What if you were told that you, as an individual, could prevent 28 tonnes of Carbon dioxide emissions or plant 45 teak trees while saving every month on your electricity bills? Sounds too good to be true?
Investing in a 1 kW solar plant on your rooftop would help you do exactly that; and more. You could generate 1380 kWh of your own electricity annually and save on electricity costs every month.
Sunshine is available to us in abundance. An hour of sunshine can provide electrical power to the whole world for an entire year. India receives 3000 hours of sunshine annually – that’s equal to over 5000 trillion kWh. Around 4-7kWh/ M2 of solar radiation is received by most parts of our country.
It would make great economic and environmental sense for the farming and industrial community, large establishments like schools, malls, hospitals and salons and even individuals to focus on this abundant resource.
Advantages of solar power
- Abundantly available
- Free electricity after installation. Needs occasional maintenance
- Can be returned to the grid or stored as needed
- Environment-friendly, renewable, low pollution
- Subsidies and loans available for installation
- Increases the value of your property – for resale or rental
Disadvantages
- The initial cost of installation is relatively high
- Cannot be installed on certain types of roofs
- Weather dependant – needs adequate sunshine on the installation
- Occupies a lot of space
- Reinstallation is a challenge when you shift your location.
Solar Power in India
Large strides have been made in recent years to popularise solar power installations. Grid-connected solar power capacity has been increasing at a fast pace. In 2021, 40 MW of solar power capacity had been installed with a 6 times increase over the past five years. Off-grid installations like Street lights and Solar pumps have doubled since 2017.
India’s environmental goals are exceptional. We plan to achieve 500 GW of renewable energy by 2050 and reach carbon neutrality by 2070. India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) target is to achieve about 40% cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel energy resources.
We are all seeing, first-hand, the effects of global warming. The traditional sources of energy like coal are depleting. They are also a huge cost to the environment.
This is the turning point for us as a country and as humankind to renew our environment and reverse some of the effects that have led to this global emergency. Considering the other options available, Solar energy is the best bet to achieve these goals.
Each of us can contribute to this cause even as we cut our costs by using this bounty of nature.
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