India's forest fires are affecting solar power production

Wildfires and biomass burning are among the major important sources of carbonaceous aerosols, greenhouse gases, ozone precursors, trace gases, and particulate pollutant emissions in several regions, including Asia.

New Delhi:A new study has found that an increasing number of forest fires in India, particularly in north and western India, are affecting solar power production in the country as aerosols and smoke generated due to the forest fires affect the performance of photovoltaic cells that convert sunlight into energy. These forest fires, which plague different parts of India, especially during the summer season play a major role in solar power production in India.

Keeping this in mind, a group of researchers at the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital an autonomous research institute of the Department of Science and Technology, and the National Observatory of Athens (NOA), Greece tried to trace the factors that reduce solar energy production in India. The scientists found that apart from clouds and aerosols, forest fires play a very crucial role in reducing solar energy production.

Wildfires and biomass burning are among the major important sources of carbonaceous aerosols, greenhouse gases, ozone precursors, trace gases, and particulate pollutant emissions in several regions, including Asia. The air pollutants, greenhouse gases, soot, and other aerosol particles emitted by massive forest fires absorb solar radiation, which reduces the intensity of the light falling on solar panels thereby reducing the solar photovoltaic power production. The deposition of these aerosols significantly reduces solar PV production by upto 30-to-50 per cent.

According to officials, such an analysis of the energy and financial losses due to the direct and indirect effects of forest fires on the production of solar plants can help grid operators to plan and schedule power generation. It will also help power producers to plan distribution, supply, security, and overall stability of solar power generation in the country.

Problem of forest fires in India

According to the data analysed by the scientists from Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences, India suffered massive forest fires each year due to natural and anthropogenic causes, with the main concentration in the hilly terrains of the western and central Himalayas and the northeastern states. A large number of forest fires from November 2020 to June 2021 were reported in Odisha (51,968), Madhya Pradesh (47,795), Chhattisgarh (38,106), Maharashtra (34,025), Jharkhand (21,713), Uttarakhand (21,497), Andhra Pradesh (19,328), Telangana (18,237), Mizoram (12,864), Assam (10,718), and Manipur (10,475).

Approximately 1,300 hectares of forest area burned due to massive forest fires in 2021 in Uttarakhand state. According to the Forest Survey of India report of 2019, a total of over 2.7 lakh (277,758) forest fire points were recorded from 2004 to 2017 across the country, and 2.56 lakh hectares of land were affected by these forest fires.