Q7.
What is the importance of Solar Energy in India?
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Answers
Solar power in India is a fast developing industry. The country's solar installed capacity reached 30.071 GW as of 31 July 2019.India has the lowest capital cost per MW globally to install the solar power plants.
The Indian government had an initial target of 20 GW capacity for 2022, which was achieved four years ahead of schedule. In 2015 the target was raised to 100 GW of solar capacity (including 40 GW from rooftop solar) by 2022, targeting an investment of US$100 billion. India has established nearly 42 solar parks to make land available to the promoters of solar plants.
India expanded its solar-generation capacity 8 times from 2,650 MW on 26 May 2014 to over 20 GW as on 31 January 2018. The country added 3 GW of solar capacity in 2015–2016, 5 GW in 2016–2017 and over 10 GW in 2017–2018, with the average current price of solar electricity dropping to 18% below the average price of its coal-fired counterpart.
Rooftop solar power accounts for 3.4 GW, of which 70% is industrial or commercial. In addition to its large-scale grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) initiative, India is developing off-grid solar power for local energy needs. Solar products have increasingly helped to meet rural needs; by the end of 2015 just under one million solar lanterns were sold in the country, reducing the need for kerosene. That year, 118,700 solar home lighting systems were installed and 46,655 solar street lighting installations were provided under a national program; just over 1.4 million solar cookers were distributed in India.
The International Solar Alliance (ISA), proposed by India as a founder member, is headquartered in India.