Photovoltaics in India

Photovoltaics (PV) promise to remain a hot topic in 2008. PV is the creation of electricity from light source sunlight, for instance.

A basic photovoltaic, also known as a solar cell, is made of materials like silicon and thin-filaments, commonly used in the micro-electronics industry. These are capital-intensive projects. PV modules connect many solar cells together and mount them on a frame or platform. Their margins are better.

India is becoming an attractive solar market, and IT firms like Moser Baer, Signet Solar and Webel Solar are confident of the growth. The recent semiconductor policy sops and the government policy for "off-grid" electrification, are added incentives.

Electricity and social development go hand in hand. Rural areas of India are so far-flung that in some cases the small population and high cost of laying down power lines may not make it a viable proposition.

Conventional generator sets too may not be feasible due to recurring maintenance problems. The best solution under the circumstances is solar PV-based systems to generate power, run irrigation sets, heat water and lighting up homes and streetlights.

India offers 100 per cent subsidy on solar PV systems for remote village electrification; and for villages with electricity, the government offers 60 per cent subsidy. Moser Baer's $880 million (around Rs 3,500 crore (Rs billion)) 8-year sourcing tie-up with Norway based, REC Group furthers this line of thinking.

The deal could get Moser Baer Photo Voltaic (MBPV) around $1 billion in revenues over the period of the contract. The global photovoltaic market is expected to grow over six times to $40 billion by 2010.

We can hope all the oil,gas giants would realize the advantage of renewable,reusable energy and put in their money and expertise in these fields to make our lovely planet stay beautiful for the coming generations.