India to generate 20,000 MW through solar energy
13 Nov 2009
Mumbai: India expects to generate up to 20,000 megawatts of solar power by 2022 even as it seeks to reduce its dependence on fossil fuel and oil imports, minister for New and Renewable Energy, Farooq Abdullah has said. Currently Asia's third largest energy consumer, India will also seek to reduce emissions held responsible for global warming.
According to Abdullah, prime minister Manmohan Singh is expected to announce a new national solar energy plan ''very soon.''
India is expected to announce a policy statement ahead of next month's talks in Copenhagen on a global accord intended to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.
Only about two megawatts of solar power is available on the national grid, the ministry of New and Renewable Energy has said in its 2008-09 report.
Renewable sources of power, including wind energy and small hydroelectric projects, account for about 8 per cent of current capacity, according to the power ministry.
Meanwhile, the solar energy plan would provide a massive boost for the solar plates and accessories manufacturing industry of the country. According to minister Abdullah, industries manufacturing solar plates in India exported 85 per cent of their produce to foreign countries as they found no domestic buyers. The solar mission would enhance demand of solar plates and would also help solve unemployment problems to some extent, Abdullah said.
Abdullah also said that a German power company was setting up 2x3,000 MW solar power projects in Gujarat and Rajasthan.
