Photovoltaic news and pv jobs

Indian PV capacity has grown by 300 percent in two years

India has seen more than 300 percent growth in megawatt (MW) capacity for solar photovoltaics (PV) installations in the last two years.

India has significantly increased its installed PV capacity. Image: Malaviya Energy Consultancy.

Industry leaders and experts have said a number of proposals for setting up large and small solar PV power plants have been submitted by public and private sector companies, to help achieve the 1,100 MW target of Phase I of the country’s National Solar Mission (NSM), which represents around Rs18,000 crore of investment.

The findings came from an interactive panel discussion, held in preparation for this year’s Solarcon India event.

Sathya Prasad, president of SEMI India and convener of Solarcon India 2010, announced that this year’s event will focus on 'Achieving 1,000 MW of solar generation capacity by 2012, followed by 20,000 MW by 2022'.

Setting the context for the panel discussion on the occasion he said: "Recent policy and planning announcements, and the launch of the NSM by the Government of India suggest a clear recognition that PV will play an increasingly prominent role in India's energy strategy. Large solar PV power plants are just taking off with about 10MW of current installed capacity.

“The industry and all the stakeholders now need to focus on successful implementation of projects under the NSM. This year's edition of Solarcon India will bring together the best professionals from industry, government, academia, as well as financiers to discuss key implementation aspects and challenges ahead. Today's panel will kick start this discussion by highlighting the key opportunities and challenges in setting up solar PV projects and sharing key learnings from real implementation."