Scott Simon, host.
India is the fastest growing country and will overtake China in terms of world population next year. Therefore, he is constantly looking for new sources of energy. Most of India's electricity is produced by burning coal, but the government is trying to encourage solar energy. NPR correspondent Lauren Fryer reports from Mumbai.
Lauren Fryer, online. How many floors does this building have?
Chinmay Divkar is 27 years old.
Fryer: Twenty-seven. So now we climb the stairs to the top of the roof - a spectacle. Wow, you can see mountains.
Divkar: This is what is known as Tan Creek.
Breaker: A body of water in the distance.
Devkar. Yes.
Freire: Not only mountains are admired. Thousands of solar panels are visible on the roof.
Divkar: So you see most of the buildings. You can see that there is sunlight in this building, so…
Freire: A few years ago they weren't.
Divkar: No, not at all.
Fryer: Chinmai Divkar is a solar energy entrepreneur involved in this transformation. His business partner is Jay Vyas, a 60-year-old accountant and sunshine preacher. Before our interview, he sent me a pamphlet he had written entitled "The Sun Makes Money."
Jay Weiss. When I wake up in the morning, I try to talk about the sun with at least three people every day. Are you one of them today?
Freire: However, until recently it was not easy. Despite an abundance of warm sunshine, 70% of India's electricity comes from coal. Renewables are mostly giant solar farms in the deserts of Rajasthan or Gujarat, or farmers use one or two panels to run irrigation pumps in rural areas where the grid is unreliable. Sunlight has never been recorded in an Indian city. It's cheaper here than in the West because the government subsidizes electricity. And most solar panels are imported, expensive and not suitable for a single family. But that is changing because of the government's record investment in renewables this year, said energy economist Wiebo Tigard.
VIBHU TIGARD. Players who want to install solar roofs can register. Do you receive subsidies from the government?
Freire. Government subsidies for domestic production of solar panels. Neighboring China has done just that to make its own solar energy viable. Jay and Chinmai imported expensive solar panels from Singapore or Germany. Now Indians are being used.
This is how they are made in India.
YOU: These are panels made in India. This: This is our last shipment.
Fryer says: RenewSys, India, Private Limited.
Jay shows me his latest installation in a large apartment building in the northeastern suburbs of Mumbai. The building manager is Swati Neviji. As panel prices fell, homeowners bet on solar.
SWAT NAVIGI. Ruukki (ph) spent 1.4 million rupiah.
Freire: Buy and install the panels yourself.
NEVGI - Panels. Joint project: By 2020, we will save half a million dollars in renovations.
Freire: So there are less than three years left. Investments...
NAVIGI - Returned investments.
Freire: They pay off their investment in lower energy costs. But there is a problem. These new house panels are not completely airtight, Chinme said.
UNDERWATER: So the silicon that comes in still comes from China. And it depends on price fluctuations and many other factors.
monasteries. Some components still need to be imported.
dive: It is true, but large production capacities are now being acquired. I don't know if you know these two groups Adani and Amban. AND...
Freire: Who has not heard these two names in India?
Devkar. Yes.
Deep Fryer: Two of India's largest conglomerates get government help for the offshore part of the entire solar panel supply chain in India. And in this case, prices can fall even more. Economists say solar energy could become the cheapest source of energy in India in the next 10 years.
Lauren Fryer, NPR News, on a rooftop in Mumbai. Transcript courtesy of NPR, copyright NPR.
