Re: India’s new government, led by Narendra Modi, plans to use solar power to bring electricity to the homes of 400 million people who currently do not have access to it.
I wonder if India is accounting for the fact that solar is unavailable at night or (mostly) in cloudy weather. One way would be to use a transmission grid spread over wide area, and use the distributed solar power units in areas where the sun is shining to supply power to areas where it is cloudy. While that doesn't do much for night-time periods, of course, it would be a big help.
If India is tackling that problem the US could learn a lot from them.
In point 1, you cite "solar electricity generation costs falling from 63 cents per watt to 35 cents per watt." These are the manufacturing costs, not the generation costs.
Re: India’s new government, led by Narendra Modi, plans to use solar power to bring electricity to the homes of 400 million people who currently do not have access to it.
I wonder if India is accounting for the fact that solar is unavailable at night or (mostly) in cloudy weather. One way would be to use a transmission grid spread over wide area, and use the distributed solar power units in areas where the sun is shining to supply power to areas where it is cloudy. While that doesn't do much for night-time periods, of course, it would be a big help.
If India is tackling that problem the US could learn a lot from them.
In point 1, you cite "solar electricity generation costs falling from 63 cents per watt to 35 cents per watt." These are the manufacturing costs, not the generation costs.
Big difference!