Solar energy as an alternative source of power for Manipur

Oinam Nabakishore Singh *

10 KWp Solar Photovoltaic (SPV) power plant at Manipur University in Feb 2012 : Pix - Huieyen Lanpao

Standard of living in different countries is measured by many parameters. Per capita consumption of electricity is one of the parameters to measure the status of economic development. There is a positive correlation between per capita income and per capita electricity consumption. According to World Bank report on per capita electricity consumption in kWh(unit of power) for 2014, India’s figure was 806, while China’s 3927, and USA’s 12,984.

In the data available at trak.in, Goa at 2005 units and Puducherry at 1865 units account for maximum per capita consumption of electricity in India. States of Bihar (117.48 kWh), Manipur ( 207.15 kWh) & Assam (209.20 kWh) show the lowest per capita consumption of electricity in the country. The national average per capita electricity consumption was 778.63 units.

The reason behind poor per capita consumption of electricity consists of lack of industries, which consume bulk power, non-electrification of rural and hilly areas, non-availability of electricity and poor load due to less appliances used.

Everybody knows that no development can take place without electricity. The commissioning of the two micro hydel power sets having capacities of 100 KW and 56 KW at Leimakhong in 1930 by the then Manipur State HE Board marked the beginning of the use of electricity in Manipur ( website of Manipur State Power Company).

During the World War-II, two more DG sets of 62 KW and 46 KW capacities were installed at the old Imphal Power House by the Armed Forces for electrification of Imphal town and its suburbs. The above installed capacity remained the same till the end of the first Five Year plan (1951-56) of the post independence period. The second Five Year Plan (1956-61) however, saw a significant change in the demand of power in the state.

The availability of power in the state improved with the commissioning of 35×3 MW Loktak Hydro Electric Power Station at Leimatak in 1984, where Manipur has a share as royalty and purchase power as per allocation. The then President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, inaugurated a 36 MW heavy-fuel based power plant at Leimakhong, 20 km from Imphal on 5th October, 2002.

It was constructed at a cost of Rs.125.38 crores from the non-lapsable Central pool fund. The plant is first of its kind in the north-eastern region. But, due to high cost of heavy fuel, it is uneconomic to operate the plant and it is now almost abandoned.

Now, Manipur is meeting its requirement of power from its share in the Central Power Projects, purchase of power under Power Purchase Agreements with producers and purchase from power trading exchange.

Since Manipur does not have its own power generation, it seriously considered development of Loktak Downstream Power project, at the downstream of Leimatak river to generate 66 MW. A joint venture company was set up between NHPC and Manipur Government to develop the project. In spite of proposed infusion of grant by Manipur Government in the company to make the power tariff attractive, the final tariff for sale of power to MSPDCL worked out to be higher than Rs.6.00 per unit.

On the other hand, MSPDCL is buying power now from power exchange at less than Rs.4.00 per unit. Therefore, the prudence of signing a PPA with the joint venture to commit to buy power from the latter at higher tariff over the long term period becomes questionable. Till now, PPA is not signed and project is yet to commence.

Generation of electricity by solar parks and rooftop solar plants is being given emphasis in India due to various beneficial reasons. Solar energy is renewable and green as there is no emission of greenhouse gases unlike fossil fuel based power plants. It is being adopted across the world to prevent further rise of global temperature and arrest global warming.

The economic cost of global warming has been reported in various reports and studies. Unpredictability of climate, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, losses of crops, properties, human lives, threat of rising sea level and submergence of low lying land near the sea, compel us to look at alternative sources of green energy like solar energy.

India has set a target to generate 1,00,000 MW of solar power by 2022, the 75th year of India’s Independence. Till July, 2018, 23,120 MW solar projects have been installed leaving balance 76,980 MW to be completed before the deadline.

Union Minister of Power and Renewable Energy, in a written reply, has informed the Parliament that an investment of Rs. 385,000 crore is required for setting up 77,000 Megawatt of solar power generation capacity by 2022. Most of this investment will come from private sector. At present, the cost of installation of 1 MW of solar plant is about Rs.5.00 crore and requirement of space is 4 acres.

