Harnessing Global Solar Power

 

 Audio Version Given Below

 

“Even on a cloudy day, the Sun is shining somewhere.”

 

On 15^th August 2020, in his  Address to the Nation on 74^th Independence Day, PM Modi said, “We are inspiring the world with ‘One Sun One World One Grid’.

The Sun is considered as an unending source of energy. We need energy for every moment and movement of our life, right from the time we wake up and begin our day till the time we sleep at the end of our day and even beyond. Most of our energy needs for any work we do is powered by electricity.
As per the monthly electricity report published by the International Energy Agency (IEA), today, about 43% of world electricity needs are fulfilled using fossil fuels.
The agency is an autonomous intergovernmental agency headquartered in Paris. It has 30 member countries including the US and 8 associate countries including India.
As per the report (published in August 2020), in May 2020 out of approximately 772 Terawatt hours (TWh) electricity, about 334 TWh is generated using fossil fuels like Coal, and Natural Gas.
We know that fossil fuels are a non-renewable and a limited source of energy. I think that’s why Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb had said “I would put my money on the Sun and solar energy. What a source of power. I hope we don’t have to wait till oil and coal run out before we tackle that.”
Apart from being non-renewable, fossil fuels also lead to carbon emission. As per IEA, in 2017, more than 40% of carbon emissions from fuel combustion came from electricity and heat production. This makes electricity generation one of the causes of global warming.

 

In this article, I shall try to discuss about International Solar Alliance and the ‘One Sun One World One Grid’ initiative.

 

 

International Solar Alliance (ISA)

 

Background and Timeline: India had been making conscious efforts in promoting solar energy as a form of a renewable and clean source of energy.

On 30^th November 2015: India and France jointly launched the International Solar Alliance during the 21^st climate change conference of the United Nations, also known as ‘Conference of Parties 21’ (COP21) held in Paris.
For the ISA to come into existence, its framework agreement had to be ratified (get approved from the parliament of the country) by at least 15 countries.

On 15^th November 2016: During the COP22 in Morocco, 20 countries including India signed the ISA Framework Agreement.

 
On 28^th December 2016: India ratified the Framework and became a full member of ISA.

 

On 6^th November 2017: Guinea became the 15^th country to ratify the ISA Framework.

 

On 6^th December 2017: the ISA officially came into existence with the ISA framework coming into force.

 

What is ISA: ISA is an intergovernmental treaty-based organization registered with the United Nations under Article XII. It should be noted that the treaty is not legally binding.
At the time of launch, the membership was open only for the countries situated partially or wholly between the tropics. These countries are solar resource-rich countries and can harness solar energy due to the abundant presence of the Sun throughout the year. 122 countries lie between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. These are termed as prospective members.
However, in August 2019, the ISA Framework was amended to allow membership to all the UN member countries. As of now (27^th August 2020) there are 86 Signatory countries, out of which, 67 countries have ratified the Framework.
ISA also has partner organizations. Some of the partner organisations of the ISA include The World Bank Group, New Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, European Investment Bank etc.
One of the objectives of  ISA is to mobilize $1 Trillion by 2030. This will be required to generate 1 terawatt solar power. Out of which India provided $2 Billion for solar projects and France has put in 1 Billion Euros as soft loan.
The headquarter of ISA is located in Gurugram, India. It is a matter of pride for India as it is the first time a headquarter of an international organization is located in India.
The first assembly of ISA was held in India on 2^nd October 2018. During the speech at the inauguration, PM Modi mentioned about ‘One Sun One World One Grid’.

 

 

One Sun One World One Grid (OSOWOG)

 

Basic Concept: The basic concept of OSOWOG is to facilitate 24-hour availability of solar power. We know that due to earth’s rotation when there is day in one part of the earth, there is night in the other part of the earth. So, we can generate solar power in the country where the sun is present in the first half of the day, and in the other half of the day in the other part of the world.
We don’t just need to generate solar power, we also need to transmit it, for which we need a power grid. Like we have Power Grid Corporation of India Limited in India that regulates the power grid in India, there are such organisations in other countries. We need to coordinate with other countries and connect such grids around the world and make one solar grid. Then we can transmit solar power from one end of the world to the other end and the whole world (including the countries that don’t have enough solar availability) can have access to solar power throughout the day. Thus technically ‘The Sun never sets’. That’s the vision of OSOWOG.
In India, OSOWOG initiative falls under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) of Government of India. So, going a step ahead, the ministry called for proposals for implementing the OSOWOG on 26^th May 2020.

