India aims at 20 GW solar power capacity by 2020
28 Jul 2009
The government has finalised draft plans for a national target of 20 gigawatts of solar power generating capacity by the year 2020 under the National Action Plan on Climate Change.
The draft document, part of eight mission documents related to environment protection, sets a national target of 20 gigawatts of installed solar generation capacity by 2020. The solar power generation capacity will go up to 100 gigawatts by 2030 and to 200 gigawatts by the year 2050.
The draft plan, which aims at making India a global leader in solar power generation, also expects to create additional 100,000 new jobs through the course of the plan.
The total expected funding from the government for the 30-year period would run to Rs85,000 crore to Rs105,000 crore.
The requirement during the current Five Year Plan is estimated to be Rs5,000 crore to Rs6,000 crore. It will rise to between Rs12,000 crore and Rs15,000 crore during the 12th Five Year Plan.
The programme will be implemented in three phases. The first phase of solar deployment (2009-2012) will aim at achieving rapid expansion aimed at cutting down costs. Under the plan, government proposes to boost domestic manufacturing through consolidation and expansion of on-going projects for urban, rural and off-grid applications.