Karnataka is the top solar state in India exceeding 5,000 MW installed capacity by the end of financial year 2017-18. The installed capacity of Pavagada Solar Park is 600 MW and its ultimate 2,000 MW installed capacity is expected by the end of year 2020. Andhra Pradesh had installed more than 2049 MW as on 31 July 2017.

It has set up the largest base of solar capacity in the current financial year (2018-19) at 369.9 MW followed by Tamil Nadu with 312.38 MW. Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan have topped the list of states with maximum solar power generation capacity approved under solar parks in India, according to fresh data of total 26,449 Megawatt capacity projects released by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).

Gujarat’s total capacity of 6,200 MW is distributed across 3 solar parks; Rajasthan’s 4,331 MW capacity comes from 6 parks; while 4 solar parks account for Andhra’s 4,160 MW total approved capacity. Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have 570 MW and 2,570 MW approved capacity respectively. Meghalaya and Mizoram have 20 MW capacity each of approved solar parks. Manipur is yet to participate in solar projects.

Manipur has commenced rooftop solar power generation by formulating policy and tariffs approved. But the installed capacity of grid connected rooftop is about 1.5 MW. This is much less than the targets due to sluggishness in implementation. There was a proposal to set up a 50 MW solar park in Manipur by NHPC. It is yet to see progress in terms of identifying the required land, ownership and tariff.

Other states, who are forerunners in setting up solar power projects, after approval by MNRE, float tenders in reverse auction inviting bids from power developers the tariff at which the utility/discom will commit to buy the power generated. Such tenders are floated either by State Energy Development Companies or Agencies or Central agency, Solar Energy Corporation.

Solar tariffs touched the lowest Rs 2.44 per unit in the latest 2000 MW auction conducted by Solar Corporation of India (SECI). Acme Solar, one of the biggest domestic solar developers, with around 1700 MW of commissioned solar projects, won 600 MW with this bid.

The tariff had fallen to Rs 2.44 per unit only once before, in a SECI auction for projects at the Bhadla Solar Park in May 2017, but had been climbing significantly in subsequent auctions, the highest reached being Rs 2.94 to Rs 3.54 per unit in an 860 MW auction across different talukas of Karnataka, held by the Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd (KREDL) in February this year. Other auctions by Gujarat, Maharashtra and NTPC too have seen winning tariffs of well over Rs 2.50 per unit.

Because of remoteness and difficult terrain, the power tariff of solar parks in Manipur may be slightly higher at about Rs.3.00 per unit. It will be still cheaper than the cost at which MSPDCL is buying power from others outside the state. The Ministry of Power, Government of India recently announced revised solar renewable purchase obligation (RPO) goals for up to FY 2012-22.

RPO is the single most important policy driving renewable energy installations in India and the revised RPOs are expected to help achieve the government’s aggressive goal of installing 175 GW by 2022, with solar comprising 100 GW of this target.

For financial year (FY) 2019-2020 the solar RPO is set at 7.25 percent and non-solar RPO at 10.25 percent. The solar RPO for FY 2020-2021 is 8.75 percent and non-solar RPO is 10.25 percent. This increases to a solar RPO of 10.50 percent in FY 2021-2022 and non-solar RPO of 10.50 percent in FY 2021-2022. In order to comply with the obligation, MSPDCL is required to buy RPO certificates from sellers without any material or financial benefit.

It is in the interest of the state of Manipur to jump into the bandwagon of setting up solar parks as being done by other progressive states for economic development and generation of clean energy at cheaper cost. With the availability of power storage facility at cheaper price, solar energy could become a standalone source of power.

Solar Energy Corporation of India, a government of India undertaking is available to guide in all steps including floating of tender and finalization of bids. Waste land in foothills can be used to install solar parks to meet present and future energy requirements. Investments will come from the private sector. We are required to facilitate the investment.


Views expressed are personal