Friday, June 13, 2014: Soon after taking over as Minister of New and Renewable Energy, Piyush Goyal has made his intentions clear. He has indicated a radical overhaul in the subsidy regime for solar projects in the country and asked designated officials to clear accumulated bills amounting to about Rs 32,000 million with respect to the same. Further, Goyal has also urged officials in the ministry of new and renewable energy to find ways to ensure that claims don’t pile up in future.
The UPA-2 government led by the Congress party had promised a 30 per cent subsidy to solar panel manufacturers under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, 2010. Sadly, UPA-2 was unable to fulfill its policies resulting in pending subsidies. Established in 2010, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) set the target of installing 10,000MW of solar power by 2017 and 20,000MW by 2022.
Meanwhile, the same policy also offered the same subsidy to solar water heaters sold through ‘direct channel partners’ in remote areas of the country. The MNRE scheme was launched in 2010 under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission with an aim to encourage installation of solar water heaters across the country and deploy 20,000 MW of grid connected solar power by 2022 in the process. The government had announced a subsidy of 30 per cent on solar water heaters sold through the direct channel partners (DCPs) across the country. These DCPs were directed to sell their solar panels and other components at subsidised rates and the subsidy amount was to be reimbursed to them later.
