Wednesday, May 21, 2014: The new Narendra Modi led government of India has plans to harness the power of solar energy to bring light to every India home by 2019. As reported earlier, the renewable energy industry in India has high hopes with the Modi government.
If these plans of the Modi government come to reality, it will be a major boost for the Indian solar industry. According to a Bloomberg Businessweek report, Narendra Taneja, convener of the energy division at Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, said, “We look upon solar as having the potential to completely transform the way we look at the energy space.”
It is worth mentioning here that as many as 400 million people of the country have no access to electricity. This number exceeds the combined population of the US and Canada. Providing electricity to each Indian household was one of the targets of the outgoing UPA government, but they missed the goal.
Achieving this goal will require cooperation of state-level administrations, “with which the central government shares control over the power industry,” Taneja said. If the project of powering each home with solar power is successful, it will generate enough power to run two bulbs, a solar cooker and a television in each home.
Not only will this move provide electricity access to Indian households, but will also create jobs, said Taneja. It is worth mentioning here that Modi has majorly promoted solar energy in Gujarat during his tenure as a chief minister.
