After a long time , I am here with another interesting topic on renewable energy. Solar energy is an important source of renewable energy and its technologies are broadly characterized as either passive solar or active solar depending on how they capture and distribute solar energy or convert it into solar power.
Lets see about global efforts towards harnessing this solar energy. In 2011, the International Energy Agency said that “the development of affordable, inexhaustible and clean solar energy technologies will have huge longer-term benefits. It will increase countries’ energy security through reliance on an indigenous, inexhaustible and mostly import-independent resource, enhance sustainability, reduce pollution, lower the costs of mitigating global warming, and keep fossil fuel prices lower than otherwise. These advantages are global. Hence the additional costs of the incentives for early deployment should be considered learning investments; they must be wisely spent and need to be widely shared”
By considering this, many countries had set their renewable energy goals & started working towards the same. as per 2015 readings.
| # | Nation | Total Capacity | Added Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| – |  European Union |
94,570 | 7,230 |
| 1 |  China |
43,530 | 15,150 |
| 2 |  Germany |
39,700 | 1,450 |
| 3 |  Japan |
34,410 | 11,000 |
| 4 |  United States |
25,620 | 7,300 |
| 5 |  Italy |
18,920 | 300 |
| 6 |  United Kingdom |
8,780 | 3,510 |
| 7 |  France |
6,580 | 879 |
| 8 |  Spain |
5,400 | 56 |
| 9 |  Australia |
5,070 | 935 |
| 10 |  India |
5,050 | 2,000 |
| 11 |  South Korea |
3,430 | 1,010 |
| 12 |  Belgium |
3,250 | 95 |
| 13 |  Greece |
2,613 | 10 |
| 14 |  Canada |
2,500 | 600 |
| 15 |  Czech Republic |
2,083 | 16 |
| 16 |  Netherlands |
1,570 | 450 |
| 17 |  Thailand |
1,420 | 121 |
| 18 |  Switzerland |
1,360 | 300 |
| 19 |  Romania |
1,325 | 102 |
| 20 |  South Africa |
1,120 | 200 |
| 21 |  Bulgaria |
1,021 | 1 |
| 22 |  Taiwan |
1,010 | 400 |
| 23 |  Pakistan |
1,000 | 600 |
| 24 |  Austria |
937 | 150 |
| 25 |  Israel |
881 | 200 |
| 26 |  Chile |
848 | 446 |
| 27 |  Denmark |
789 | 183 |
| 28 |  Slovakia |
591 | 1 |
| 29 |  Portugal |
454 | 63 |
| 30 |  Honduras |
389 | 389 |
| 31 |  Algeria |
300 | 270 |
| 32 |  Mexico |
282 | 103 |
| 33 |  Turkey |
266 | 208 |
| 34 |  Slovenia |
257 | 1 |
| 35 |  Malaysia |
231 | 63 |
| 36 |  Philippines |
155 | 122 |
| 37 |  Hungary |
138 | 60 |
| 38 |  Sweden |
130 | 51 |
| 39 |  Luxembourg |
125 | 15 |
| 40 |  Poland |
87 | 57 |
| 41 |  Malta |
73 | 19 |
| 42 |  Lithuania |
73 | 5 |
| 43 |  Cyprus |
70 | 5 |
| 44 |  Croatia |
45 | 11 |
| 45 |  Finland |
20 | 5 |
| 46 |  Norway |
15 | 2 |
| 47 |  Estonia |
4 | 4 |
| 48 |  Ireland |
2 | 1 |
| 49 |  Latvia |
2 | 0 |
| World Total PV Capacity[8] | 256,000 | 59,000 | |
This adaptations are for our future energy demands & controlling global warming, which are positively supported by governments of this countries. Private organisations are also jumped in this global initiative. The success of this massive transformation of energy sources lies in the reach up to grass root level that is why Global Company like Google also come up with their innovative idea called “Project Sunroof” currently available for USA only. I hope Google soon expand this area of interest to other countries too.
Mapping of solar radiation plays important role in overall utilization of this energy. many countries now started working in this direction by collaboration with each other.
Now, lets focus on India.
In india, The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission was launched on the 11th January, 2010 by the Prime Minister. The Mission has set the ambitious target of deploying 20,000 MW of grid connected solar power by 2022 is aimed at reducing the cost of solar power generation in the country through (i) long term policy; (ii) large scale deployment goals; (iii) aggressive R&D; and (iv) domestic production of critical raw materials, components and products, as a result to achieve grid tariff parity by 2022.
Year-wise Targets (in MW)
| Category | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rooftop Solar | 200 | 4,800 | 5,000 | 6,000 | 7,000 | 8,000 | 9,000 | 40,000 |
| Ground Mounted Solar projects | 1,800 | 7,200 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 9,500 | 8,500 | 57,000 |
| Total | 2,000 | 12,000 | 15,000 | 16,000 | 17,000 | 17,500 | 17,500 | 97,000 |
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India (MNRE) working along with NREL under Indo-US Energy Dialogue providing up to date National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB). include monthly GIS data as follows : (March 2016 data)
Solar Radiation Maps
Direct Normal Irradiance
| Annual average (JPG 1.6 MB) | |
| Monthly average (ZIP 9.3 MB) |
Global Horizontal Irradiance
| Annual average (JPG 1.6 MB) | |
| Monthly average (ZIP 8.9 MB) |
GIS Data Layers
| Direct Normal Irradiance (ZIP 2.7 MB) | |
| Global Horizontal Irradiance (ZIP 2.7 MB) | |
| State & District Boundary of India (ZIP 3.6 MB) | |
| Important Locations including State Capitals (ZIP 13 KB) |
Solar Radiation Data (Monthly average, Lat/Long basis)
| Direct Normal Irradiance (EXCEL 8.9 MB) | |
| Global Horizontal Irradiance (EXCEL 8.9 MB) |
Currently , MNRE (http://www.mnre.gov.in/ ) making really good initiative to increase the public participation for achieving this national goals. through initiatives such as
SPIN : (http://www.solarrooftop.gov.in/login) for Rooftop Solar calculator , you can follow the link by clicking on following image. Application form for participation available on website. Also mobile app is available : (http://mnre.gov.in/file-manager/UserFiles/arun-web.pdf , https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nicmnre.nicspvapplication&hl=en)
- how net metering work ?
- How I can use my own solar power & get incentives from govt. in my electricity billing ?
All this quetions can be answer on respective electricity board websites in your region. for eg. for Maharashtra : http://www.mahadiscom.in/SolarRoofTopNetMetering.shtm
I hope this post was informative & let start working towards the clean solar energy . For any queries , suggestions do comment.
Geographic Revolution 
