2014 in India – an election that changed the course and destiny of the country. A new government, new hopes and new vistas. New policies, new programs and a promise for change that will carry India to greater heights so that we can hold our heads high as Indians.
A fivefold increase in solar target to 100GW, 25GW of solar parks, amendments to the Electricity Act to introduce competition in the distribution sector and Renewable Generation Obligations on Gencos. With some many goodies could there be a Wish List or a New Year Gift to expect from the Honourable Minister of State for Power, Coal and Renewable Energy, Shri Piyush Goyal.
On behalf of the solar fraternity and all those who are passionate about solar in India, I wish that the Honourable Minister issues necessary instructions to MNRE to make the solar radiation data available in public domain in format that can be used easy by various solar system design softwares such as PVSyst, RETScreen, PVSol, Homer etc.
The justification for making the solar data sets in public domain, free of charge is that it would make accurate data available for solar designers and the estimated solar generation from the plant being designed will be close to the reality once the systems are commissioned because more accurate solar radiation data has been used. This will increase the confidence of the users of the solar power plants and will promote further diffusion of these technologies. After all, the 51 weather stations have been set up with public money and grant from Govt of Germany and therefore, making the data available to everyone will help in achieving the objectives of JNNSM and the target of 100GW by 2022. The mistakes made by the successful bidders for 500MW of Solar Thermal projects under JNNSM Phase I could have been avoided if better solar radiation data was available.
Now that such data is actually available and if the same is made available free of charge, such colossal mistakes can be avoided in future saving precious time, money and contribute to the infrastructure in the Country. Read more
with best wishes for 2015
Sincerely,
DV Satya Kumar, Managing Director, Shri Shakti Alternative Energy Ltd.
