The National Solar Mission has created significant impact already with over 2700MW connected to the grid and has raised the profile of Solar Power tremendously as a viable and sustainable source of power in the future. Solar is now slowly becoming mainstream in the power sector after being in the sidelines all these years as non-conventional and alternative source of power. It is very heartening that the new Government is contemplating ambitious targets for adding 3GW to 5GW every year in the next five years. We are convinced that even higher targets can be achieved with an innovative approach to harness solar power for transportation.
India is importing about 80% of its oil and is spending 50% of the export earning for oil imports alone. In a recent study carried out by us, we have calculated that 5% displacement of petrol used by vehicles in Rajasthan needs about 21,000MW of solar power (assuming 50% of the electricity is used from the grid and 50% is generated from solar). As our grid is already overburdened, we can tap electricity for charging electric vehicles directly from solar power. Even though solar power is more expensive, the saving in fuel costs by using electric vehicles would be about 85%.
Therefore, MNRE can initiate a new policy to reduce dependency on imported fossil fuels for transportation and reduce urban air pollution by encouraging the use of solar power for mobility (electric cars, bikes and bicylces) through solar charging stations in 'smart cities' to begin with, and in rural areas and along the highways in due course. The solar charging stations can be set up under PPP and BOO mode where user charges can be collected on the basis of energy consumed. The solar charging stations would be set up in parking lots of offices, commercial areas and along highways. Land could be leased by the Government for the solar charging stations based on availability besides the existing retail outlets of PSU Oil Companies who may also be interested in the same. The surplus power from solar charging stations would be exported to the grid just as in the case of Rooftop Solar systems.
Pilot projects could be promoted in the 100 Smart Cities, for taxi fleets and along the highways. Different stakeholders like electric vehicle and battery manufacturers, solar rooftop solution providers, fleet owners, metro rail companies etc have to be brought together and infrastructure has to be created to harness solar power for transportation.
Multiple stakeholders (car manufacturers, electric scooter and bicyle manufacturers, battery manufacturers, solar EPC companies and solar IPPs, oil companies, municipal corporations etc) have to come together to create the infrastructure and eco system of products and services needed for charging electric vehicles with solar power. We can plan capacity addition in 100s of GW by harnessing solar for charging electric vehicles besides reducing need for oil imports and avoiding urban air pollution.