendly to the environment. Second, these large surfaces, consume a huge space, and increasing the use of solar power will cost in many space wasted on solar panels. Third, increasing the reflecting surface of earth might cause a phenomenon of reflecting the sun light out, causing global cooling (this is not a joke!). Global cooling, looks good in first glance, might be horrific in the future. messing with earth climate was never a good idea. Not mention the effect that such a phenomenon might have on plants and photosynthesis, which are the basis for life.

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The production of solar cell is free from release of large pollutants into the atmosphere. The method followed is to evaporate an appropriate metal in vacuum to deposit a thin film of it on a substrate which is carefully prepared. When an array of such cells are connected it becomes a panel. there is very little scope for pollution in this process. The metal that is used for metallising is toxic and the quantity released into atmosphere while making the cell is negligible. The scare about the reflected sunlight, global cooling due to that etc., are over stated apprehensions.

effect on technology
Finally, since the current situation of solar energy in insufficiency and economically problematic, I think that the time to promote solar energy has not arrived yet, most of the concentration should be in increasing the investment in research and development, so the future generation will benefit from a good solar energy solutions.

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Agreed. But a beginning has to be made at the earliest. And now is the time. Gujarat has done well. Credit goes to Modiji.

Uncertainty in weather: The design of a solar power generation system involves either the use of historical weather data or weather forecast methods to predict the future temporal evolution of the solar energy system. Despite the use of such methods, the behavior of weather conditions always involves high uncertainty. Unless such uncertainty is accounted for during the system design, the performance of the solar-based system will only be optimum within the range of the considered weather conditions. Potentially unpredictable weather fluctuations will inevitably result to suboptimal system operation.
Solar irradiance: Solar irradiance is one of the most important factors in the operation of the PV systems and it can have a significant impact on the efficiency and power quality response of the whole system. The variable power flow due to the fluctuation of solar irradiance and temperature are some of the parameters that affect the power quality of photovoltaic systems. With high connection densities of photovoltaics in the distribution grid, low irradiance can lead to undesirable variations of power and supply quality (voltage and current) at the connection point which might even exceed acceptable limits. The system injects a highly distorted current (with respect to the fundamental frequency current) to the distribution network during low solar irradiance conditions. It has been found that low solar irradiance has a significant impact on the power quality of the output of the PV system.
Initial Cost: The high initial cost of solar PV systems is one of the most significant barriers to PV adoption. However, as the initial cost of PV system decreases and the cost of conventional fuel sources increases, these systems will become more economically competitive.
Surplus Power: In India, net metering system is currently not available and thus the surplus power generated from renewable energy sources cannot be sold to the utilities. When it is not connected to the grid, excess energy that is generated is not fed out to the utility to give you an energy credit (this can happen with on-grid systems). Off-grid systems must use the surplus or lose it.

Energy Storage: Offgrid PV systems typically use batteries for storing energy, and the use of batteries could increase the size, cost and complexity of the system.
Education: PV systems present a new and unfamiliar technology; few people understand value and feasibility. This lack of information slows market and technological growth.
http://www.eai.in/ref/ae/sol/cs/kb/key_bottlenecks_in_the_captive_solar_industry.html