Summary
There is lot of scope and room for expansion of power generation in India.Solar power will prove a boon for energy hungry population. There is an urgent need for more such projects.
Analysis
India is a sun baked country.Sun shines throughout the year.Conditions are hot and humid.In between you have floods and cyclones.Strong gusty winds which can uproot anything in their way and powerful rivers that can bury anything under their waters, when angry.This is the scenario any industrialist should be aware of. Before setting up any industry location plays a major role.
India is an ideal place for solar power and there is vast scope.An ever growing population with a median age of 30-35 years and getting increasingly tech savvy there is a continuous upward swing in power consumption. Current supply is unable to meet the current needs and there are regular power cuts of 4-6 hours underlying gap in generation.
Any power project needs at least 4-5 years to set up and generate power.And by that time the population would have grown.Thus the gap in power generation can never be filled.
The costs of power generation through conventional projects such as gas, oil and coal is getting costlier by the day and facing the wrath of the Greens.
In the current scenario cities in India are highly polluted and the roads are clogged by traffic jams.Transportation is one of the weakest links in the city.There is an urgent need for improvement in public transport to free the roads from cars and move people onto trains or metros.To run the metros electricity plays a major role.Which means more power generation.
Pollution through solar power is negligible and is eco friendly and a Green can't be seen anywhere near it. All resources such as coal, oil and gas are limited in time span and increase in consumption may dry up the resource faster than planned.
Rivers harnessed for hydro electric generation have to be constantly monitored and floods can create more problems and may prove costly.
Nuclear power generation is costly,highly regulated and politically involved. And there is the added danger of a Chernobyl.And picketing by Greens.And moreover you need highly trained qualified experts meeting international standards to run the facility.
Solar power comes from 'above', hassle free and is available continuously despite occasional clouds, eco friendly, not much regulation, no breaching of international standards and easy to understand and manage than other forms of power generation. Resource is unlimited and will outlive civilization itself.Only major requirements are land and location. And with expansion in usage and improvements in technology, set up and running costs will come down.
Thus, considering expanding economy and a growing population energy requirements in India are only going to increase and any investment in solar power is a long term prospect and a winner because all other sources of power generation are limited and solar power isn't and that is good enough security for investment.
