India National Solar Mission

Nearly 120 years after the birth of India’s first Prime Minister, the Government of India announced the launch of its latest solar-power policy, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, named after the PM. In principle the policy approves 20 gigawatts (GW) of solar power generation to the national grid by 2022. To put the 20GW into perspective, last year India produced about 100 megawatts (MW) worth of photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules — 75% of which were exported, primarily to Europe.

With this new mission, India has placed emphasis on both scale and integration with its electricity supply system.

The mission will be launched in three phases and currently 4,337 crore of Rupees (approximately $900 million) has been approved for its implementation. A research and development department is expected to be set up for the development of technology to tap solar energy. The NTPC Vidyut Vitran Authority (India’s largest power company, a government agency) has been designated as the responsible agency for solar power purchases.

Central power utilities such as the NTPC and NHPC (also a government-managed utility) are likely to pick up the tab for the first 1,000 MW of solar power capacity, set to come on-line by 2013. Both NTPC and NHPC will in turn sell the power to state utilities. This enables them to average the price of solar energy with conventional power, resulting in minimal increase in per unit cost and lowering the impact of the price of solar power on individual consumers.

While Phase I, for the initial 1,000 MW, has been affirmed, the government appears to be charting its course until 2013 while identifying the balance of funding as well as to allow for technology improvements to be validated and translated into commercializable applications.

Currently, India has about 90 companies involved in PV, 9 of which are solar cell manufacturers and 19 producers of complete modules, such as Moser Baer.

Both Phase II and III are equally ambitious. Phase II calls for 100GW of solar power generation by 2030, driving toward 200GW by 2050.

In addition to the national mission, the states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have all announced PV support programs. Gujarat is planning a 1,500 hectare solar park with various incentives, including a 12-year feed-in-tariff at Rs 13 per kWh (approx. $0.28/kWh).

The need for electricity in India is great and growing. In January 2009, it had a peak electricity demand of 132GW — with an overall shortfall of 17% with some regions suffering shortages of more than 25%. With the world’s highest country-wide potential solar energy yield (1,700 – 1,900 kWh/kW) India aims to harness the Sun’s energy to its benefit, both in building a new industry as well as meeting some of its burgeoning energy needs.