Even as renewable energy accounts for 43.5 per cent of India’s total installed capacity and 20.9 per cent of power generation, the sector faces critical challenges such as land availability, disposing of renewable waste and critical minerals supply chains.
Rubix Data Sciences, a risk management and monitoring company, in its latest report said that scaling up renewables capacity poses “significant challenges”, primarily due to their substantial land demands.
For instance, it pointed out that studies indicate that around 1 megawatt (MW) of solar PV installations could necessitate between 1 to 1.5 hectares (ha) of land. Therefore, achieving a goal of 60 GW of solar power across India would require around 600-900 square kms of land area.
“India faces a critical hurdle in this regard, as it possesses the lowest per capita land availability among the G20 nations. This scarcity of available land poses a significant barrier to expanding renewable energy infrastructure and necessitates careful planning and innovative solutions to optimise land use efficiently,” it added.
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Similarly, availability of critical minerals domestically is also an issue considering that their sources are highly concentrated geographically.
For instance, China supplies 79 per cent of the world’s graphite, while Congo produces 70 per cent of cobalt. China, again dominates 60 per cent of rare earth production, and Australia accounts for 55 per cent of lithium production. Besides, China also dominates in mineral processing across these categories.
Toxic consequences
Recycling renewable waste presents a significant challenge. Globally, the volume of solar PV waste is projected to reach up to 78 million tonnes (mt) by 2050.
Solar PV panels typically have a lifespan of 25–30 years, after which they are either sent to landfills or recycled. Landfill disposal is often cheaper than recycling but can result in harmful chemicals and heavy metals leaching into the soil.
Recycling PV waste as scrap carries environmental and human health risks due to toxic metals, necessitating a robust policy framework for managing PV waste.
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Chinese imports still pose a threat to the Indian solar industry. To encourage domestic manufacturing and discourage Chinese imports, India started levying a customs duty of 40 per cent on solar modules and 25 per cent on solar cells from April 2022 onwards, which significantly brought down the imports in FY23.
However, it seems that Chinese manufacturers are circumventing these duties by routing their products through Southeast Asian countries like Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam for minimal processing, as reported by the US Department of Commerce, which seems to have resulted in imports rising again.