Context: The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has estimated that the global photovoltaic waste will touch 78 million tonnes by 2050.
India is expected to be one of the top five generators of such waste.
Key takeaways
While India is increasing its solar power capacity, it does not yet have a firm policy on managing waste that results from used solar panels or from the manufacturing process.
India currently considers solar waste a part of electronic waste and does not account for it separately.
Also, There is no commercial raw material recovery facility for solar e-waste operational in India.
But a pilot facility for solar panel recycling and material recovery had been set up by a private company in Gummidipoondi in Tamil Nadu.
Solar Energy in India
India has set a target of producing 100 GW of solar energy by 2022.
Ministry of New and Renewable energy is the nodal agency to tackle India’s renewable energy issues.
National Solar Mission aims to establish India as a global leader in solar energy by creating the policy conditions for its deployment across the country.
Rooftop Solar Scheme: To generate solar power by installing solar panels on the roof of the houses
International Solar Alliance (ISA): Launched by the Indian Prime Minister and the French President in 2015 with a vision to enable One World, One Sun, One Grid (OSOWOG).
One Sun, One World, One Grid (OSOWOG): A framework for facilitating global cooperation, building a global ecosystem of interconnected renewable energy resources (mainly solar energy) that can be smoothly shared.
Do you know?
The cumulative capacity of grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) installations is around 40 GW.
The capacity of about 35.6 GW is generated from ground-mounted plants and 4.4 GW from rooftop solar.
A gigawatt is a 1,000 megawatt.
Solar Photovoltaic: Solar photovoltaic (SPV) cells convert solar radiation (sunlight) into electricity. A solar cell is a semi-conducting device made of silicon and/or other materials, which, when exposed to sunlight, generates electricity.
