Monday, February 29, 2016

[Editorial # 74] For a green economy that is also just: The Hindu


[Following editorial has been published in The Hindu on 29th February 2016. Read through it and try to answer the questions that follow. Please do not copy and paste answers. The objective of this exercise is to get you in the groove of answer-writing. Try to write in your own words. Don't hesitate to write in a bulleted-format, if you are uncomfortable in writing in paragraph form.]

India’s solar power programme has come under intense scrutiny by global political and business leaders, especially given its aggressive intent and extensive trade opportunities. The programme, a part of the National Solar Mission, envisages an addition of 100,000 megawatts of solar power capacity by 2022. This initiative is also seen as a critical sub-component of the global effort to limit the extent of climate change. The recent ruling by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against India must be read against this background. The WTO has ruled that the domestic content requirement (DCR) imposed by New Delhi on the production of solar cells and modules under the National Solar Mission violates global trade rules. According to the dispute settlement panel of the WTO, “These are inconsistent with both Article III:4 of the GATT [General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade] 1994 and Article 2.1 of the TRIMS [Trade-Related Investment Measures].’’ It has gone on to say that the DCR measures “do accord less favourable treatment’’ within the meaning of the provision under Article III:4 of the GATT 1994. The WTO ruling comes three years after the U.S. raised a dispute against India, and following the inability of the two countries to agree on the changes suggested by New Delhi to its solar programme. India is convinced that the DCR is a mechanism to facilitate sustainable development. It has even indicated that it is willing to apply the DCR only for buying solar panels used for government sector consumption, and has assured the U.S. that power generated from such subsidised panels will not be sold for commercial use. Coming as it does in the midst of a presidential election year, the WTO order in this instance is a significant victory for the U.S. Hailing the ruling, President Barack Obama said: “The U.S. can’t have other countries engaged in practices that disadvantage American workers and American businesses.’’ Given the potential for positive social and economic outcomes from the ambitious solar power programme, India will be compelled, as some other countries have done, to contest the WTO ruling before the appellate body.

The WTO ruling also comes soon after the Paris climate change agreement, and is bound to open up a wider debate across nations over whether initiatives such as the solar mission, with its social relevance and significant implications for a green economy, must be viewed only from the prism of a pure business opportunity. Given India’s size and also the need to provide meaningful job opportunities for millions of people, it is imprudent to conceive of a framework that either disadvantages or discourages domestic endeavour. The fight against climate change is not an exclusive cause; it has to move in tandem with the provision of jobs and the creation of an environment that facilitates a green economy. The onus for this lies not just on the developing countries. It is time the big economies realised their responsibility in building a greener world.

Questions:

1. How is Solar Power converted into electricity?

2. What are various advantages and disadvantages of Solar Power?

3. What is the total solar power potential of India? What is the share of installed solar power capacity to total installed capacity of renewable power sources in India? Which states in India have built solar power capacities? 

4. What is National Solar Mission? What are its salient features?

5. What is WTO? Who heads it? What is its role?

6. What is GATT? 

7. What is meant by Domestic Content Requirement? What is the dispute between India and USA with regards to solar panels?

8. What are the features of Paris Climate Change Agreement?

9. How are green initiatives coming in conflict with the rules and philosophy of WTO? 

13 comments:

  1. 1. Usually, when light hits an object the energy turns into heat, like the warmth we feel while sitting in the sun. But when light hits certain materials the energy turns into an electrical current instead, which we can then harness for power.

    Solar power is produced by Solar panels. Solar panel is mainly made up of silicon. Silicon is mounted beneath non-reflective glass to produce photovoltaic (PV) panels that collect photons from the sun and convert them into Direct Current (DC) electrical power. That DC power then flows into an inverter, which transforms it into basic AC (alternating current) electrical power.

