Panaji needs to think big to realise its solar energy dream
The down swing in the international price of crude oil and Saudi Arabia's policy of cranking up production to retain market share and drive prices within a bandwidth that would prevent governments from diverting cash into development of alternate sources of energy, should have borne fruit. But it hasn't. If the oil producing nations learned a lesson from the 1970s shock, so did the rest of the world. Development of alternate source of energy may have taken longer but the movement is here to stay for another and more powerful reason -- climate change. This environmental concern is driving change in the energy sector and India under Narendra Modi is moving in this direction. The central government is keen on harnessing solar energy in a big way and has set a target of 10,000 MW by 2017. To achieve this it is developing 55 solar cities. Panaji is one of them.
The state government has gone ahead with plans to generate at least 2 MW of power through rooftop panels. Five government-owned building have been selected for the project and a master plan has been prepared by Darashaw and Company which was approved by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. While the Goa Energy Development Agency is the advisory body, the Corporation of the City of Panaji is the implementing agency. This is a great start for the capital city and Goa, which has struggled to harness the sun. Till the election of the Modi government the emphasis of solar energy was non-existent. For a state that is dependent on the grid, alternate sources of energy should have been a priority. Instead, it remained a neglected sector for lack of a leader with vision. The use of solar water heaters though, is quite widespread, both in hotels and homes. Use of solar panels, however, on account of the cost has failed to take off.
Goa has always aspired to be a model state, but in reality it has lost the race to others. In the solar energy race, Goa is lagging behind. In fact it does not feature on the solar energy map of the country. The move to develop Panaji as a solar city could change that perception provided the scheme is implemented with patience and scaled up gradually. The race here is not to get ahead of others but to ensure that the movement spreads to include privately-owned houses and buildings, not just in Panaji, but across the state. India has the experience and technological know-how to scale up the process. The country has about 5,000 MW of installed solar power generators and Kochi recently became the first airport to be powered entirely by solar panels.
When work on building solar roof tops begins, Panaji will be in sync with several cities across the globe, some of which have advanced systems. Success or failure would depend on quality of solar panels, methods to store energy and linkage to the grid. All these are challenges given the haphazard manner in which wires are pulled across streets in the city, the maze of electrical cables underground and perennial digging of roads. Setting up solar panels on five buildings is a start, but it is also the easiest part. Scaling it up to city level could be tougher that imagined. The state government and CCP must have a blueprint for this purpose or the effort to be become a solar city would degenerate into a token gesture.
