The NDA Government has scaled up the target of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission to five fold at 1,00,000 MW (100GW) to be achieved by 2022. Do you think this target is realistic? Argue.

Currently, India has little over 4GW of installed solar capacity. In order to reach 100GW by 2022, the installed capacity would need to double every 1.5 years. This implies that the installed capacity needs to grow by some 62%. During the tenure of the earlier government, the speed of execution was tardy. The effective and speedy implementation need clear cut policy regime.Given the fact that less than 1% of the uncultivated land of the country can be used to install a 60GW solar capacity, the target seems to be massive but not impractical target. Since most such projects need land to be implemented, the central role has to be played by the state governments as land comes under their powers. Some states such as Gujarat and Karnataka have created land banks while some other states such as Rajasthan is giving land on 25 years lease. Such state driven initiatives are key to success of this mission. Further, long term, low interest debt finance; proactive role of power ministry in expanding the Green Corridors and exemptions from  taxes, charges etc. help for quick implementation of the project.
The mission also includes installation of 40GW rooftop PVs in India. Government would need to provide impetus to production of domestic solar cells by giving various incentives. Currently, India’s production of solar cells is not competitive and faces massive competition from Chinese solar cells.

Topics: GS-III: Infrastructure Energy Sector