Economic Significance Of Renewable Energy Policy

ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE OF RENEWABLE ENERGY POLICY IN INDIA: A CASE STUDY OF GUJARAT’S SOLAR POLICY

I. Introduction
The transition to a greener energy regime in India is driven by both external factors, like energy prices, market developments, political culture and the emphasis on climate change, as well as by internal factors like the goal to achieve long term energy security and the need for enhancing access to energy. The early emphasis on renewable energy in India was primarily on the wake of energy security concerns mooted during the global oil crisis around 1970s. Commission of Additional Sources of Energy (CASE) in 1981 was set up by Government of India (GoI) as one of the early response to such a crisis. CASE was transformed …show more content…

It is argued that policy reforms initiated during the past two decades have transformed India’s energy sector from a predominantly government owned system to a system largely driven by market elements. This is also evident in the case of renewable energy where the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) identifies the development of renewable energy in India across various phases: 1970s as research phase, 1980s as demonstration phase and 1990s onwards as commercialization phase with greater participation of private sector entities.
The renewable sources of power in India still constitute a small portion of the entire power production of the country, with the total installed capacity of 32,000 MW (which is about 12% of the total installed capacity). Out of the total installed capacity, solar energy constitutes about 10 % (3200 MW). The solar potential of the country is huge. It is estimated that about 12.5 % of India’s landmass, which is about 413,000 square kilometers, can be exploited to harness solar energy. The country on an average enjoys 300 sunny days with an average hourly solar radiation of about 200 MW/square kilometer. The major recent initiative in the solar space is the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) launched in 2010 by the Central