India's summer power outages are getting so bad, states want you to DIY

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Creative Commons Licence

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Contributors

Contributed date

April 21, 2020 - 5:33pm

Critical Commentary

Power cuts have always been an issue in India and I remember growing up as a child, there were fixed times during the weeks that they occured and I was definitely not a fan of these. Surviving the hot, humid afternoons without any cooling equipment, alternatives or even the natural wind was a task. With the climate conditions getting worse every year, it was a rising need to look at alternatives to ensure that atleast a fan or a light is running in the house during these power outages. This article gives a good insight into putting an end into the power cuts by initating the trend of installing solar panels.

The governments initiative to encouarge people to install the solar panels to capture and convert this light energy into useful and sustainable electricity is a great scheme. 

With 300 sunny days a year, each state on their own have the potential to generate 10 gigawatts of solar energy. I think an initial investment of around $2000 ( 1lakh in INR) is not a bad capital to invest to obatin gains like lower electricity bills almost throughout the year. The government also plans to buy the surplus energy which is not consumed by the residents themselves, to add it to the national power grid. This could also be an additional income for the homeowners. 

I staunchly believe that if change needs to be achieved and you want the support of the public in doing so, then these solar panels needs to be made available at a cheaper and attractive costs so that all sectors of the population can afford them. I also think that the government needs to assist these sectors financially in the inital capital investment for the setting up of these panels. 

Language

English

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  • - Private group -

Cite as

Nayantara Narayanan, "India's summer power outages are getting so bad, states want you to DIY", contributed by Namitha Sunny, The Energy Rights Project, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 31 May 2020, accessed 11 December 2024. https://energyrights.info/content/indias-summer-power-outages-are-getting-so-bad-states-want-you-diy