Shuba V Raghavan
Redesigning the National Solar Mission for Rural India
The success of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission depends on certain critical features – the subsidy structure, the role of standardised systems and institutional models of delivery As the actual costs of small systems are considerably higher, on a per watt basis, than the benchmark costs assumed for the subsidy, smaller systems that are within the reach of the rural poor receive lower subsidies than larger systems.
Harnessing Solar Energy: Options for India
The overall goal of the off-grid guidelines of the JNNSM is to achieve wider dissemination of solar
technology, and a generous capital subsidy of up to 90% is offered for rural applications Even so,
there are several bottlenecks to large-scale dissemination Primarily, the techno-economics,
financing and institutional mechanisms of several solar applications are not well understood
Therefore, these form a focus of this study In addition, this study looks at the Government of India’s
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory& Mitigation Study for Karnataka
Adoption of energy efficient measures would result in reduced demand for energy and thus lower emissions. This is perhaps the lowest hanging fruit among mitigation options. Lower demand translates into reduction in the addition of generation capacity. Towards achieving this, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Ministry of Power of Government of India, is working towards setting targets for industries and household appliances .Stringent implementation and adoption of mitigation measures can result in significant lowering of energy consumption and carbon emissions.
Climate policy options in East-West squeeze
India should clearly articulate its technology and financial requirements to move along a lower carbon intensive trajectory. It is regretted that in spite of enjoying bountiful sunshine, India chose not to harness solar energy in a major way till recently. Germany, despite its northern latitude and fewer sunshine days, is the world leader in solar energy. India should earnestly implement the recently announced ambitious solar mission with required investments and policies. This is vital not only for mitigating carbon emissions, but also for India’s energy security.