. India is a tropical country and has around 300 days availability of sunlight which is one of the highest in the world. Germany is a sub-tropical country, now produces almost 40% of its energy from renewable power. India has huge potential. Solar power has one unique advantage that it can be used to supply electricity in farflung areas in an off-grid manner and thus can tremendously help in achieving aim of 100% electrification.
Current installed capacity is 2600 MW. It was just 18 MW in 2010. Gujarat alone accounts for 850 MW. India as a part of its National Action Plan on Climate Change 2008, announced 3 phase Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission and now aims at adding 20000 MW of solar energy by 2022. 54 cities across India will be developed as Solar Cities.
According to 2014 budget, Rs 500 crores is provided for Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Laddakh and Rs 100 crore provided for the development of 1 MW Solar Parks on the banks of canals. Challenges in solar power generation
- One big hurdle is that there are not enough R&D initiatives in India and solar panels are
- Secondly, current production costs are very high and cannot compete with average.
production costs, leave alone costs of other cheaper sources like coal. Target of renewable energy capacity revised to 175000 MW till 2022, comprising 100000 MW Solar, 60000 MW Wind, 10000 MW Biomass and 5000 MW Small Hydro.