Secretary of the New & Renewable Energy Ministry Bhupinder Singh Bhalla speaking at the conference / Image: X/@NSEFI_official

A two-day international conference to deliberate on the integration of solar thermal and concentrated solar power (CSP) storage with renewable technologies recently took place in New Delhi.

Organized by Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) and National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI), the conference was aimed at understanding the global landscape in solar thermal technologies, their integration with renewable energy power generation sources, storage applications, and the potential of such applications in the Indian context.

The conference was inaugurated on February 12 by Secretary of the New and Renewable Energy Ministry, Bhupinder Singh Bhalla; managing director of SECI, R P Gupta; and director general of NSEFI, Deepak Gupta.

At the inauguration, Bhalla highlighted India’s significant progress in solar PV growth and its ambitious targets, emphasizing the need for new technologies to achieve reliable and emission-free generation. He expressed hope that the conference would pave the way forward for concentrated solar power (CSP) in India.

In addition, SECI’s chairman and managing director emphasized the global emergence of solar thermal technology and concentrated solar power with storage as promising solutions, suitable for India's ambitious energy targets. Meanwhile, Deepak Gupta discussed India's solar PV revolution and advocated for exploring CSP to accelerate the nation's energy transition, believing it could mark the beginning of a solar thermal revolution.

On Day 1 of the conference, industry experts shared their experiences and charted India’s potential in key areas. Industry representatives from Belgium, Israel, Spain, and Germany presented global case studies and financial viability of such projects. The second day featured speakers from academia, research institutions and financial institutions from across the globe.

Speakers emphasized that solar thermal is slowly emerging as a promising solution, offering substantial advantages for long-duration energy storage. It was pointed out that solar thermal presents the capability to support India’s firm and dispatchable renewable energy (FDRE) requirements, including round-the-clock power supply, meeting the diverse demands of consumers.