Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 67 (2001) 639 } 646

Overview of photovoltaic technologies in India

B. Bhargava
Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources, Block 14, CGO Complex, Lodi Road, New Delhi 110 003, India

Abstract

India has a vast potential for large-scale utilisation of photovoltaic technology. The Ministry
of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (MNES) is responsible for the formulation of policies,
support to R&D and industries, "eld demonstration and large-scale applications in photovol-
taic (PV) technology. The present paper gives a brief outline of the Indian programme on
photovoltaics, related Government policies and discusses various issues related to develop-
ment, industrial activity, "eld trials and related experience and commercial market develop-
ment e!orts in India.  2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Indian PV programme; MNES; Demonstration & utilisation; Commercial market

1. Introduction

India is endowed with a very vast solar energy potential. Most parts of the country
have about 250}300 sunny days. A large number of villages and hamlets estimated to
be over 80,000 are yet to be electri"ed. It is estimated that about 18,000 villages are not
likely to be electri"ed due to logistic, environmental or economic considerations.
There is an immense scope and potential for the use of solar photovoltaic techno-
logy in India. The Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (MNES) is respon-
sible for the overall planning and programme formulation as well as overseeing the
implementation of various programme activities. The Indian Solar Photovoltaic
Programme seeks to develop and nurture technological capabilities for undertaking
research and development and to promote dissemination of technology through
demonstration, industrial production and commercialisation.

2. Research and development

Research and development has been a major component of the Indian PV

programme. The programme for development of photovoltaic technology and its
0927-0248/01/$ - see front matter  2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
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applications in India was initiated as far back as 1976. Initial research work was
focussed on the development of solar cell technology in an industrial environment. In
1980, a "ve-year programme for bringing the technology to a stage of commercial
production was taken up. The programme also included development and "eld
demonstrations of various PV applications. After more than a decade of industry-
based technology development, the crystalline silicon solar cell technology has reach-
ed a mature stage. A variety of PV systems have been developed and deployed for
demonstration, "eld testing and evaluation.
Besides leading to the establishment of indigenous manufacturing capacity, R&D
e!orts have led to reduction in costs, improvement in reliability and introduction of
new technologies. During 1985}1992, a major programme for the development of
single-junction amorphous silicon solar cell technology was implemented. A new
initiative to develop large-area multi junction amorphous silicon solar cell modules is
supported at the Indian Association for Cultivation of Sciences, Calcutta. A number
of projects on thin-"lm solar cells based on cadmium telluride, copper indium
diselenide and silicon thin "lms are in progress.
The Indian programme is currently focussing on further improvements in material
technology, crystalline silicon cell and module e$ciencies, development of thin-"lm
technology, development of new systems and improvements in balance of systems
designs.
A PV test facility has been set up at the Solar Energy Centre (SEC), Gwal Pahari,
near Delhi to qualify PV modules to the recent IEC and Indian standards and testing
of the BOS and complete PV systems to ensure product quality. Testing facilities have
been set up at Bangalore, Calcutta and Trivandrum also. These centres are engaged in
regular testing of solar lanterns and other lighting systems.

3. Demonstration and utilisation programme

A programme for development, demonstration and utilisation of PV systems was

started in the 1980s. More than 30 di!erent applications have been developed. Among
them are "xed and portable lighting units, water pumping, small power plants, power
for telecommunications, railway signaling, o!-shore oil platforms, TV transmission,
telecommunication applications, etc. Several of these applications are commercially
viable and deployed by users out of their own resources. The Ministry of Non-
conventional Energy Sources has made sustained e!orts for the deployment of
photovoltaic systems in rural areas. A large amount of experience has been gathered
on technical, economic, social and management issues. An analysis of the experience
shows that solar photovoltaic technology can be a viable alternative to extension of
grid lines to electrify villages, especially in remote and di$cult areas. The overall
reliability of PV systems is better than the reliability of conventional power supply in
rural areas.
A number of organisations are involved in the implementation of such a
wide-ranging programme. At the apex level, programmes are formulated by the
MNES including the details of the schemes for central government assistance. The
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implementation of the programmes at the state level is through the state nodal
agencies, which are specially set up to promote renewable energy programmes.
For most of the programme activities, the central and state governments meet
a major part of the total system cost. The MNES meets about 50% cost of the PV
systems and the state agency and the actual user meet the remaining cost of the
systems and the local works. The procurement of photovoltaic systems by the state
agencies is generally through normal tendering procedures of the concerned organisa-
tions and covered through initial warranties.

