Just six months ago, Avdish Kumar, living in New Delhi, was working as an artist and was struggling to find work. Now, every day a new solar technician's phone rings with multiple job inquiries.
Kumar, who recently joined renewable energy company SunEdison, is the key link between India's growing number of rooftop solar providers and home buyers.
"Until a few months ago... I didn't even know it was a business or that there was a demand for it," the 34-year-old told the Thomson Reuters Foundation from his home in the Indian capital.
"But now I have four to five customer visits a day," Kumar said, explaining how using SunEdison's app has helped meet the increasing technical demands of rooftop solar owners to keep their systems running efficiently without shutting down the grid.
It's one of a number of digital platforms, including the AHA Solar Rooftop Helper, SunPro+, and the Surya Mitra app, that suit solar service professionals looking to work with customers in need of cleaning and maintenance services.
More efficient provision of such services is considered necessary to achieve India's renewable energy goals aimed at weaning it from dependence on fossil fuels, including coal.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi this month hailed a major clean energy project to make Modera in western Gujarat the country's first 24/7 solar village, where citizens generate their own energy from 1,300 rooftop systems.
The key to the project's success — and ensuring sustainable energy production — will depend on maintaining the systems, the researchers say, pointing to the many examples of poor after-sales services that plague rooftop solar projects.
"In villages, when the battery fails, the solar lights connected to it go off and stay that way," said Aviram Sharma, an associate professor at Bihar University in Nalanda, who studies small-scale solar power grids in rural areas.
According to him, there are not enough shops in remote villages where people can repair solar energy systems, unlike mobile phones.
"As a result, it stops working for good," Sharma added.
India has backed off its target of installing 40 gigawatts of rooftop solar by the end of 2022.
The April report of JMK consulting firm and non-profit organization Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis predicted a shortage of 25 gigawatts of power this year.
Suppliers say the high cost of installing solar systems — which can range from INR 40,000 to INR 80,000 ($482 to $964) for a 1-kilowatt system — turns off many potential customers.
Meanwhile, for the ever-increasing number of rooftop solar owners in India, its maintenance and operation is a top priority.
SunEdison's head of operations and technical services Vivek Kumar said, “Our market research shows that early adopters of rooftop solar have a very poor track record.
"No one sells the Solar experience to consumers. It is sold as an investment once the installation is complete. Do not discuss the interview."
"fly by night"
A key pillar of India's renewable energy push is creating a workforce that can operate the solar and wind power plants being installed across the country to meet the growing demand for electricity.
However, less than a third of the nearly 80,000 participants trained to install solar panels, build grids and maintain batteries have found jobs six years after the national skills program began, according to government figures.
Meanwhile, residents struggle to repair their solar systems when they encounter problems, consumer groups say.
"There are still a number of operators who install systems on rooftops and then disappear," says K. Vishnu Mohan Rao, senior researcher at the non-profit Citizen Consumer and Citizen Action Group.
He added that the problem is exacerbated by a fragmented supply chain - different parts are made by different companies.
In Gujarat, which accounts for over 80% of India's rooftop solar installations, there are no actual stores to be seen in any city in the state, says Pulkit Dhingra, founder and director of AHA! Solar is a company that provides solar technology solutions.
"In many cases, companies are required to keep the system for five years, but they don't see the value in the system.
"In a highly competitive market with small margins, the focus is only on installation," said Dhingra, whose Gujarat company is also helping implement the state's solar policy.
A lack of guidance for solar technicians in rural India, where solar energy is used to power water pumps, light medical centers, homes and schools, worsens the situation, researchers say.
This requires several days of trying to contact suppliers (and) make video calls to different networks to explain the problem to a technician in the city,” said Dheeraj Kumar Gupta, senior fellow in the Energy Program at the World Resources Institute of India. He said. , is a research organization.
He added that even when an annual maintenance contract is signed when a rooftop solar system is installed, it is often not followed because the cities are too far for technicians to visit, but local electricians are hired when repairs are needed quickly. .
the way forward
India's federal government and states are phasing out fossil fuels to meet climate goals amid growing public awareness of global warming and rising electricity prices.
In Gujarat, State Electricity Corporation Project Manager Rajendra Mistry has been tasked with documenting lessons learned from the 24-hour solar power project at Modera.
"The results of this project will benefit plans for many other projects under development," Mistry said in an interview.
He said the two main challenges in the rooftop solar sector are financing and maintenance. In Muddira, all costs were covered by the government, while the company contracted to keep the systems in good condition.
Meanwhile, SunEdison's Kumar oversees the development of his company's app, which connects solar technicians with customers in 83 cities across India.
"The industry is poised to explode and it makes sense to have a comfortable workforce poised to grow together," he said.
While consumer forums have cited privacy concerns over the growing use of such apps and barriers to adoption such as poor mobile internet connectivity in rural areas, they provide steady business for people like Udish Kumar.
To prove to SunEdison that he did a good job and followed the proper protocols, he uploads photos of himself wearing protective gear, as well as recent photos.
"I'm also part of a growing group of technicians and we share our knowledge," he said. "It makes me want to learn and grow."
This article was originally published in Context, a Thomson Reuters Foundation publication.