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  2. 2. Advantages of Solar Power:

    * Renewable Energy Source
    Solar energy is a truly renewable energy source. Solar energy will be accessible as long as we have the sun, therefore sunlight will be available to us for at least 5 billion years, when according to scientists the sun is going to die.
    * Reduces Electricity Bills
    Since we will be meeting some of our energy needs with the electricity our solar system has generated, our energy bills will drop. And if we generate more electricity than our use, the surplus may be exported back to the grid and we can receive incentives.
    * Diverse Applications
    we can generate electricity (photovoltaics) or heat (solar thermal). Solar energy can be used to produce electricity in areas without access to the energy grid, to distill water in regions with limited clean water supplies and to power satellites in space.
    * Low Maintenance Costs
    Solar energy systems generally don’t require a lot of maintenance. we only need to keep them relatively clean. Most reliable solar panel manufacturers give 20-25 years warranty. Also, as there are no moving parts, there is no wear and tear.
    * Technology Development
    Technology in the solar power industry is constantly advancing and improvements will intensify in the future. Innovations in quantum physics and nanotechnology can potentially increase the effectiveness of solar panels and double, or even triple, the electrical input of the solar power systems.

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  3. 2. Disadvantages of Solar Power:

    * Cost
    The initial cost for purchasing a solar system is fairly high. Nevertheless, solar technologies are constantly developing, so it is safe to assume that prices will go down in the future.
    * Weather Dependent
    Although solar energy can be collected during cloudy and rainy days, the efficiency of the solar system drops. Solar panels are dependent on sunlight to effectively gather solar energy.
    * Uses a Lot of Space
    The more electricity we want to produce, the more solar panels we will need, because we want to collect as much sunlight as possible. Solar panels require a lot of space.
    * Associated with Pollution
    Transportation and installation of solar systems have been associated with the emission of greenhouse gases. There are also some toxic materials and hazardous products used during the manufacturing process of solar photovoltaics, which can indirectly affect the environment. Nevertheless, solar energy pollutes far less than the other alternative energy sources.

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  4. 4. National Solar Mission is one of the eight Missions under National Action Plan on Climate Change
    • Launched by the Government of India in
    January 2010.
    • JNNSM(Jawahar Lal Nehru National Solar Mission) is one of the major global initiatives in promotion of solar energy technologies.
    • Mission aims to achieve grid tariff parity by 2022 through an addition of 100,000 megawatts of solar power capacity by 2022.

    Features of National Solar Mission:

    i) To create necessary environment to attract industry and project
    developers for investment in power generation, manufacturing.
    ii) To work closely with State governments, regulators, power
    utilities and local self government bodies.
    iii) To attract banks and financial institutions to provide necessary
    finance for setting up solar power projects for grid/ off-grid.
    iv) To promote off-grid solar applications to meet light and power requirements of energy–poor by provision of low cost credit through re-finance facility from IREDA.

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  5. 3. The National Institute of Solar Energy in India has determined the country’s solar power potential at about 750 Gigawatt. The solar power potential has been estimated using the wasteland availability data in every state and jurisdiction of India.
    According to the estimates, Rajasthan and Jammu & Kashmir have the highest solar power potential.
    *Rajasthan, with its healthy resource of solar radiation and availability of vast tracts of wasteland in the form of the Thar Desert, has a potential of about 142 GW.
    *Jammu & Kashmir receives the highest amount of solar radiation in India, and has a significantly large area of wasteland in Ladakh. The state has an estimated potential of 111 GW.
    *Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra both have more than 60 GW of solar power potential.

    ***Renewable Power Capacity***
    67.87% wind energy
    12.94% hydro energy
    13.18% biomas enery
    6.01% solar energy

    Wind 19,051MW;Small Hydro 3,632 MW; Solar 1819 MW; Biomass3,698 MW;Total 28,067 MW

    # Gujrat has been a leader in solar power generation. The state has commissioned Asia's biggest Solar park at Charanka village. With a view to make Gandhinagar a solar city, the state government has launched a roof-top solar power generation scheme.
    # A 4000 MW ultra mega green solar power project is being built near Sambhar lake in Rajsthan. Upon completion, it would be world's largest solar power plant.
    # India's first 5 MW of installed capacity solar power project was set up in Sivagangai Village in Tamil Nadu.
    # Roof top solar water heaters have been in operation in India, especially in cities like Bengaluru and Pune.

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  6. Whenever light falls on a silicon semi-conductor it leads to the flow of electrons thus creating electricity. This property is used by solar powers to convert sunlight into electrical energy. The solar panels are fitted with silicon cells.

