Mitigating air pollution in India would boost solar production and help the country get more energy with fewer installation capacities, a new study has shown.
Cleaner air could enhance India’s annual solar production by 6-28 terawatt-hour of electrical energy, researchers at the Centre for Atmospheric Sciences, IIT-Delhi wrote in a peer-reviewed paper. This translates to economic benefits of $325-845 million every year for the country.
Aerosols that pollute the air reduce the intensity of the sun’s radiations that reach the earth. Poorer air quality means the radiations that hit the solar panels are less intense. Besides, particulate matter from polluted air also gets accumulated on the solar panels, further blocking sunlight.
Between 2001 and 2018, India lost 29% of its global horizontal solar irradiance—the total amount of radiation received from the sun—due to air pollution, the study showed.
India has been rapidly adding solar capacity as it looks to have 500GW of non-fossil fuel energy by 2030—more than half of which will come from solar. If air pollution is mitigated, the researchers estimate a 76 GW installation can generate almost as much output from 100 GW installation.
“Our findings will help policymakers, planners, and investors to better assess the solar power resource and facilitate expanding the solar infrastructure over India in the coming years,” the researchers said.
Highly polluted regions like the Indo-Gangetic plains and dust-dominated Thar region see the highest levels of atmospheric attenuation. That impacts large parts of the northern and eastern power grids, the researchers said.
There is variation in output based on how panels are configured as well. Horizontally flat solar panels tend to accumulate more aerosol deposits compared to tilted panels. Accumulation is least on sophisticated panels that are equipped with solar trackers which align the device towards the sun.
The researchers suggested the existing policies to tackle air pollution in India, if implemented effectively, can help boost solar output. Meeting targets under the National Clean Air Programme alone can result in 3-8 TWh of solar energy per year—worth anything between $162-420 million.
“Our analysis suggests that the GoI should promote and implement air pollution mitigation plans with urgency to accelerate the growth of the renewable energy sector,” the researchers said. “Cleaner air would surely enhance solar energy production along with co-benefits opportunities for public health, climate, and economy.”
Source: Bloomberg
