With India’s clean energy movement gaining momentum, a statement like this becomes very important vis a vis new business models and new pathways for clean mobility. As the govt. has set up a target of 175 GW of renewable energy by 2022, it signifies that the growth story of urban as well as rural areas will be impacted by growing solar energy pool.

Since the rural regions in India are still experiencing very little or no conventional electrification, the Ministry of  New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) rolled out the ‘Remote Village Electrification Program’ (RVEP) to electrify remote villages by installing solar photovoltaic (PV) home lighting systems in such remote places.

The Global Network on Energy for Sustainable Development (GNESD, 2007) pointed out that without adequate supplies of affordable energy, it is impossible to improve health, education and reduction of poverty. Solar energy is

• clean
• renewable
• has zero emission
• solar devices are low maintenance

The potential of solar energy is tremendous and the Indian govt. has taken up the National Solar Mission to bridge India’s energy gap while also keeping it ecologically sustainable. The objective of this endeavor is to formulate such policies that solar energy penetration can be increased as much as possible all over the country and India can take the position of global leader in solar energy. Moreover, the climatic conditions in India are favorable to help solar energy become a strong and reliable energy source.

While solar power has been practically non-existent in the energy scenario until now, the market looks set to grow by leaps and bounds, thanks to the National Solar Mission. Since the demand for energy is ever growing, it has to be met with sustainable solutions. Solar energy is not only cheap, but also brings multiple other benefits, like creating jobs, cutting down on financial as well as environmental cost of burning fossil fuels to produce electricity for industries (climate change is a long-term impact of this), bringing electricity to remote places which cannot be reached by conventional grids (development of such regions is a long-term impact here).

Though India might not hit the 100 GW solar power mark by 2022, efforts to improve the energy production and consumption patterns are going on, and will certainly ensure that gradually India becomes more clean energy oriented, and shifts towards solar energy, which will have positive effect on the Indian economy in every manner. 

By Anisha Kashwani