PwC To Formulate India’s Solar Power Roadmap

Nearly a month after announcing the grid-connected solar capacity scale up plan from 22 GW to 100 GW by 2022, the Indian government has announced that one of the leading professional services network companies, PricewaterhouseCoopers, has been hired to formulate a plan to scale-up solar energy capacity in India.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) role will be to assess the country’s power scenario and demand, review the current solar energy policies of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), and determine a realistic power demand projection along with a solar energy scale-up to meet the future power demand.

In addition to assessing the power scenario of the country, PwC will also evaluate the possibility of attaining grid parity, and assess the robustness of the current power evacuation system to meet the government’s ambitious plan of 100 GW of solar capacity by 2022. PwC will take into account views of the relevant stakeholders for formulation of the scale-up plan to meet the country’s solar energy target.

Currently, growth in the solar power sector can be associated with various promotional policies both at the national and state levels. The National Solar Mission has been driving solar installations within the country since its launch in 2009. The current installed solar power capacity stands at around 3 GW, or about a tenth of the total renewable energy capacity, and just over 1% of the total power capacity of the country. If India achieves the 100 GW installed capacity by 2022, solar power would contribute about 25% to the total power installed capacity.

With a targeted installed solar power capacity of 100 GW by 2022, India will have to add 12 GW capacity every year, which appears to be very challenging.