Why India's solar push could kill the livelihood of pastoral communities

Experts working on just transition to renewable energy believe that specific laws are needed to protect these communities.

Business Standard : The parched brown of the land in Charanka village in north-west Gujarat, around 50 km from India’s border with Pakistan, seemed endless. In peak summer, during one of the worst droughts to hit the region in 30 years, it seems devoid of all life--even doughty bush plants have lost most leaves. Cyclone Vayu, that hit the Gujarat coast in June 2019, did little to revive the district of Patan.

This perhaps explains why the official website of the Gujarat Power Corporation Limited describes the 5,384 acres across which the Charanka solar park is spread as “unused” land. A project map available at the park’s office differs from this assessment--of the 5,417 acres, close to 2,000 acres are under cultivation, it showed. The rest, as per the map, is “government land”.

The villagers were livid at these labels. “What do they mean that the land is unused and that it belongs to the government?” asked Raku Ben, a livestock rearer. “We use it for grazing livestock, and our livelihood depends on this land. It doesn’t belong to anyone, it belongs to everyone.”

The solar park project launched in December 2010, has been functional since April 2012. It sits on what used to be the pasture for the region’s livestock herders, called maldharis. They have traditionally never owned the land where their animals graze but it is critical for their livelihood. The maldharis were once a nomadic community but some have opted to settle down.

These factors are not reflected in the state’s latest solar power policy of 2015 or the Gujarat Wind-Solar Hybrid Power Policy of 2018. The words “compensation” or “livelihoods” do not figure anywhere in the solar power policy.

Having lost access to the grazing lands, maldharis can no longer rear goats, sheep, cows or buffaloes. And the forest department denies them entry to other fertile patches in the region.

“As a result, the once self-sustaining and independent community has now been reduced to doing daily-wage labour in either agricultural fields in neighbouring villages or working as cleaners in the solar park,” said Anu Verma, the focal person in India for the South Asia Pastoralist Alliance, a network that advocates pro-pastoralist policies on commons lands, livestock, food and environment.

India's renewable energy cost is lowest in Asia Pacific: WoodMac report

India's levelised cost of electricity using solar photovoltaic has fallen to $38 per megawatt hour this year, 14% cheaper than coal-fired power.

India's renewable energy cost is the lowest in the Asia Pacific, consultancy Wood Mackenzie said on Monday.

India's levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) using solar photovoltaic has fallen to $38 per megawatt hour (MWh) this year, 14% cheaper than coal-fired power that has traditionally been the cheapest source of power generation, WoodMac said.

LCOE comprises the cost of generating a megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity, the upfront capital and development cost and the cost of equity and debt finance and operating and maintenance fees.

"India is the second-largest power market in Asia Pacific with installed power capacity of 421 gigawatts (GW).

Solar capacity is expected to reach 38 GW this year," WoodMac research director Alex Whitworth said.

"High-quality solar resources, market scale and competition have pushed solar costs down to half the level seen in many other Asia Pacific countries."

India wants to have 175 GW of renewable-based installed power capacity by 2022.

Australia, which ranks second in terms of low renewable costs, will see solar power to be cost-competitive against coal next year, the consultancy said.

Solar LCOE has fallen 42% in the past three years and will reach $48/MWh in 2020, beating out all fossil fuel competitors, WoodMac added.

Business Standard