Solar energy. All the energy we want is there for the asking, right? The sun shines, gives us power. What are we waiting for?
As with all blessings, this too has costs – in the form of photo voltaic cells in solar panels, land to house those panels, maintenance, power distribution... And, all of these together have to be cheaper than power obtained from burning coal, if we want to go green.
Though solar energy costs have plummeted over the past decade, capacity – which is now at 57 GW – and renewables as a whole (at 114-odd GW) still have some catching up to do with thermal energy capacity, which is currently 236 GW.
In this episode, a little bit of physics and some economic policy will help us understand where India stands and why.
