Improvements, New Innovations and Status of Solar Thermal Power Plants in India

Abstract

A high solar radiation available in India is a factor to encourage the full development of solar power plants for thermal and electrical energy productions. Most parts of India, Asia experience a clear sunny weather for about 250 to 300 days a year, because of its location in the equatorial sun belt of the earth, receiving fairly large amount of radiation as compared to many parts of the world especially Japan, Europe and the US where development and deployment of solar technologies is maximum. Photovoltaic (PV) and solar thermal technologies are two main ways of generating energy from the sun, which is considered the inexhaustible source of energy. PV converts sunlight directly into electricity whereas in solar thermal technology, heat from the sun's rays is concentrated to heat a fluid, whose steam powers a generator that produces electricity. Solar thermal technology is more pollution free energy than solar photovoltaic energy.

In this paper, a brief description and working principles of the solar thermal technology are studied. Besides, the paper points out the solar energy potential, the current state of electricity generation and the future of solar thermal power projects in the country. Special attention is drawn to the Indian government initiatives and support for the use of solar energy. In the end, the future prospects of solar projects development with the worldwide competitive technologies by considering the existing obstacles that should be removed by the Indian governments and energy planners in the future of energy production are presented.