Solar power plan roll-out likely this year

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Aug. 10 The Government is likely to roll out a plan to add 20 giggawatt (20,000 MW) solar-based power generation capacity. This was shared by the Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Mr Deepak Gupta, here on Monday.

“The solar mission has been approved in principle. Now we have to work on the roll-out. Hopefully, we will go to the Cabinet in the next couple of months so that this calendar year, we should have the roll-out,” he said.

The Secretary was speaking to newspersons after inaugurating the Third India Renewable Energy Expo, here. India will host International Renewable Energy Conference (DIREC, 2010) during October 27-29, 2010 at New Delhi. The Delhi conference is the fourth in the series. This is part of the initiative taken at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.

Mr Gupta said the conference aims to showcase India as an investment destination for renewable energy. It would also provide a platform for technology displays, new applications and innovations; to display global research and development with respect to climate change and green environment; to demonstrate the sectoral strength of the global renewable energy industry.

The conference would facilitate: (i) buyers and sellers matching (ii) one to one meetings for setting up of joint ventures in the Renewable Energy Sector and (iii) to provide an opportunity to Indian Renewables Manufacturers to benchmark their products against the best in the world and enhance their competitiveness.

The DIREC 2010 will build on the success of the previous conferences with the support of National and International Sponsors. REN21 — the Renewable Energy Network — will be a key partner in the DIREC, 2010. The main Theme of the DIREC, 2010 is: “Upscaling and Mainstreaming Renewables for Energy Security and Climate Change”.