Indian States Urged to Raise Solar Ambitions
Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2015 7:55 pmIndia’s central government is urging Indian states to raise their renewable energy targets including solar photovoltaic as the entire energy market is subjected to a major overhaul to power the country’s growth. Recently a senior minister said Maharashtra state should aim for 25GW of renewables by 2020, up from the current 14GW target. Around half of that would be solar. Other steps are also afoot to help renewables. The Indian Ministry of Power has proposed raising the Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) on power companies – dictating how much renewable energy they must generate or purchase – from the current 3% to 8% by 2019. A recent Supreme Court ruling that rejected a challenge to the RPO in Rajasthan state could make enforcement easier across the nation. India will also untie the monopolies enjoyed by utilities by separating power distribution and supply, and the state-owned Reserve Bank of India has added small-scale renewable energy to its priority lending list. (Source: )