How Developing Countries Especially BRICS (namely China, India and Brazil) Are Leading The Way In Solar Energy?

The progress in development of the BRICS countries has been marked by the increase in the quantum of clean renewable energy production. With the continuous rise in population growth, especially in the developing countries, there has been a greater increase in the demand and consumption of energy, thus strengthening concerns regarding environmental degradation and climatic changes. As a result of this, some countries have shown major shifts in critical thinking vis-à-vis solutions for meeting the energy demands, by transitioning from conventional oil and gas to renewables, especially solar energy.

The countries that are located in the arid, tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world have an advantage in terms highest receptivity of solar irradiance, due to their latitudinal positions. Brazil, India, China, and South Africa fall in these red zones. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has developed a loan programme to simulate renewable energy market helping countries like India, Morocco, Kenya, and Tunisia to finance solar power systems. Kenya has become the largest developer of solar power systems in terms of installation per capita in the world.

China is the leader in the world’s solar power sector and has the highest annual power production at 598800 kWh per year. However, there is a striking contrast between the values of per capita energy consumption. In the USA, it is as high as 12877 kWh per year, while China and India consume 3974 kWh per year and 985 kWh per year respectively. Developed countries like Norway, Kuwait, Canada, UAE, Sweden and Iceland have high levels of per capita consumption too.
The domestic solar industry in China is currently experiencing a downturn, as the Chinese government has halted the allocation of quotas for new projects, until further notice. Moreover, the tariffs on the electricity generated from clean energy has been lowered by 6.7-9% depending on the region i.e. 0.05 yuan per kilowatt hour, effective as of June 1, 2018.
In Brazil, the solar sector is progressing regardless of the political and economic environment, with an alignment of certain basic drivers i.e. availability of a competitive technology, a business sector capable of innovation and more consumers wanting the technology, resulting in a growing market. At the beginning of 2018, Brazil reached the historical mark of 1 GW of installed PV capacity and is expected to reach 2 GW at the end of the year. In addition to this, 3.7 GW of solar has been contracted by the government via auctions and the growth of distributed generation is surpassing initial forecasts.
India has the world’s third fastest expanding solar power program, ranked after China and USA. In 2017 alone, India added a record 9,255 MW of solar power with another 9,627 MW of solar projects under development. India launched its National Solar Mission in 2010 under the National Action Plan on Climate Change, with plans to generate 20 GW by 2022. India’s Solar Power capacity has increased from 2650 MWe in 2014 to the current level of 12,200 MWe and the tariff has dramatically reduced from INR 13 per kWh in 2014 to INR 2.44 per kWh.

India Outbound
November 12, 2018

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