Reaching India's Audacious Solar Targets

At the 2015 Paris COP, Prime Minister Modi committed India to dramatically increase its deployment of solar power to 100 GW by 2022. A recent study by the Steyer-Taylor Center entitled "Reach for the Sun: How India's Audacious Solar Ambitions Could Make or Break its Climate Commitments" assesses the feasibility of this ambition and the opportunities it presents.

The study reaches three important conclusions. First, for solar power to succeed, it will also need to deliver an array of domestic co-benefits-from improving power reliability and access to electricity to cutting air pollution and energy imports-thereby building significant political support and investment to dramatically ramp up solar deployment. Second, three very different segments of the solar industry-utility-scale, distributed, and off-grid solar-will be required to deliver both climate results and domestic co-benefits to India.  Third, the Indian national and state governments, with the support of countries and institutions around the world, can advance the development of these diverse segments of solar by pursuing four building blocks of a successful solar strategy: reform the utility sector; harmonize federal and state policies; secure substantial and cost-effective financing; and foster the diffusion of technology and standards from abroad.

Speakers: Dan Reicher and Gireesh Shrimali, Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance