Current Scenario of Solar Power and Various Schemes for Stimulation and Expansion of Solar Energy Sector in India

The parameter for the assessment of socioeconomic development of a country is assessed by the per capita energy consumption. One of the most challenging tasks, and also the assessment of the performance of the government of any country across the globe, is the availability of the sources of energy and power at reasonable cost to meet the demand of society. The depletion of fossil fuel reserves in the last 50 years for the need of accelerating development earlier; and now the shift towards sustainable development of both urban and rural areas has resulted in renewable energy gaining prominence. Among the freely eco-friendly renewable energy sources (RES) that are available in abundance in India are solar and wind energy. In the recent past, technological advancements have made these two sources amongst prominent renewable sources in India. Specially, solar energy holds great potential for providing a solution to the long-standing gap between power demand and supply. This gap is increasing as the county is developing. In this paper, efforts have been made to analyze and summarize the available data, on planning, promotion schemes, targets assigned for electrical power generation and their achievement from solar energy option in India.