Update –> my colleague in India, a renewable energy engineer, tells me: “Phase 1 was officially done and finished on 31 March 2013. Only 50 MW of solar PV and 470 MW of solar thermal power capacity is left to be commissioned, all are expected to be commissioned by December 2013. Phase 2 is the major one, about 9,000 MW capacity will be allocated by 2017.”
India’s Minister for New & Renewable Energy has announced targets for Phase 1 of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, a key solar program stimulating solar power growth in the country. Here are the details:
The target under the first phase of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission are:
(i) 1000 MW Grid Connected Power Plants
(ii) 200 MW off grid solar applications
(iii) 7 Million Sq m Solar Thermal collector area
Under off-gird and Decentralized Solar Applications scheme of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy provides a subsidy of 30% of the cost of the solar lighting systems, solar water heating systems and solar cookers. The subsidy is limited to Rs. 81/- per watt peak for solar lighting systems, Rs. 3000-3300/- per square meter of collector areas for solar water heating systems and Rs. 3600/- per square meter of collector areas for solar cookers for installation of systems in the country including rural areas.
