Current World Environment

Dear Readers,

It is my pleasure to present before you the current issue of Current World Environment. This issue includes articles on air  pollution, water pollution, ecosystem, climate change impacts, biodiversity, soil nutrients, and energy etc. Recently, COP 26 meeting has been concluded pledging for phase down of coal. IPCC AR6 (IPCC, 2021) also emphasises upon adoption of clean technologies for cleaner air. The energy sector has to align with climate change solutions in the centre of strategy formulation (WEO, 2021). India has coal reserves for almost 111 years (Worldometers, 2021). India has committed to Net Zero emissions by 2070 which also means that the country would be shifting to clean energy sources earlier than the coalreserves last. Out of available options of clean energy viz. wind, solar, nuclear and hydrogen, solar is the best feasible option at present. It also completes the mandate of International Solar alliance (ISA) which is headed by India. There has been a considerable growth in solar energy production in last few years in India. The annual production of solar power is increased from 1.9 GW in 2015 to 9.3 GW in 2019. Government plans to achieve 114 GW solar power by 2022(IBEF, 2021).

There are some favourable factors for promotion of solar power which include slashing price and increasing efficiency of energy conversion. The other major concerns have been cost and efficiency of cell but these are not major hurdles. At present, cost of solar power is significantly reduced from Rs2.6/kWh in 2019 and 2.36 in June 2020 to 1.99/kWhin December 2020 (PVM, 2020). The energy conversion efficiency of photovoltaic cell from solar radiation is enhanced. At present 22.8% conversion efficiency cells are available which is expected to improve further as a German researcher’s group has achieved 44.7% conversion efficiency using new material which will further reduce the cost of solar energy in near future.

The materials and metals for solar power production include silicon wafers of 99.99999% purity. Other metals include germanium, selenium, tellurium, indium,molybdenum, tin and gallium for solar cells; silver, titanium dioxideindium, iron for solar panel; copper and cadmium and for wiring and thin film; and lead for batteries. Most of these raw materials are not found in India (EQ, 2021). Thus, India needs to focus upon process and development of new metals and materials for solar power self-reliance.

Though the solar is the most appropriate option at present, it has certain concerns related to energy intendency in future. A solar panel has a life of 20 years approximately. After its use, around 20 years, how the solid waste generated will be managed on its discard? Already there are existing problems of municipal solid waste and e-waste disposal in most of the developing countries. The solar cell waste disposal will be another serious problem. Secondly, the manufacturing of solar modules takes place using coal as an energy source which itself a polluting process. Thirdly, most of the raw material of solar cell and related items is not available in India. Other adverse factors impacting solar power production include-

a). Use of coal for production of solar panels and other devices which is not a green pathway;

b). Deposition of carbon dust on solar panels as the dustfall is common phenomenon in India especially in north India. In urban areas, the dust is mixed with the carbon particles emitted by combustion sources and resuspended into the atmosphere (Mishra and Kulshrestha, 2017). Around 3.6kgC/ha per year carbon rich dustfall is reported in Delhi. The deposition of blackish dustfall may affect energy conversion efficiencyof solar cells significantly (Kulshrestha, 2020).

c). The carbon rich dust reduces incoming solar light further reducing the efficiency of cell. In addition, theincoming radiation is also affected by clouds especially in monsoon season which may reduce the effective hours battery charging. Therefore, solar-wind hybrid source may be an appropriate option of energy during monsoon season.

References              

1. EQ International, 2021. India lacks silica to make solar panels: Govt. https://www.eqmagpro.com/india-lacks-silica-to-make-solar-panels-govt/. Retrieved on September 13, 2021.
2. IBEF, 2021. Indian Renewable Energy Industry Report. https://www.ibef.org/industry/renewable-energy.aspx, Retrieved on October 21, 2021.
3. IPCC, 2021: Summary for Policymakers. In: Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [MassonDelmotte, V., P. Zhai, A. Pirani, S.L. Connors, C. Péan, S. Berger, N. Caud, Y. Chen, L. Goldfarb, M.I. Gomis, M. Huang, K. Leitzell, E. Lonnoy, J.B.R. Matthews, T.K. Maycock, T. Waterfield, O. Yelekçi, R. Yu, and B. Zhou (eds.)]. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_SPM.pdf. Retrieved on October 23, 2021.
4. India Energy Outlook. 2021. https://www.iea.org/reports/india-energy-outlook-2021/energy-in-india-today. Retrieved on September 13, 2021.
5. Kulshrestha U. 2020. Biochar Application in Agricultural Fields may be Fatal for Solar Energy Mission and Climate Change Targets. Current World Environment, 15(3), http://dx.doi.org/10.12944/CWE.15.3.01.
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6. Mishra Manisha and Kulshrestha U. 2017.Chemical Characteristics and Deposition Fluxes of Dust-Carbon Mixed Coarse Aerosols at Three Sites of Delhi, NCR. Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry, 74, 399-421. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10874-016-9349-1.
   CrossRef
7. PVM magazine. 2021. Solar tariff drops below INR 2/kWh. https://www.pv-magazine-india.com/2020/12/22/solar-tariff-drops-below-inr-2-kwh/.Retrieved on October 21,2021.
8. Worldometers. 2021. India Coal. https://www.worldometers.info/coal/india-coal/. Accessed on December 8, 2021.