As part of an ambitious $19 billion, 30-year energy strategy India plans to boost its solar power output from near zero to 20 gigawatts by 2020.
The solar power capacity, when fully implemented, would be sufficient to supply one-eighth of India’s current installed power base.
The "National Solar Mission", yet to be formally adopted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's special panel on climate, envisages the creation of a statutory solar authority that would make it mandatory for states to buy some solar power.
"The aspiration is to ensure large-scale deployment of solar generated power for both grid connected as well as distributed and decentralized off-grid provision of commercial energy services," the policy draft said, according to Reuters.
The plan, which is expected to be unveiled in September, would help India close the gap on solar front-runners such as China and increase India's leverage in international talks ahead of a new UN climate pact to be negotiated in December in Copenhagen.
India is the world's fourth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases. The new energy scheme would help limit the country’s heavy reliance on dirty coal and assuage the power deficit that has crimped its growth.
