Reduction in subsidy for solar power as distributed electricity generation in Indian future competitive power market

Developed countries have seen renewable energy as a key tool for emission reduction as well as reducing reliance on oil, gas, and coal. Renewable energy sources (RESs) and technologies have potential to provide solutions to the longstanding energy problems being faced by the developing countries. In the future competitive electricity market for India, it becomes very much important to give special consideration for development of RESs due to economic, environmental, and other social problems related with conventional generations. Solar energy can be an important part of India's plan not only to add new capacity but also to increase energy security and lead the massive market for renewable energy. The major problem with solar power generation (SPG) is high cost of renewable generation. The Indian government is providing a lot of subsidy in order to encourage renewable energy generations. This paper presents an approach for reduction in subsidy of SPG used as distributed generator in competitive power market. The proposed approach has been validated with IEEE 14-bus and IEEE 30-bus systems. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4757856]