Last week Chief Minister Pramod Sawant announced that the State was aiming to have the capital city of Panaji completely powered by solar energy within two years. This comes on the back of the Chief Minister making another announcement on similar lines announcing plans to have 50% of Goa powered by renewable energy by the year 2030 -- seven years from now and 100% powered by renewable energy by 2050. The statements of the Chief Minister and other similar statements by the ministers too have reiterated similar aims that are seen as being part of the country’s larger target towards achieving sustainable development goals.
The announcements are no doubt ambitious, but the question is what is actually being done to achieve these targets since there is very little information available. As of date, the only scheme being offered by the government is the 50% subsidy on rooftop solar installations for those who take up the scheme and install solar panels on their rooftops. The subsidy is offered to help reduce the upfront cost invested by the individual in the hope that he can recover his money through energy savings within a few years.
However in Goa’s case, given the low cost of electricity compared to other States, the time taken to recover one’s money is quite significant which is a serious disincentive for people wishing to install rooftop solar on their houses and explains to a large extent the poor response the government has been receiving for its scheme. This isn’t to suggest that there aren’t takers for the scheme -- there have been several who have taken up the scheme, but it is largely those who have the money or those who care for the environment and who are willing to wait more than a few years to recover the money.
However, a bulk of the consumers either do not have the money to invest or even if they do, do not have the area to install the solar panels given that they live in housing complexes where getting neighbours to all agree to install the solar panels is an improbable task. In a bid to overcome this, the state has proposed allowing willing individuals to buy the panels that will be installed at some other place in the hinterlands as part of a solar farm.
There are other problems too that the government has already released in achieving its target. To generate one megawatt of power on average requires between 10,000 to 12,000 square metres of solar panel area at current efficiency levels, which are themselves an improvement on the previous 16,000 sq metres of panel surface to generate one megawatt.
In Goa, land is at a premium and finding space is a next-to-impossible task, which is why the state had floated the idea of solar panels in abandoned mining pits. Owing to the challenges, very little progress has been made on the solar front. The government needs to do more than just announce its targets to convince Goans to take up the scheme and to begin with take the lead in installing solar panels on its own buildings.
