Decentralised solar power is scripting scores of success stories in rural India & others 29

India Installs 1.6 GW of Rooftop Solar in 2022, Down 4% YoY

• India added 1.6 GW of rooftop solar capacity in the calendar year (CY) 2022, nearly a 4% decline year-over-year (YoY), compared to 1.7 GW in 2021, according to Mercom India Research’s newly released 2022 Q4 & Annual Mercom India Rooftop Solar Market Report.
• “2022 was a lost opportunity for the rooftop solar market in India, affected by policy challenges restricting supply and impacting the cost of modules.
• The top 10 Indian states together accounted for approximately 74% of cumulative rooftop solar installations as of December 2022 and over 85% for the entire year.
• Between Q4 CY21 and Q4 CY22, Kerala recorded the highest compounded growth rate of 19%, followed by Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

Decentralised solar power is scripting scores of success stories in rural India

• It was mid-October and 44-year-old potter Raghuram Kulal was busy on the wheel making a mud pot.
• A resident of Aloor village in the coastal district of Kundapur in Karnataka, Kulal has installed a three-kilowatt solar panel that has given his work a fresh impetus.
• Moreover, the quality of the finished product made on the solar wheels and using the solar mixer is superior and has helped me attract more clients,” he said.
• Now with the help of a solar drier machine, he is able to make a dehydrated mango product which has a longer shelf life and sells at the rate of Rs 250-Rs 380 per kilogram.
• The policy has earmarked some areas of attention that will support the penetration of decentralised renewable energy solutions, such as financing, upscaling, creating a trained workforce for green jobs, coordination of different departments for streamlining decentralised renewable energy projects, funding for research and innovations in the sector etc.
• Parmeet Singh Wadhwa, Operations Head of Andhra Pradesh-based Raheja Solar, told Mongabay-India, “More and more penetration of decentralised renewable energy in rural areas can help create more jobs like in the processing sector in rural areas itself so that the dependency of such areas on urban areas can reduce.

Indo-German Pact to Integrate Indian Skilled Workers into German Solar Industry

• The recent agreement between the German Solar Industry Association (BSW-Bundesverband Solarwirtschaft) and the Indian Skill Council for Green Jobs (SCGJ) will help integrate skilled workers from India into the German solar industry.
• This agreement has come after the German government’s plans for PV expansion and installing solar power capacity.
• It wants to make solar power more cost-effective and promotes potential solar power producers.
• This is aimed at helping integrate skilled workers.
• It should be noted that few years ago, the Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) launched a training programme to fulfill the need for skilled workers in the solar sector.