In news

A team of Indian and international researchers have found that aerosols, dust, and clouds reduce solar energy generation from photovoltaic and rooftop solar installations resulting in substantial economic impact.

Details of research 

• They estimated that the impact of total aerosol optical depth on Photovoltaic and rooftop installations amount to annual financial loss of upto 1.55 million Rupees, and the corresponding financial loss due to dust and clouds is 0.56 and 2.47 million Rupees.
• This estimation can help the Indian solar energy producers and the electricity handling entities for efficient transmission and distribution system operations and grid stability optimization.
• Recently, solar energy generation has been widely used in developing countries such as India, which has sufficient solar resources.
• Couds and aerosols limit the solar irradiance causing performance issues in the PV and CSP plant installations.
• To achieve the large-scale development of a solar system requires proper planning, and there is a need to estimate the solar potential.

Way forward

The scientists are now planning to connect the solar energy production levels and distribution with the consumption at selected local administrative units across India and quantify the aerosol and cloud effects into the solar forecasting and energy trading principles for a decentralized energy ecosystem.

Source: PIB