Tuesday, September 24, 2013: The experts at a conference on ‘The future of solar energy in India’ held at Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University (PDPU) on Monday stressed that the solar energy sector of India is in dire need of policy reforms. Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi-based research and advocacy body organized it in association with the Gujarat Energy Research and Management Institute.
According to Chandra Bhushan, Deputy Director General of CSE, purpose behind this meeting was to analyse the present status of solar energy in India and come up with a policy roadmap for attaining sustainable growth.
Gujarat constitutes major proportion of India’s total installed solar energy capacity of around 1.8GW. Moreover, the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy plans to kick start phase II of the National Solar Mission with allocation of 750MW of solar projects. However, there is delay in launch of the second phase, which is subject to Cabinet nod at the Centre.
As per Bhushan, if India aims to achieve 20GW in sync with the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) by 2022, then the country should be able to touch a growth rate of 30 per cent annually in solar installation. Experts also stated that the Centre should support state solar policies though many state-level incentives have come up.
