Delhi must learn from the California experience to tackle power outgages during summer seasons
Now that the gruelling summer is past us and won't return till the next six months, there are two big reasons why Delhi should look back to California, which is buzzing with new energy even after experiencing the worst summer in recent times. To understand, let's roll back in time.
The month was June and storm clouds were brewing over California's energy department. The State was already besieged by hot weather, the hydropower plants were running below output and the San Onofre nuclear plant, which supplied electricity to 1.4 million homes, had been permanently shut down. To compound problems, one of the two reactors at the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, which provides one-tenth of California's power, also broke down just two days before a record-breaking unseasonal heat wave (predictions claimed 54 degrees C in some areas) was to roll in the State starting June 29.
Alarm bells were sounded and the State energy department sent out alerts asking customers to “use fans instead of air conditioners, draw drapes, put off use of electrical appliances until evening or early morning and take other steps to conserve energy”. Energy suppliers were expected to be pushed to the limit. But when the blistering heat wave struck shores, California, managed to keep its lights and air conditioners running. In Delhi, meanwhile, we had to bear over six-hour-long power cuts in 45 degrees C heat.
So what did California do so differently that it stayed cool even on a very hot day while Delhi sweated and frownedIJ The answer is solar energy. According to a report in the National Geographic, “On July 2, when electricity demand peaked to 44,000MW, renewable supplied over 6,000MW, or nearly 15 per cent of California's total electricity production of that hour”. What California did was no overnight miracle but result of forward-looking planning. like Delhi, which imports 75 per cent of its electricity from other States, California too was once dependent on foreign oil and plagued by rolling blackouts. But today, on the back of solar, it is making consistent efforts to achieve energy self-sufficiency.
In 2007, a $3.3-billion ‘Go Solar California’ programme was launched across the state with the aim to produce 3,000MW of solar power by 2016. To kick-off solar industry in California, the State and Federal Government came out with a wide-range of tax rebates, which typically cover over 40 per cent of the cost of a commercial or residential solar system. To top it up, homes and offices could sell the extra electricity they produce to power utilities. Not surprisingly then, solar panels have come up on a million roofs across California. And now even as the subsidies evaporate, solar is not losing steam.
California's experience holds up a mirror to Delhi's myopic energy planning and exposes the Delhi Government's non-serious attitude. It shows how one State continues to struggle in the present while the other drew lessons from its past and rebuilt itself for the future. Take Delhi and San Francisco, California's fog city. Compared to Delhi, which is blessed with 350 days of sunlight a year, San Francisco has sun for only 260 days yet is a national leader in adopting solar energy. Besides a few high-rise buildings in Delhi the two cities have similar skylines composing rows of short, two or three-floor homes and offices.
“low-rise buildings make a better case for solar if they are free from shading from other buildings. Out of the 2,00,000 buildings in San Francisco, over half of them are single family homes”, says Danielle Murray, Renewable Energy Programme Manager, San Francisco Department of Environment. The US-based energy think-tank Institute for local Self-Reliance estimates that San Francisco can produce 1,700MW by utilising 35 per cent of its rooftop area. Delhi, on the other hand, according to a report released by Greenpeace and Bridge to India, can produce 45 per cent (2,557MW) of its peak electricity demand by tapping only 4.42 per cent of the available rooftop area. Nearly half of this potential comes from residential buildings.
In 2011, the Delhi Government drafted a solar policy to promote rooftop, small-scale, solar power generation. The cost of a single-family five kW system was then estimated to be nine lakh rupees and the Government offered to buy the electricity from homeowners for Rs17/kWh. But the policy failed to take-off as economics were not favourable. Since the cost of diesel power was only Rs12/kWh, concerns were raised that people would generate power from diesel and sell it to utilities as solar to avail monetary benefit. Delhi's solar potential was thus eclipsed by cheap diesel cost and the policy was pushed to the back-burner.
The dynamics, however, have greatly changed and they now warrant a proactive solar policy from the Government. Burning diesel in generators can in turn burn Rs18/kWh holes in your wallet. Price of solar, on the other hand, has dropped to Rs7.5-11.5/kWh. Taking that a five kW system today costs six lakh rupees and assume that the Delhi Government, like California, doles out a 30 per cent rebate and buys electricity from consumer at eight rupees/kWh, the cost of the solar system can be brought down to Rs4.2 lakh. Delhi's per capita income this year rose to two lakh rupees per annum, making solar affordable with further financing options.
The sun, in all likelihood, rises every day and shines in its full glory. But the question that remains is: Will Delhi follow California's mantraIJ That is, when life gives you sun, make solar power.