Monday, January 20, 2014: India is striving to seek solutions to its power problems by investing greatly in solar power. The project’s next expansion stage will see India constructing the world’s largest solar plant for producing 4000 MW on the shores of a saltwater lake in the north western desert state of Rajasthan that should bring down solar power costs.
As stated on pennenergy.com, Time of India states the project will cost in the region of $4.4bn. In the past four years, the country has increased its solar capacity from 17.8 MW to 2000 MW as per official figures, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s striving to make “the sun occupy centre-stage” in the country’s energy mix.
Dipping costs have supported this objective and coordinated by the 2010 creation of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, the aim is to produce 20,000 MW of grid-connected solar power and 2000 MW of off-grid generation, which include roof panels, by 2022. This represents simply one-eighth of India’s total installed power base however, the government believes the share will rise as prices for solar infrastructure keep dipping.
India has over 300 sunny days a year in certain parts along with large spans of desert with a big component of the nation lying close to the equator. Around 40 per cent of rural Indian households with no power, there is a huge market. India urgently requires to produce home-grown power with imports of oil, gas and coal contributing to a trade deficit that has alarmed international investors.