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  7. India has a solar power potential at about 750 GW.
    Total Renewable Energy Installed Capacity in MW
    Wind Power-24,759.32
    Solar Power (SPV)-4,684.74
    Small Hydro Power-4,161.90
    Biomass Power(Biomass & Gasification and Bagasse Cogeneration-4,550.55
    Waste to Power-127.08
    Total-38,283.59

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  8. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission is a major initiative to counter challenges of India's energy security. It is one of the major steps taken by India to meet the challenges of climate change. The programme was inaugrated by former Prime Minister in 2010.
    The target set up was 20GW by 2022 which was later increased to 100GW in 2015.
    It is aimed at reducing the cost of power generation in country by making long term policy, Large scale deployment goals, agressive R&D, domestic production of critical raw materials, components, products to achieve grid Tariff parity.

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  9. WTO is the only International organization dealing with international rules of trade between nations. Its primary goal is to balance free trade and protectionism.
    WTO was born out of negotiations by the Markkesh Agreement.
    It is headed by Roberto Azevedo who is the Director General.
    Primary functions of WTO are as follows:
    1.Implementation, administration and operation of the Multilateral Trade Agreements.
    2.Forum for negotiations among the member states which will concern multilateral trade relations dealt under the agreement.
    3.Administration of dispute settlement.
    4.Administration of Trade policy review mechanism.

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  10. GATT stands for General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. It was a multilateral agreement regulating international trade. Its primary objective was to reduce tariff barriers in order to support free trade. It was signed in Geneva on October 30 1947. It gave way to the WTO. GATT is till in force but with the modified version coming after 1994.

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  11. Domestic content Requirement is with intent to promote local manufacturing of the parts required for solar power. The solar mission of India in the Phase II of the draft policy expanded the scope of DCR to include even thin film technologies. Which was majorly exported by US.
    US decide to sue India on the ground that it is going to affect millions of jobs in US who are in the solar Industry. US is the second largest Solar market of the World.
    points in the mission which are in violation of the WTO agreements are as follows:
    1.Article III of GATT.(member state cannot discriminate imports over domestic products)
    2.Article II of WTO.(Prohibits Trade related Investment measures which are inconsistent with Article III of GATT)
    3.Article V of WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (it prohibits member states from causing adverse effects on other members by providing subsidies on domestic goods over imported goods)

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  12. 1.How is Solar Power converted into electricity?
    Ans. Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV), or indirectly using concentrated solar power (CSP). Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. Photovoltaics convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic effect.
    The International Energy Agency projected in 2014 that under its "high renewables" scenario, by 2050, solar photovoltaics and concentrated solar power would contribute about 16 and 11 percent, respectively, of the worldwide electricity consumption, and solar would be the world's largest source of electricity. Most solar installations would be in China and India.
    Photovoltaics were initially solely used as a source of electricity for small and medium-sized applications, from the calculator powered by a single solar cell to remote homes powered by an off-grid rooftop PV system. As the cost of solar electricity has fallen, the number of grid-connected solar PV systems has grown into the millions and utility-scale solar power stations with hundreds of megawatts are being built. Solar PV is rapidly becoming an inexpensive, low-carbon technology to harness renewable energy from the Sun.
    Commercial concentrated solar power plants were first developed in the 1980s. The 392 MW I vanpah installation is the largest concentrating solar power plant in the world, located in the Mojave Desert of California. The 579 MW Solar Star, near Rosamond, California, is the world's largest PV power station.





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  13. 1.How is Solar Power converted into electricity?
    Ans. Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV), or indirectly using concentrated solar power (CSP). Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. Photovoltaics convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic effect.
    The International Energy Agency projected in 2014 that under its "high renewables" scenario, by 2050, solar photovoltaics and concentrated solar power would contribute about 16 and 11 percent, respectively, of the worldwide electricity consumption, and solar would be the world's largest source of electricity. Most solar installations would be in China and India.
    Photovoltaics were initially solely used as a source of electricity for small and medium-sized applications, from the calculator powered by a single solar cell to remote homes powered by an off-grid rooftop PV system. As the cost of solar electricity has fallen, the number of grid-connected solar PV systems has grown into the millions and utility-scale solar power stations with hundreds of megawatts are being built. Solar PV is rapidly becoming an inexpensive, low-carbon technology to harness renewable energy from the Sun.
    Commercial concentrated solar power plants were first developed in the 1980s. The 392 MW I vanpah installation is the largest concentrating solar power plant in the world, located in the Mojave Desert of California. The 579 MW Solar Star, near Rosamond, California, is the world's largest PV power station.





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