Phases of OSOWOG: The initiative will move ahead in a phased manner. The three phases will be:-

 

Phase I Middle East, South Asia, South East Asia (MESASEA) interconnection: In this phase, the Indian power grid will be connected with that of the countries in the aforementioned region. That roughly means an interconnection right from the middle eastern region, that mainly has Gulf countries to Singapore in Southeast Asia (the ASEAN countries).
It should be noted that China and Pakistan are not part of OSOWOG. So I think there will be a linkage through undersea cable between India and the Gulf region to bypass Pakistan.

Phase II African region: In this phase, the MESASEA grid will be extended to the African region. There is a shortage of power in the African region. Even though most African countries are solar-rich countries and there is also Sahara desert region but they are not able to harness the potential of solar energy due to lack of infrastructure. Once the interconnection is made, this problem can be solved.

 

Phase III Global Interconnection: Once the second phase is complete, the rest of the world can be connected to achieve the dream of One Sun One World One Grid.

 

How will it be achieved:  First the assessment of existing infrastructure and future scenarios of individual countries will be made. This will help in recognizing the gaps. The historical data will be used to forecast the demand for renewable energy till 2030 and keeping in mind the future infrastructure deployment and regulations, demand until 2050 will be assessed.
Then in the next couple of years, pilot projects will be taken up in each region for cross-border interconnection.
Lastly, with the required support, the full phase will be commissioned.

 

Benefits and Challenges

 

Benefits: With the availability of solar power, the dependence on fossil fuel for electricity generation will be reduced. It will lead to lesser carbon emissions.
This will also save precious foreign exchange spent on crude oil imports as we shift to using solar power.
The interconnection will lead to the availability of more solar power thus reducing power woes, especially in the African countries. This will lead to the overall development of the region. With adequate availability of electricity, not just Africa but any region can develop both economically and socially.
It’s interesting to note that former Secretary, MNRE, Anant Kumar said that the proposed solar grid will work in tandem with the existing grids. No separate parallel grid will be required.

 

Challenges: The investment required for setting up solar panels is high. To generate solar power at a larger scale, solar parks need to be setup. Due to the high cost of solar panels, the setup of solar parks becomes highly capital intensive. The main challenge is to reduce the cost of the solar panels and to provide easy availability of finance for setting up the infrastructure.
The ISA will have work on a way to reduce the cost of solar technology and provide affordable finance.

 

 

Developments and Challenges regarding renewable energy in India

 

New target for renewable energy: India had aimed to achieve a target of installing 20 Gigawatt solar power by 2022. However, the same was achieved by 2018 itself. So, India has set a new target for 2022. It aims to install 175 Gigawatt power using renewable sources, out of which 100 Gigawatt will be using solar power.

Falling solar power rate: Though India is aiming to increase solar power generation, with falling solar power rates, it has become a challenge for the solar power generating companies to sell power at a feasible cost to recover their investment. The solar power tariffs have fallen to Rs. 2.36 per unit in June 2020.

International Developments

 

World Solar Bank: India will propose setting up of World Solar Bank in the next assembly of ISA that is scheduled in October 2020. The capital size of the proposed bank is expected to be $10 Billion.
As per ISA, there will be competition among member countries for the headquarter. The country that hosts the headquarter of the bank will have to contribute 30% of the proposed capital.
This bank will provide finance to the countries that want to set up the infrastructure for solar power generation.

This bank will be in addition to the $1.4 Billion Line of Credit to support 27 projects in 15 countries. India committed the same in March 2018 ISA founding conference.
A Line of Credit is an open-ended credit account in which the borrower can borrow money within the preset amount, spend it, repay it and borrow again.

 

 

Conclusion
Though ISA is in a nascent stage and OSOWOG is also in an early stage, with the former’s broad aim to facilitate solar power generation and the latter’s aim of providing 24- hour solar power around the world, we can look forward to a cleaner, brighter and a sunny future ahead.

 

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