Solar Mission looks at 20,000 Mw by 2020

The ambitious Solar Mission of India, which envisages to generate 20,000 Mw of solar power by 2020, would come as a boost for the solar plates and accessories manufacturing industry of the country.

 Union minister for new and renewable sources of energy Farooq Abdullah said here on Wednesday that the industries manufacturing solar plates in India exported 85 per cent of their produce to foreign countries as they fouldn no domestic buyers. The Solar Mission, said Abdullah, would be a big boost for such domestic industries as the Solar Mission would enhance demand of solar plates, and would also help solve the unemployment problem to certain extent.

Abdullah was speaking at an energy conference in Guwahati organised by a newly formed society Synergy for Energy, Challenges and Opportunities in North-East (Secon).

Leading energy sector companies operating in the North-East such as Oil India, ONGC, Gail, Indian Oil Corporation, Numaligarh Refinery Limited, Bongaigaon Refinery, Assam State Electricity Board, Neepco are members of SECON.

“How long will we be importing fossil fuel and coal? We have to look for renewable sources of energy if India has to march ahead,” said Abdullah. Abdullah added that the Solar Mission would be soon out. Abdullah said he was not very keen on nuclear energy, especially after the Chernobyl disaster in the erstwhile Soviet Union.

“How long will we dump our radioactive wastes in the sea? The sea will surely revolt one day,” Abdullah said. Presently, solar energy constitutes one third of the total 14,000 Mw renewable energy. By 2022, Abdullah said, the Solar Mission will generate 20,000 Mw of energy alone.

Abdullah said that a Germany-based power company was setting up two 3,000 Mw each solar power projects in Gujarat and Rajasthan.