India's ambitious solar energy plan faces many hurdles

THE Indian government's plan to install 100,000 megawatts of solar power capacity by 2022 may be too ambitious by far. Though there has been much enthusiasm among corporate leaders and some progress for the plan, it seems too big a leap from the present installed capacity of 3,000 MW. The US$100 billion plan has many innovations, but it will also face many problems in implementation.

The earlier 2009 plan for solar energy envisaged an investment of US$19 billion over 10 years from 2011 to 2020 to generate 20,000 MW. Unlike most plans in the country it has gone at a healthy clip touching 2,319 MW of installations up to 2013.

The present plan is five times as big, to be achieved in a shorter time. To reach 100,000 MW, installed capacity faces the formidable challenge of doubling every 18 months or at a compounded annual growth rate of 62 per cent. Yet it has got big business, sensing the opportunities, backing it. China, the world's biggest generator of solar power, is being wooed to invest. US c…