India may add 145 GW of solar by 2024 - report

Sep 2, 2014 - The Indian solar market can expand to 145 GW and create 670,000 jobs in the next 10 years, solar advisory Bridge to India and power producer Tata Power (BOM:500400) say in a report.

The analysis compares four scenarios for the country’s solar power generation -- one driven by residential rooftops (solar bees); another one led by large rooftops (solar pigeons); a utility-scale future (solar horses); and a strategy built around ultra-mega projects (solar elephants). The report suggests that India can install between 110 GW and 145 GW of solar capacity across the four segments.

Each of the scenarios was assessed in terms of landed cost of power (LCOP), which measures the cost of solar power to the consumer at the point of consumption, and levelized cost of energy (LCOE). According to calculations, LCOP can be 30% higher than LCOE in certain cases and should be regarded as the de-facto economic metric for reviewing India’s power options.

Tata Power and Bridge to India also estimate that ultra-mega solar plants with a current LCOE of INR 6.6 (USD 0.109/EUR 0.083) per kWh and LCOP of INR 8.4 per kWh are the most attractive and are close to grid parity with imported coal. Yet, in the long-run, large-scale rooftop solar systems will be the cheapest option for India with an LCOE of INR 6.6 per kWh and LCOP of INR 6.7 per kWh by 2024.

(INR 100 = USD 1.650/EUR 1.257)

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