India’s Solar Strategy Announced

As we hinted at a few weeks ago, India has finally announced a national solar energy plan initially intended for public declaration on November 14. Officially known as the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, the “Solar India” plan adopts a three-phased approach with a preliminary goal of installing 200 MW of solar energy capacity by 2012. By the year 2022, Solar India hopes to have 20,000 MW of solar thermal and photovoltaic energy up and running. According to the plan,

The ambitious target for 2022 of 20,000 MW or more, will be dependent on the ‘learning’ of the first two phases, which if successful, could lead to conditions of grid-competitive solar power.

Solar India also details the following targets:

- To create favorable conditions for solar manufacturing capability, particularly solar thermal for indigenous production and market leadership.
- To promote programs for off grid applications, reaching 1000 MW by 2017 and 2000 MW by 2022 .
- To achieve 15 million sq. meters solar thermal collector area by 2017 and 20 million by 2022.
- To deploy 20 million solar lighting systems for rural areas by 2022.

The plan highlights solar energy applications for the rural poor disconnected from the grid, sponsorship of research and development programs, and human resource development. For further details of the plan, click here.

India is looking towards scaling solar for a variety of reasons. Energy security is a prime concern, as the country will eventually transition to a coal-importing nation. Solar energy doesn’t come with the geopolitical implications often associated with the trade of thermal sources of energy (coal, gas, petroleum, etc.). Second, in the dawn of climate change negotiations at Copenhagen, countries around the globe are preparing for the implications of a carbon-conscious world by shifting away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy. According to Greenpeace,

India is the fourth largest emitter of CO2 in the world with 1852.9 Million tonnes (Mt) per annum while the US spews 6963.8 Mt CO2 per annum.…[Preliminary calculations show] India is on the pathway to deviate its GHG emissions by 12-18%, with a further potential to deviate GHG emissions by nearly 35% with more ambitious measures.

While India attempts to balance the need to decrease GHG emissions and the desire to pursue a path of development, it also sees an economic opportunity with solar energy. India’s plan declares that the nation wants to be a global leader with regard to developing solar energy technologies and implementation.

Yet at what cost? According to the Times of India, the project is estimated to come with a price tag of just under a billion USD. Where the situation becomes even sticker, however, is how the project will be financed. The announcement says that financing will come from the budget set up by the National Solar Mission under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, as well as from international funds procured under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

We’ll be sure to follow the implementation of the plan and keep an eye out for further details on the financing scheme.  In the coming weeks, we’ll see if this embrace of solar influences India’s negotiations at the upcoming climate change negotiations in Copenhagen. While unlikely to waiver and put environment before economic development, the pursuit of a solar industry economy and deployment of solar energy is a sign that India wants to take a step in the right direction for sustainable development.