March 21, 2015: Piyush Goyal, minister for power, coal and renewable energy, has urged all the Indian states to come up with an individual solar policies. The minister has asked the states to submit solar policy to the central government as part of the country’s ongoing thrust to ramp up its solar PV portfolio.
While giving a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Goyal said that 14 states have issued solar policies till date. He also revealed that a draft “model solar energy policy” has been dispersed to all the states in order to offer guidance on how to meet clean energy targets.
The MNRE has also sanctioned another 348MW of grid-connected rooftop PV projects throughout India. He further added that foreign investment in the country in renewable energy sector has a lot of untapped potential.
“An estimated potential of 897 GW has been identified from various renewable energy sources in the country,” said Goyal. “This includes 749 GW from solar, 103 GW from wind, 25 GW from bio-energy and 20 GW from small hydro power”, added Goyal.