page_title: Solar power in India
section_title: Refrigeration and air conditioning
hierarchical_section_title: Solar power in India / Refrigeration and air conditioning
caption_attribution_description: English: 4MW horizontal single axis tracker in Vellakoil, Tamil Nadu, India
context_page_description: Solar power in India is a fast developing industry. The country's solar installed capacity was 35,122 MW as of 30 June 2020. India has the lowest capital cost per MW globally of installing solar power plants.
  The Indian government had an initial target of 20 GW capacity for 2022, which was achieved four years ahead of schedule.
  In 2015 the target was raised to 100 GW of solar capacity by 2022, targeting an investment of US$100 billion. India has established nearly 42 solar parks to make land available to the promoters of solar plants.
  Rooftop solar power accounts for 2.1 GW, of which 70% is industrial or commercial.
  In addition to its large-scale grid-connected solar photovoltaic initiative, India is developing off-grid solar power for local energy needs.
  Solar products have increasingly helped to meet rural needs; by the end of 2015 just under one million solar lanterns were sold in the country, reducing the need for kerosene.
  That year, 118,700 solar home lighting systems were installed and 46,655 solar street lighting installations were provided under a national program; just over 1.4 million solar cookers were distributed in India.
context_section_description: Thin-film solar cell panels offer better performance than crystalline silica solar panels in tropical hot and dusty places like India; there is less deterioration in conversion efficiency with increased ambient temperature, and no partial shading effect. These factors enhance the performance and reliability (fire safety) of thin-film panels. Maximum solar-electricity generation during the hot hours of the day can be used for meeting residential air-conditioning requirements regardless of other load requirements, such as refrigeration, lighting, cooking and water pumping. Power generation of photovoltaic modules can be increased by 17 to 20 percent by equipping them with a tracking system.
  Residential electricity consumers who are paying higher slab rates more than ₹5 (7.0¢ US) per unit, can form in to local groups to install collectively rooftop off-grid solar power units (without much battery storage) and replace the costly power used from the grid with the solar power as and when produced. Hence power draw from the grid which is an assured power supply without much power cuts nowadays, serves as cheaper back up source when grid power consumption is limited to lower slab rate by using solar power during the day time. The maximum power generation of solar panels during the sunny daytime is complementary with the enhanced residential electricity consumption during the hot/summer days due to higher use of cooling appliances such as fans, refrigerators, air conditioners, desert coolers, etc. It would discourage the Discoms to extract higher electricity charges selectively from its consumers. There is no need of any permission from Discoms similar to DG power sets installation. Cheaper discarded batteries of electric vehicle can also be used economically to store the excess solar power generated in the daylight.
caption: 4 MW horizontal single-axis tracker in Vellakoil, Tamil Nadu
exif: {"Image Make": "Sony", "Image Model": "L36h", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "10.4.B.0.569_3_f600", "Image DateTime": "2014:09:19 12:41:39", "Image Artist": "Picasa", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "210", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "764", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4522", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1250", "EXIF FNumber": "12/5", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "40", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2014:06:08 11:47:20", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2014:06:08 11:47:20", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "257/25", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "41/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3920", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1678", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "3920", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "2204", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "584", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Landscape", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "b794b60ac2f22300fcc1228d3d309705"}