India: Harvesting energy from the sun

Though India has an enormous renewable energy potential, the current installed capacity of around 8100-MW derived from renewable energy sources including sun, wind and biomass constitute about 7% of the total installed power generation capacity in the country, even though India is one of the pioneers in utilizing a part of its huge reserve of renewable energy sources.

Against this backdrop, India’s Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources has set an objective of achieving an installed power generation capacity of 10,000 MW from renewable energy sources by 2012. Of course, the non-polluting and abundantly available solar energy constitutes an important component of the strategy aimed at boosting the popularity of renewable energy sources in India, which are considered both cost-effective, local specific and non-polluting.


Meanwhile, the Ministry has decided to install 10-million metres of solar collectors during the Eleventh Plan period. As it is, the Plan would involve installing solar heaters in about 3.5 million individual houses in the country. In addition, industrial units and commercial establishments spread across the country would also be covered under the solar energy popularization programme.

As envisaged now, this ambitious programme, when implemented in full, is expected to result in peak saving about 5,000 MW in addition to abatement of 7.5 million tonnes of highly polluting carbon dioxide emissions annually.

Central Chronicle