SOLAR POWER PLANT

Solar power plant is a fast developing industry. As of October, 2017 the country's solar grid had a cumulative capacity of 15.60 GW. India quadrupled its solar-generation capacity from 2,650 MW on 26 May 2014 to 12,289 MW on 31 March 2017. The country added 3.01 GW of solar capacity in 2015-2016 and 5.525 GW in 2016-2017, the highest of any year, with the average current price of solar electricity dropping to 18% below the average price of its coal-fired counterpart. In January 2015 the Indian government expanded its solar plans, targeting US$100 billion in investment and 100 GW of solar capacity (including 40 GW from rooftop solar) by 2022. India's initiative of 100 GW of solar energy by 2022 is an ambitious target, since the world's installed solar-power capacity in 2017 is expected to be 303 GW. The improvements in solar thermal storage power technology in recent years has made this task achievable as the cheaper solar power need not depend on costly and polluting coal/gas/nuclear based power generation for ensuring stable grid operation. In addition to its large-scale grid-connected solar PV initiative, India is developing off-grid solar power for local energy needs. The country has a poor rural electrification rate; in 2015 only 55 percent of all rural households had access to electricity, and 85 percent of rural households depended on solid fuel for cooking. Solar products have increasingly helped to meet rural needs; by the end of 2015 just under one million solar lanterns were sold in the country, reducing the need for kerosene. That year, 118,700 solar home lighting systems were installed and 46,655 solar street lighting installations were provided under a national program; just over 1.4 million solar cookers were distributed in India. In January 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President François Hollande laid the foundation stone for the headquarters of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) in Gwal Pahari, Gurgaon. The ISA will focus on promoting and developing solar energy and solar products for countries lying wholly or partially between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. The alliance of over 120 countries was announced at the Paris COP21 climate summit One hope of the ISA is that wider deployment will reduce production and development costs, facilitating the increased deployment of solar technologies to poor and remote regions.

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HYBRID SOLAR PLANTS:

Solar power, generated mainly during the daytime in the non-monsoon period, complements wind which generate power during the monsoon months in India. Solar panels can be located in the space between the towers of wind-power plants. It also complements hydroelectricity, generated primarily during India's monsoon months. Solar-power plants can be installed near existing hydro power and pumped-storage hydroelectricity, utilizing the existing power infrastructure and storing the surplus secondary power generated by the solar PV plants During the day time, the additional auxiliary power consumption of a solar thermal storage power plant is nearly 10% of its rated capacity for the process of extracting solar energy in the form of thermal energy. This auxiliary power requirement can be made available from cheaper solar PV plant b envisaging hybrid solar plant with a mix of solar thermal and solar PV plants at a site. Also to optimise the cost of power, generation can be from thecheaper solar PV plant during the day light whereas the rest of the time in a day is from the solar thermal storage plant for meeting 24 hours base load operation. When solar thermal storage plant is forced to idle due to lack of sunlight locally during cloudy days in monsoon season, it is also possible to consume the cheap excess infirm power from solar PV, wind and hydro power plants by heating the hot molten salt to higher temperature for converting stored thermal energy in to electricity during the peak demand hours when the electricity sale price is profitable.

SOLAR OFF-GRID SOLAR POWER PLANT:

An off-grid solar system is designed for the power needs of mid- to large-size homes. off-grid systems have no connection with the utility grid, and must make all the electricity necessary to power your home.

Off-grid solar systems operate from the stored energy in a battery bank. Solar panels are used to keep the battery bank charged. Your off-grid solar system has to be sized properly to meet your daily power needs and replace the stored energy pulled from the battery bank.

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LAMPS AND LIGHTING

By 2012, a total of 4,600,000 solar lanterns and 861,654 solar-powered home lights were installed. Typically replacing kerosene lamps, they can be purchased for the cost of a few months' worth of kerosene with a small loan. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is offering a 30- to 40-percent subsidy of the cost of lanterns, home lights and small systems (up to 210 Wp). Twenty million solar lamps are expected by 2022.

AGRICULTURAL SUPPORT

Solar photovoltaic water-pumping systems are used for irrigation and drinking water. Most pumps are fitted with a 200–3,000 W (0.27–4.02 hp) motor powered with a 1,800 Wp PV array which can deliver about 140,000 litres (37,000 US gal) of water per day from a total hydraulic head of 10 m (33 ft). By 30 September 2006 a total of 7,068 solar photovoltaic water pumping systems were installed, and 7,771 were installed by March 2012.Solar driers are used to dry harvests for storage.

RAINWATER HARVESTING

In addition to solar energy, rain water is a major renewable resource of any area. In India, large areas are being covered by solar PV panels every year. Solar panels can also be used for harvesting most of the rain water falling on them and drinking-quality water, free from bacteria and suspended matter, can be generated by simple filtration and disinfectionprocesses, as rain water is very low in salinity Good quality water resources, closer to populated areas, are becoming a scarcity and increasingly costly for consumers. Exploitation of rain water for value added products like bottled drinking water makes solar PV power plants profitable even in high rainfall and cloudy areas by the increased income from drinking water generation.