On 23 November, India unveiled its ambitious mission to ramp up its solar power hundredfold in the next 13 years and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. The mission anticipates achieving parity with cost of electricity on the grid by 2022 and parity with coal-based thermal power by 2030. The plan is to produce 20,000MW through solar power by 2022, up from just 200MW now. The mission, to be coordinated by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, will improve India’s energy security by reducing dependence on imported petroleum. The mission, called the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission after the nation’s first prime minister, will adopt a three-phase approach, spanning the remaining period of the 11th Plan and first year of the 12th Plan (up to 2012-13) as Phase 1, the remaining four years of the 12th Plan (2013-17) as Phase 2 and the 13th Plan (2017-22) as Phase 3. At the end of each plan, and mid-term during the 12th and 13th Plans, there will be an evaluation of progress, review of capacity and targets for subsequent phases, based on emerging cost and technology trends, both domestic and global. The aim would be to protect the government from subsidy exposure in case expected cost reduction does not materialize or is more rapid than expected.
