Renewable energy in India is a sector that is still undeveloped. India was the first country in the world to set up a ministry of non-conventional energy resources, in early 1980s. However its success has been very spotty. In recent years India has been lagging behind other nations in the use of renewable energy (RE). The share of RE in the energy sector, as on March 2011, is 10.63%[1] of total generation capacity of India. Renewable energy in India comes under the purview of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
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India is densely populated and has high solar insolation, an ideal combination for using solar power in India. Much of the country does not have an electrical grid, so one of the first applications of solar power has been for water pumping, to begin replacing India's four to five million diesel powered water pumps, each consuming about 3.5 kilowatts, and off-grid lighting. Some large projects have been proposed, and a 35,000 km² area of the Thar Desert has been set aside for solar power projects, sufficient to generate 700 to 2,100 gigawatts.
The Indian Solar Loan Programme, supported by the United Nations Environment Programme has won the prestigious Energy Globe World award for Sustainability for helping to establish a consumer financing program for solar home power systems. Over the span of three years more than 16,000 solar home systems have been financed through 2,000 bank branches, particularly in rural areas of South India where the electricity grid does not yet extend.[2][3]
Launched in 2003, the Indian Solar Loan Programme was a four-year partnership between UNEP, the UNEP Risoe Centre, and two of India's largest banks, the Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank.[3]
Announced in November 2009, the Government of India proposed to launch its Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission under the National Action Plan on Climate Change with plans to generate 1,000 MW of power by 2013 and up to 20,000 MW grid-based solar power, 2,000 MW of off-grid solar power and cover 20 million sq metres with collectors by the end of the final phase of the mission in 2020.[4]
Also, TERI's Lighting a Billion Lives Campaign started in 2008 aims to replace kerosene and paraffin lamps with CFLs to provide off-the-grid lighting to villages and thus ease the load on the power grid while at the same time provide the people with safe, non-polluting light at night.[5] So far, it has provided 35,000 CFLs to 640 villages in 16 states in India and also about 500 CFLs in Myanmar. This campaign has reportedly benefited 175,000 people.[6]
| Name of Plant | DC Peak Power (MW) |
GW·h /year[7] |
Capacity factor |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sivaganga Photovoltaic Plant[8] | 5 | Completed December 2010 | ||
| Kolar Photovoltaic Plant[9] | 3 | Completed May 2010 | ||
| Itnal Photovoltaic Plant, Belgaum[10] | 3 | Completed April 2010 | ||
| Azure Power - Photovoltaic Plant[11] | 2 | 2009 | ||
| Jamuria Photovoltaic Plant[12] | 2 | 2009 | ||
| NDPC Photovoltaic Plant[13] | 1 | 2010 | ||
| Thyagaraj stadium Plant-Delhi[14] | 1 | April, 2010 | ||
| Gandhinagar Solar Plant[15] | 1 | January 21, 2011 | ||
| Tata - Mulshi, Maharashtra[16] | 3 | Commissioned April 2011 | ||
| Azure Power - Sabarkantha, Gujarat[17] | 10 | Commissioned June 2011 | ||
| Moser Baer - Patan, Gujarat[18] | 30 | To Be Commissioned July 2011 | ||
| Tata - Mayiladuthurai, Tamil Nadu[19] | 1 | Commissioned July 2011 | ||
| REHPL - Sadeipali, (Bolangir) Orissa [20] | 1 | Commissioned July 2011 | ||
| TATA - Osmanabad, Maharastra [21] | 1 | Commissioned 1st Aug 2011 | ||
| Green Infra Solar Energy Limited- Rajkot, Gujarat [22] | 10 | Commissioned November 2011 | ||
| Total | 74 |
The development of wind power in India began in the 1990s, and has significantly increased in the last few years. Although a relative newcomer to the wind industry compared with Denmark or the US, domestic policy support for wind power has led India to become the country with the fifth largest installed wind power capacity in the world.[23]
As of December 2010 the installed capacity of wind power in India was 13,065.37 MW, mainly spread across Tamil Nadu (4132.72 MW), Maharashtra (1837.85 MW), Karnataka (1184.45 MW), Rajasthan (670.97 MW), Gujarat (1432.71 MW), Andhra Pradesh (122.45 MW), Madhya Pradesh (187.69 MW), Kerala (23.00 MW), West Bengal (1.10 MW), other states (3.20 MW) [24] It is estimated that 6,000 MW of additional wind power capacity will be installed in India by 2012.[25] Wind power accounts for 6% of India's total installed power capacity, and it generates 1.6% of the country's power.[26]