3.1. Solar lighting

Lighting is one of the basic needs in households. Lighting is also required in

community centres, clinics and health centres, adult education centres and in the
streets. MNES has been promoting the use of PV technology to provide lighting in
unelectri"ed villages and homes for nearly 15 years now. Among the systems deployed
are street lights, "xed home lighting systems, portable solar lanterns and larger
community systems. During the last "ve years emphasis has been on large-scale
deployment of solar lanterns and home lighting systems.
Solar lanterns were developed and introduced about nine years ago. A solar lantern
consists of a small 8}12 Wp PV module and a lantern unit which houses a 12 V, 7 AH
battery, electronics and a 5/7 W compact #uorescent lamp. This design can provide
light for 3}4 h every day. As a portable lighting unit, the lantern can be used anywhere
indoors and outdoors. Solar lanterns, which were conceived as a substitute for
kerosene lanterns, have found wide acceptance as convenient portable lighting units.
Field studies have shown that a lantern with a 7 W compact #uorescent lamp gives
a light output comparable to that of a petromax lantern. The solar lantern is
a superior substitute for a kerosene hurricane lantern normally in use in rural
households. Kerosene lanterns provide inadequate lighting, cause pollution and entail
"re hazards. Solar lanterns are now being used not only in homes, but also in rural
clinics, hostels, police stations, etc.
A "xed type of home lighting system comprises a 37/74 Wp PV module, a battery
unit placed inside the house and two compact #uorescent lamps of 9 or 11 W each.
A typical home lighting system works for 4}5 h each day. A small TV set or
fan can also be powered by the system. Such systems are very popular in the
state of Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and
West Bengal. 223 villages have been electri"ed in Rajasthan through provision of
home lighting systems. About 50 villages have been electri"ed through home lighting
systems in Jammu & Kashmir including some remote villages in Leh and Kargil
districts. Some of the projects were done through an NGO (SWRC, Tilonia) which
also set up service facilities and trained local people in the repair and maintenance of
PV systems.
Support is also provided for street lighting systems. A street lighting system consists
of 74 W of PV modules mounted on a pole, a battery at the base and a 11-W compact
#uorescent lamp with associated electronics. The lamp comes on automatically at
dusk and switches o! at dawn.
642 B. Bhargava / Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 67 (2001) 639 } 646

In several parts of the country, it is found that PV systems of a small capacity are
competitive in locations which are generally about 3}5 km away from the conventional
electricity grid when compared to the extension of the grid for that speci"c purpose.
Stand-alone PV power plants of 1}25 kW capacity have been installed in di!erent parts
of the country for village electri"cation. About 1000 villages have been electri"ed to the
extent of providing lighting in at least 50% of the households in the villages.
Stand-alone power plants have been set up the several states in India notable
among them being Andaman&Nicobar Islands, Assam, Gujarat, Lakshadweep Is-
lands, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh (UP) and West Bengal. Over 500
villages have been electri"ed in UP, mostly in the hill districts. This has obviated the
need to cut trees and lay transmission lines in di$cult terrain. About 34 villages in
Andaman, Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands have been electri"ed through PV power
plants and home lights. Some islands have been freed from dependence on diesel
generators which required the fuel to be shipped from the mainland.
Several small PV power plants have been setup in West Bengal. Two power plants
of 26 kW capacity each have been set up in the Sagar Island area in West Bengal. In
the "rst plant set up at Kamalpur, the distribution line is extended to about 3 km to
cater to two villages. After the second plant was set up four more villages were covered
with the solar power. These power plants are managed by the local rural energy
co-operative society. The monthly charges are collected through the local rural bank.
Apart from home lighting, PV-powered TVs, radios bring in information and entertain-
ment to the villagers. Solar pumps are being used to provide drinking water supply. The
success story of Sagar Island is being replicated in West Bengal. Recently, three more
power plants of 25 kW capacity each have been set up in the Sagar Island covering
a total of 10 villages. Work on the installation of three more plants is in progress.
So far, about 232,000 solar lanterns, 93,000 home lighting systems, 37,000 lighting
systems and about 1 MW aggregate capacity of small stand-alone power plants have
been installed in di!erent parts of the country

3.2. Grid interactive PV systems

Besides the stand-alone power plants, demonstration project on grid-connected PV

systems are also supported by the MNES. The programme envisages use of grid-
interactive PV systems for demand side management (DSM) or tail-end voltage
support. Involvement of electric utilities is is essential under this programme. The
state-level renewable energy development organisations and the PV module manufac-
turers are also eligible to participate in the programme. Several projects for tail-end
grid support and DSM have been developed. Thirteen projects with an aggregate
capacity of 940 kW have been installed so far. Ten projects of another 575 kW
capacity are under implementation.

