Last summer, India announced an ambitious new National Solar Mission to transform the rapidly developing nation into a world leader in solar power. The government announced a sweeping plan that included $100 billion in government investment over the next twenty years to support the nation's drive to become a world solar leader and install 20 gigawatts of solar power by 2020. I just found this video at the Applied Materials blog which sheds more light on the new solar plans underway in India. A
ccording to Dr. Atre, India has yet to fully implement the new National Solar Mission, but the government has set aside $900 million to fund solar power production incentives in the next two-to-three years. Atre explains that the government will directly purchase solar power from producers at a preferred rate, and then sell the power back to utilities, presumably at wholesale rates. This differs from many feed-in tariff programs, which require utilities to offer subsidized purchase rates for renewable energy, ultimately financed by a (usually modest) increase in utility retail rates. After the first two-or-three years, the government plans to ramp-up investments to roughly $5 billion per year, and include more targeted investments in solar technology innovation and development, part of an effort to drive down the price of solar power to make it more competitive and require lower subsidy rates. As the Breakthrough Institute reported in July, India's government projects that the national solar program, which could ultimately include R&D investments, manufacturing incentive, tax breaks for equipment imports, as well as the production incentives discussed above, could bring the now-prohibitive cost of solar down to $0.08-0.10 per kWh by 2017-2020, making it roughly cost-competitive with fossil fuels.
For Further: theenergycollective.com/TheEnergyCollective/56675
ccording to Dr. Atre, India has yet to fully implement the new National Solar Mission, but the government has set aside $900 million to fund solar power production incentives in the next two-to-three years. Atre explains that the government will directly purchase solar power from producers at a preferred rate, and then sell the power back to utilities, presumably at wholesale rates. This differs from many feed-in tariff programs, which require utilities to offer subsidized purchase rates for renewable energy, ultimately financed by a (usually modest) increase in utility retail rates. After the first two-or-three years, the government plans to ramp-up investments to roughly $5 billion per year, and include more targeted investments in solar technology innovation and development, part of an effort to drive down the price of solar power to make it more competitive and require lower subsidy rates. As the Breakthrough Institute reported in July, India's government projects that the national solar program, which could ultimately include R&D investments, manufacturing incentive, tax breaks for equipment imports, as well as the production incentives discussed above, could bring the now-prohibitive cost of solar down to $0.08-0.10 per kWh by 2017-2020, making it roughly cost-competitive with fossil fuels.For Further: theenergycollective.com/TheEnergyCollective/56675
