While the national solar mission triggers power generation, domestic solar equipment makers are still way below best in the world. More than 90% of solar installations in India use crystalline cells made of silicon wafers with 12%-18% efficiency. India is targeting 20,000 MW grid connected solar power to be installed till 2022 and 2000 MW of off-grid solar power will cost the public more than Rs.2.00 lakh crore from 2012 to 2047. India's coal demand by 2030 is likely to be 60 per cent higher than the projected domestic production of about 1.5 billion tonnes per annum by the same year. Further, given India's limited oil reserves, more than 10 times India's domestic supply of oil may have to be imported. Such a high level of energy imports would have implications for India's energy security. There would also be the challenge of expanding coal mining in India more than three times to reach approximately 1.5 billion tonnes of coal production per annum. The present paper explores the challenges and opportunity of solar energy production as an ultimate source to survive and maintain the sustainability of the society's need in future. Secondary sources have been used to analyse the paper.
Solar Energy, Rural India, Solar Equipments, Barriers, Solar Mission
