Renewable expansion in India calls for policy framework change: MNRE

India’s ambitious renewable energy targets will come with their own challenges such as solar waste, and will need a policy framework to guide the industry, renewable energy secretary said. “Some new challenges will crop up along the way, some of them are on the horizon. Then there are some which we do not know of yet. One example is the issue of solar waste,” said Indu Shekhar Chaturvedi, secretary of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy said while speaking at the 3rd RE-Invest on Saturday. “With our massive plans of installing solar capacity, this will become an issue,” he said. He was part of the panel discussing the future of renewable energy in India.

Currently, India does not yet have any policy on how to discard solar waste such as PV modules. Industry estimates say that the average lifespan of a solar panel is roughly around 20 years. These panels contain a low percentage heavy metals, which are hazardous and as a result cannot be dumped in landfills.

Chaturvedi said that another challenge that the government is already facing is from farmers, and the lack of availability of land for animal husbandry. “We are already hearing about loss of land for grazing because of solar projects,” he added. Land acquisition remains one of the biggest challenges for the setting-up of utility-scale solar projects in India. However, various representatives from state governments participated throughout the virtual sessions at RE-Invest, assuring investors of ease of availability of land as well as finance.