India loses 29% of solar power potential due to air pollution

According to a study conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, between 2001 and 2018, India has lost 29% of its global horizontal irradiance potential or the radiation that generates solar power, due to air pollution.

This shortfall in harnessing potential solar energy equates to a loss of $245-$835 million per year.

According to the report, air pollution is not only harming people's health but also preventing India from meeting its solar energy goals.

To assess pollution, IIT looked at the soiling effect, or the presence of solid dust, as well as atmospheric attenuation, or the scattering of light due to gaseous pollutants in the air. According to the study, if India had met its clean air targets, it could have generated more clean energy and relied less on fossil fuels for power.

According to the study, urban haze caused an 11.5% reduction in solar radiation falling on a surface in Delhi in 2016-17, resulting in a $20 million loss.

Successful implementation of the National Clean Air Program (NCAP) and complete mitigation of household emissions through the supply of cleaner fuel for domestic use and rural electrification would allow India to produce a surplus electricity of 6-16 terawatt hours per year from existing solar power installed capacity in 2018.

This translates to an economic benefit of $325-$845 million per year, as per the study entitled ‘Cleaner air would enhance India's annual solar energy production by 6-28 terawatt hours’, written by Dr Sagnik Dey, Dilip Ganguly, Somnath Baidya Roy, and others from the Centre for Atmospheric Science, IIT-Delhi.

The study calls for the successful implementation of three government programmes: the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) and Deen Dayal Upadhyay Grameen Jyoti Yojana (DDUGIY) for reducing household emissions, and the National Clean Air Program (NCAP) for combating ambient air pollution.

According to the study, PMUY and DDUGJY can generate a surplus of 3-8 terawatt hours per year, worth $163-$425, while meeting the NCAP target can generate another 3-8 terawatt hours per year, worth $163-$425.

According to the study, the combined benefits of these three policies were worth $325-$845 million, which is nearly the same as the $1,100 million budget allocation for PMUY and $42.6 million for the first two years of NCAP.

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