3.3. Water pumping

Water pumping was one of the earliest applications of PV technology developed in

India. The demand for electrical energy for running irrigation pump sets has been
 B. Bhargava / Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 67 (2001) 639 } 646 643

increasing every year leading to power shortages and restricted supply in many parts
of the country. Small pumping systems with an array capacity of 300}360 W were
developed and tried during the 1980 s.
Based on the experience gained, a special programme was evolved in 1993 for the
supply and installation of larger capacity PV water pumping systems for agriculture
and related uses. Under this programme, users are o!ered a subsidy which is linked to
the capacity of the PV array used in the pumping system and a soft loan towards 90%
of the remaining cost of the system. Pumping systems with PV array capacity in the
range 200}300 W are covered under this programme.
A unique feature of this programme is that manufacturers are required to directly
market the pumps to actual users. This has led to strengthening of the marketing
networks of manufacturers and helped establish a direct link between the user and the
manufacturer. About 3,100 pumps have been installed so far.
The performance of the PV pumps in the "eld has been evaluated by the Adminis-
trative Sta! College of India, Hyderabad. 84% of the users have reported satisfaction
with the systems. A separate study done in ten agricultural universities and research
institutions has brought out a report on types of crops that can be grown and area
which can be irrigated with these systems, etc. A typical 900 watt array PV pump is
found to be useful to irrigate about 1.5 hectare of land using surface irrigation and up
to 7.2 hectares of land using the drip irrigation technique.

4. Commercial market

The initial demonstration e!orts proved that PV systems are commercially viable
for several applications like power source for telemetry on o!-shore oil platforms,
railway signalling, low-power TV transmitters and microwave repeaters. A major
expansion of the rural telecommunications network initiated in the early 1990 s
created a need for reliable small power systems for rural radio telephones and
established a major market for the PV industry. Over 185,000 such systems have been
supplied during the past "ve years. Such commercial applications require no subsidy
from MNES. During the last "ve years the market has signi"cantly expanded to
achieve a cumulative PV deployment of more than 40 MW in di!erent parts of the
country. Details of sector-wise use of PV modules including exports are shown in
Fig. 1.
It is realised that there is a large potential for the commercialisation of several PV
products if suitable "nancing arrangements are made available to individuals and
commercial users and appropriate marketing e!orts are made by the PV manufac-
turers. In order to promote the development of market for PV products, MNES has
supported soft loan schemes through Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency
(IREDA). Under these schemes soft loan assistance is available to individuals as well
as commercial organisations for the purchase of solar photovoltaic systems. The loans
can also be accessed by "nancial intermediaries, PV manufacturers, product distribu-
tors, cooperative societies, non-governmental organisations, etc. These organisations
are expected to market PV products and be responsible for timely return of loans to
644 B. Bhargava / Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 67 (2001) 639 } 646

Fig. 1. Sector-wise use of PV modules (47 MW aggregate capacity).

IREDA. IREDA provides loans for manufacturing activities also. The World Bank
has supported a US $ 55 million `SPV Market Development Projecta for a accelerat-
ing the commercialisation of PV products. The World Bank has provided US $ 42 as
loan and grand to IREDA. Under this project, IREDA has sanctioned several projects
of an aggregate capacity of more than 2 MW. Among the projects being supported are
small power plants, hybrid systems, lighting systems and water pumping systems.
Recently, the IFC and GEF have supported a US $ 15 million project `photovoltaic
Market Transformation Initiativea (PVMTI) to attract private sector investments in
photovoltaic projects. Such programmes are expected to accelerate the process for
commercialisation of PV applications in India.
Involvement of leasing companies in "nancing of PV systems has helped a number
of private companies, energy service companies and NGOs to install PV systems in
rural areas. Under this arrangement the leasing companies receive one-time initial
payment from the users for the installation of the PV systems. The users are expected
to maintain the systems on their own. The leasing companies are able to o!er PV
systems on a one-time payment basis by taking advantage of the 100% accelerated
depreciation during the "rst year and soft loans o!ered by IREDA.
A grass-roots energy service company, in Karnataka, the Solar Electric Light
Company (SELCO), has been successfully marketing and installing solar home
systems and solar water pumps in several districts of the States of Karnataka and
Andhra Pradesh through rural credit support schemes.

