India's Solar Energy Mission

India's energy demand is increasing day by day due to its growing population of 1.1 billion and a rapidly expanding economy. India's energy demands currently depend on coal and fossil fuels when the pricing of fossil fuels in the international market is highly volatile and domestic coal mining is under the black clouds. India’s energy goals are further complicated by its voluntary commitment to reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 20–25% by 2020.

India has launched the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission to address its entwined challenges fo energy security and climate change. The Mission aims to achieve grid parity (electricity delivered at the same cost and quality as that delivered on the grid) by 2020, by fostering the installation of 20 GW of solar installations. Achieving this target would establish India as a global leader in solar power generation.

Under the flag of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, The Mission will be accomplished in following three phases:

Phase 1 (2012–13) - Smaller scale projects have been commissioned which employ only commercially established technologies in order to ensure early successes with minimum risks.

Phase 2 (2013–17) - The size and capacity of solar power installations will be aggressively expanded to such a scale to establish India as a leader in the solar energy market.

Phase 3 (2017–22) - In this phase the creation of favourable conditions for domestic solar manufacturing capability and leadership will be in prime focus.

Government is fully determined to take all necessary steps for the development of renewable energy sector. 

Global Scenario and India

In the year 2012 the top 7 solar PV market share holder companies are following and Yingli Green Energy of China is at the top with its largest share:

Yingli Green Energy (China): 6.7%

First Solar (USA): 5.3% 

Trina Solar (China): 4.7%

Suntech Power (China): 4.7%

Canadian Solar (Canada): 4.6% 

Canadian Solar (Canada): 4.6%

Sun Power (USA): 3.0%

Also in 2012 the share of top 5 countries in Solar PV Global Capacity(100GW) is as follows in which Germany is the leading country by its 32% global share in solar PV capacity : 

Germany: 32%

Italy: 16%

USA: 7.2%

China: 7%

Japan: 6.6%

India stands nowhere, so there are enormous chances for the opportunities to show India's presence globally.

If I am not mistaken India was the first country in the world to set up a ministry of non-conventional energy resources, in early 1980s. Still there is no presence of electrical grid in a large part of the country and therefore,solar power can be primarily used for water pumping and off-grid lighting. Around 35000 Sq km area of the Thar Desert has been proposed for solar power projects and some large projects have also in the pipeline sufficient to generate 700 to 2,100 GW of power. 

India is now ready to launch its Solar Mission under the National Action Plan on Climate Change, with plans to generate 1,000 mw of power by 2013.

The Union Cabinet is going to consider the mission document, which requires India to generate 1,000 mw of solar power every year by 2013. A complete package has been proposed to propel the power sector into `solar reforms' that could lead to annual production of 20,000 mw by 2020 if phase I of the solar mission goes well. The country currently produces less than 5 mw every year[1].

Uses of Solar Energy

India has a plenty of natural resources and of course, the solar radiation is present in abundance. Solar energy can be used for various purposes such as domestic space heating, water heating, drying, water pumping and direct generation of electricity. Solar water heaters are very good energy conservation and energy efficient equipments which can supply hot water at 60-70°C for both domestic and industrial use.

Main components of solar water heater system are:

A typical solar water heater

Solar Collector (to collect solar energy)

Insulated tank (to store hot water)

Supporting stand

Connecting pipes and instrumentation etc. 

A single collector system of 2 sq.m. area can deliver approximately 100 liters of hot water at 60°C. Insulated hot water storage tanks can also be installed as a backup for the rainy and cloudy weather days.

Solar water heating system be very effectively and efficiently used in hospitals, educational institutes, dairy and hotel industries and the corporate offices. This way the solar energy can be utilized commercially with great savings in the electricity bills.

It can also be used in agriculture sector for irrigation purpose through water pumps thereby reducing the use of diesel and electricity operated conventional water pump sets. Solar energy operated water pumps are reliable, easy to install and have a very low maintenance cost. 

Power generation by solar energy is gaining impetus all over the world. Solar energy is converted to power/electricity by using an array of Solar Photovoltaic Cells. This electrical energy can either be stored in batteries or used directly for the electrical appliances.