Market Analysis
Opportunities
India had an installed solar power capacity of 1700 MW in 2007 which amounted to roughly 1% of its total power generation of 130,000 MW. India is currently ranked 7th in the world in Solar PV cell production. But considering India’s geographic location and climatic conditions, this is a huge market waiting to be tapped.
India receives bright sunlight almost throughout the year especially in West and Central parts of the country. Due to global warming and rising CO2 levels, average temperature in India is set to increase by 4 degrees by 2050. Given Government’s recent policy announcement which gives thrust to green and renewable energy, there is a commercial opportunity which can be exploited. Some of the incentives given by the government are:
• Subsidy of Rs 12/unit on medium scale operations (1-5 MW capacity)
• 100% depreciation of equipments used in 1st year itself
• Other tax benefits like zero excise duty
These measures though very limited as compared to other countries like USA or Germany, the world leaders in solar energy, but still it is a step in the right direction.
So it is no surprise that many big companies have announced sizeable investments in this field. At present the main players are
• Tata BP Solar
• Moser Baer
• Central Electronics Ltd.
• SELCO
• BHEL
Many more are expected to join like DuPont, Dow Chemicals and surprisingly even Google.
Improvement in PV technology, which is touching efficiencies of 30%, and development of newer technologies especially STEG (solar thermal electricity generation) are driving the energy costs down.
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