“Solar is safer
option than
nuclear energy”
Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Sys-
tems is the largest Solar energy research
institute in Europe. Dr. Eicke Weber is
Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar
Energy Systems ISE and professor of solar
energy at the Department of Mathematics
and Physics and the Department of Engineer-
ing at the University of Freiburg, Germany.
A pioneer in the solar technology across the
globe, he talks to BW SMARTCITIES during
his recent visit to New Delhi about the rising
popularity of solar energy globally and the
prospects of National Solar Mission in India.Interview
Solar market has witnessed an unprec-
edented growth recently. How do you see
the market going forward globally?
One of the reason why commercial
solar energy market has done so well
is that it is more cost-effective and
safer option than other renewable
energy sources like nuclear energy.
Countries across the globe like Ger-
many, US, China are adopting this
technology faster. With the techno-
logical advancements, cost of setting
up solar panels are already very low
and it will continue to plummet as
battery storage systems become
more prolific and less expensive. So-
lar market is going to be double in
next 2-3 years. I think that switch-
ing to solar energy is the right thing
to do to make our planet safer and
sustainable.Can Indian can rely on the Solar Energy as
a viable energy option?
India can play a key role in rearrang-
ing the Renewable Energy leader-
ship in the global context. Solar en-
ergy can be very useful in areas
which have no access to conven-
tional energy. Another advantage is
that installation of solar panels are
very fast so it is less time consuming
than thermal power plant. The
model can work very well for India
given it is able to work out on the
challenges.What according to you are the challenges
for the Indian Solar Mission?
The progress is good but still very
slow. The target that the govern-
ment has set are ambitious but it is
important to successfully imple-ment it. There has to be a clear road-
map with a viable business model
for the mission to be successful. The
government has to start working on
manufacturing, else it will lag be-
hind other countries. Also the focus
should be on the R&D. The market
still depends on Chinese imports.But do you think it is affordable option?
One of the biggest misconception is
that solar energy is expensive. This
could have been true five years back.
Prices of solar cells and modules
have fallen steeply worldwide since
2009, to the extent that solar tariffs
are now close to competing with
thermal. In sun rich areas like mid-
dle-east, it has come down to 3 cent
per KW/hour. The economy of scale
will further drive down prices.<