Applied Solar Sees Potential in Rural Electrification (India)
Applied Solar, part of the diversified Applied Materials group, sees a major opportunity unfolding in the country’s rural electrification which has the potential to rapidly empower those dependent on diesel gen-sets.
“Its potential is so huge that all the diesel gen-sets could be replaced with solar power units helping save on fossil fuels,” according to Dr Charles F. Gay, President of Applied Solar, based at Santa Clara, California.
With thousands of villages short of power, solar units could be deployed faster as they do not require grid support. The cost too has come down, he said.
For someone engaged with solar technologies for over three decades with first deployments in space applications, followed by telecom and later power generation, Dr Gay believes that the conditions are rapidly changing in favour of solar power generation.
“We have reached an inflection point. This is the only sector where one invests once and reaps the benefits for decades,” he said.
The cost of installation too has come down over the years and this is likely to go down further as volumes and scale go up. However, in the early days for faster deployment, State support was vital.
For instance, most of the States in the European Union — Germany, France, Spain and the Czech Republic support solar power generation extending subsidies. This has helped in rapid deployments.
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