Solar energy is clean, environmentally friendly, but usually requires a large area expansion. There are countries in the world that, although the standard of living is not very high, have found ingenious solutions for the production of electricity, starting with solar batteries. Analysis of InfoClima.ro make a comparison and show what Romania can do. Is Romania safe for a revolutionary type of technology?

India’s economy is already one of the largest on the planet, and its population of nearly 1.4 billion people requires enormous amounts of energy. At the same time, the agricultural sector makes up almost a fifth of its GDP.

India has found an alternative solution to turn water canals into “light grids” of solar panels. Data from the World Bank showed that in 2014, ~37% of India’s agriculture was irrigated, and today this share would be about half, showing significant progress over the past decade.

Cumulative installed solar capacity in India was ~37 GW by the end of Q1 2020, accounting for 9.8% of total electricity capacity. At the same time, however, ~62% of India’s energy was generated by thermal power plants (53.3% coal, ~7% methane, etc.), down slightly from 2019 when the share was 63.1%. Progress in solar energy over the past 3 years has been impressive, reaching 15.9% of total capacity, and by 2030, India’s target is to reach 500 GW from renewable sources, with 280 GW being solar.

The regions of Rajasthan and Gujarat are already among the national leaders in the production of solar electricity. Gujarat also has a network of canals with a length of 80,000 km. According to local estimates, even if only one-third of this canal network is used to install solar PV plants, up to 18,000 MW of energy could be generated, which would also save 90,000 acres of land. (~ 37,000 hectares). The benefits of solar parks installed above canals are not limited to local energy production and land saving. First, solar power plants can be built much faster than conventional coal or gas plants. In addition, covering canals helps reduce water evaporation, resulting in increased water availability for agriculture and human consumption.

Read the full article at InfoClima.ro

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