The biggest solar parks in the world are now being built in India

Weeds poke listlessly from the flat, rocky earth as the temperature climbs to the mid-90s. On a cloudless March afternoon, the blue horizon stretches out uninterrupted, as if even birds are too weary to fly.

On this unforgiving patch of southern India, millions of silver-gray panels glimmer in the sun, the start of what officials say will be the biggest solar power station in the world.

When completed, the Pavagada solar park is expected to produce 2,000 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 700,000 households — and the latest milestone in India's transition to generating more green energy.

Long regarded as a laggard in the fight against climate change, India is building massive solar stations at a furious clip, helping to drive a global revolution in renewable energy and reduce its dependence on coal...

Thanks to low-cost solar panels and government incentives for renewable energy, India surged past Japan last year to become the world's third-biggest market for solar power, after China and the United States. Modi has called for generating 100 gigawatts of solar capacity by 2022 — nearly 30 times what it had three years ago, and equivalent to the entire energy output of Spain.

“2,000 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 700,000 households “

... during peak sun at midday without cloud and just if the panels have been thoroughly cleaned. The rest of time, it’s rolling power cuts and when the sun is out, the “700,000 households” will have to use their reliable kerosene lamps.
Marvellous technology paid for by Western taxpayers.

Indeed, and oddly enough, India’s power problems are highest during the Monsoon, when cloud cover is often heavy enough to require cars to have headlights on during the day. Further, southern India gets some of the heaviest Monsoons. It starts earliest and lasts longest down there. A far better site for solar parks would be Haryana and points west and southwest, into the Thar desert. That would put it closest to both Delhi and Mumbai, which have some of the highest power demands.

I will say though that India of all places would most likely be able to keep those panels clean. It’s just a matter of cheap manpower, and there are plenty of lower-income people there who would be glad for the chance to work doing that. When I was living in India, I saw many many construction sites where the vast majority of work was done by people rather than machines, including excavation and road leveling. In all likelihood, such a job would have at least a chance of having promotion prospects and the opportunity to be trained in useful skills in the electrical industry.

And kerosene lamps have mostly gone away. LED lanterns are now commonplace in India, and can run for hours on a single pair of C or D batteries. When we were there, and had to deal with power cuts, we generally only used lanterns in the evening, and then only for a couple of hours at most. More than light, the real need was for air movement. We were fortunate enough to have a UPS in the house which could drive one or two ceiling fans for 3-4 hours at least. With good window screens (which unfortunately not everyone has), you can leave all the windows open and take advantage of the night breezes.

With the number of days in the sun and cloudless in central india it makes sense

And increases in battery technology and the implementation of hydraulic storage as a battery helps eliminate the problem of off-peak usage

And this isnt' paid for by western taxpayers.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.