As India progresses towards a renewable future a multitude of measures like solar energy policy frameworks, increased investment, technology improvements and on ground efforts from state/central government, private sector, NGO’s etc are contributing to achieving the targets. The dropping prices for solar energy foster this development and allow for commercial and non commercial utilization of solar energy across the country. Half way through the National mission on solar energy there is a need to accelerate the transition process.
The Indo German Solar Energy Partnership as one means to support and intensify the solar revolution in India is a timely intervention, founded on the long tradition of cooperation on energy, climate change and sustainable development between the two nations. The partnership signed by the Indian and German government in 2015 envisaged continued technical and financial support of earlier cooperation to boost solar power in India. Indo German cooperation on solar projects and transmission grids of the recent years has led to 5.5 million avoided tCO2.
To enable the stakeholders in achieving the ambitious solar targets, Centre for Environment Education (CEE) and Heinrich Böll Stiftung India (HBF India) organized five solar energy consultations in partnership with Gujarat Energy Research and Management Institute (GERMI). The consultation sought inputs from an array of stakeholders on challenges, gaps and learnings from different experiences across the country in fostering the use of solar energy. This bottom up consultative approach aimed at helping to bridge the gap between policy formulation and implementation and build momentum for adoption of solar energy systems, informing national solar policy, the Indo German bilateral solar cooperation and possibly the International solar alliance and other solar partnerships.
The policy brief summarizes the outcomes of the stakeholder consultations, discussion and concludes with policy recommendations.