Sufferings in power-starved Bihar : Solar Energy: a lovely dream

As the mercury soars to 40 degrees Celsius and above, traditional cooling with hand fans to beat the heat is the only way out  in the power-starved Bihar.   People are forced to live in the lantern age. A running fan is a luxury there.  Electricity, wherever it is there, fails regularly. 

All towns, districts and villages are hit badly due to  lack of power. If there is power at night, it is considered a gift for the few who have electricity connections for a few hours.Power shortages have sparked protests in several places in the state. Electricity offices have been attacked in towns while protest marches have been taken out.

Bihar faced a deficit of more than 1,000-1,200 MW of power a day. Bihar faces a serious power crisis due to shortage of supply from the central grid.  Bihar produced 100-120 MW a day from its two thermal power units at Barauni in Begusarai and Kanti in Muzaffarpur district. The state is dependent on central grid for power. Bihar needs 2,200-2,500 MW of power a day but gets less than 900 MW from the central  pool despite a daily allocation of 1,646 MW.


Compare this with the targets set for 2022 by  Jawaharlal Nehru Solar Mission for solar power installation in the country targeting  20,000 megawatt (Mw) of solar power for which several  companies are investing over Rs 1,00,000 crore. Proposals worth over Rs 1.2 lakh crore under the Special Incentive Package Scheme from solar and photovoltaics (PV) manufacturers were received in 2009.

 To make solar power attractive, project developers have been offered a 10-year tax holiday for photovoltaic (PV) and thermal solar plants set up by 2020, reduced customs duty and zero excise duty on specific capital equipment, critical materials and project imports, besides loans at cheap interest rates. As per the Generation Based Incentive programme, the Government will provide financial assistance of Rs 12 per unit in case of solar photovoltaic and Rs 10 per unit in case of solar thermal power fed to the electricity grid from a grid interactive solar power plant of a capacity of 1 MW and above for a period of 10 years.  Solar equipment makers will also get several incentives as per Special Incentive Package for setting up integrated solar manufacturing plants.

There is enormous potential for off-grid PV deployment in India, based on real needs and benefits, in the areas of rural lighting and electrification, for powering irrigation pump sets, back up power generation for the expanding network of cellular towers across the country, captive power generation, urban applications and highway lighting,

Solar energy itself is in a nascent stage in India, with less than 10 mw of installed capacity. India has a total installed generation capacity of almost 1,60,000 mw.