5. Industrial activity

Considerable e!orts made over the past two decades have made India one of the
leading countries in the world in the development and use of PV technology. The
expanding market in India for photovoltaic applications has led to growth of domes-
tic PV industry. The present domestic production is based on single-crystal silicon
solar cells. During the last "ve years many private companies have started commercial
production and a number of joint ventures have been established. Export of PV
products to other countries is also increasing. More than 7.5 MW of PV products
 B. Bhargava / Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 67 (2001) 639 } 646 645

Fig. 2. Annual production of solar cells & modules.

have been exported during the last 3 years. Fig. 2 shows the details of annual
production of solar cells and modules in India.
There are 9 manufacturers of solar cells and 22 manufacturers of PV modules in
regular production. About 50 companies manufacture PV systems, most of these are
small businesses. There is also a manufacturing capacity of about 2 million silicon
wafers. During 1998}1999 about 6.5 MW capacity solar cells and 9.5 MW capacity
modules were produced. The total turnover of the Indian PV industry during
1998}1999 is estimated at about US $ 100 million. The industry was able to export
about 3.5 MW capacity PV products.
Another important feature of the industrial development in this sector is domestic
manufacture of key input raw material and equipment required for processing of solar
cells, modules, testing of cells, modules and systems.

6. Government policy

There is a growing recognition that PV technology perhaps o!ers the best prospects
for a breakthrough. Therefore, the policy is clearly directed towards a greater thrust
on all aspects of PV technology and applications. The recent policy measures provide
excellent opportunities for increased investment in this sector, technology upgrada-
tion, induction of new technologies, market development and export promotion.
Besides the subsidies, there are a host of bene"ts available to both manufacturers
and users of PV systems. These include: (i) 100% depreciation for tax purposes in the
"rst year of the installation of the systems; (ii) No excise duty on manufacture of most
of the "nished products; (iii) Low import tari!s for several raw materials and
components; and (iv) Soft loans (2.5}7.5%) to users, intermediaries and manufacturers.

7. Prospects for future

A major expansion in the deployment levels has been envisaged during the 9th Five
Year Economic Development Plan (1997}2002). It is estimated that by 2002 a
646 B. Bhargava / Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 67 (2001) 639 } 646

cumulative deployment of about 100 MW capacity PV systems would be achieved.

70 MW capacity PV systems are likely to be added during the 9th Plan period. During
this period about 18 MW capacity PV systems comprising 300,000 solar lanterns,
200,000 home lighting systems, 4000 solar pumps and about 3.6 MW of PV power
plants are expected to be installed under the programmes of MNES. Of this 84,000
home systems are proposed to be installed in certain `High Focus Areasa identi"ed by
the Ministry, which include the entire North-East, Jammu & Kashmir, the hill
districts of UP, desert districts of Rajasthan, Sundarbans in West Bengal, the island
territories, etc. It is expected that during the Ninth Plan about 2000 villages may be
electri"ed through the PV route. The commercial applications are likely to account
for another 40 MW. Export of PV products of an aggregate capacity of 12 MW is also
envisaged.
At present, there is a niche market for photovoltaic systems in unelectri"ed areas
away from the grid. Applications like solar lanterns are useful in even those areas
which have intermittent electricity supply. A vast number of applications pursued so
far have contributed in a signi"cant way to the process of commercialisation of
photovoltaics in India. The present demand of PV products in the country is about
10 MW/yr. By 2002 it is expected to grow to a level of about 15}20 MW/yr. High
volume production and induction of new and improved technologies should lead to
reduction in costs, contributing to further growth in the market. A major expansion in
the deployment levels would be possible if the PV module prices can be brought down
to US $ 2}3/W or lower. This would also lead to opening of new markets in urban
areas.