India is the third largest producer of electricity in the world. During the fiscal year (FY) 2021–22, the total electricity generation in the country was 1,719 TWh, of which 1,484 TWh was generated by utilities.
Many countries and territories have installed significant solar power capacity into their electrical grids to supplement or provide an alternative to conventional energy sources. Solar power plants use one of two technologies:
The energy policy of India is to increase the locally produced energy in India and reduce energy poverty, with more focus on developing alternative sources of energy, particularly nuclear, solar and wind energy. Net energy import dependency was 40.9% in 2021-22.
Wind power generation capacity in India has significantly increased in recent years. As of 31 January 2023, the total installed wind power capacity was 41.983 gigawatts (GW), the fourth largest installed wind power capacity in the world. Wind power capacity is mainly spread across the southern, western, and northwestern states.
Solar power is a fast developing industry in India. The country's solar installed capacity was 64.381 GWAC as of 31 February 2023. Solar power generation in India ranks fourth globally in 2021.
For solar power, South Asia has the ideal combination of both high solar insolation and a high density of potential customers.
Solar power accounted for an estimated 8.2 per cent of electricity in Germany in 2019, which was almost exclusively from photovoltaics (PV). About 1.5 million photovoltaic systems were installed around the country in 2014, ranging from small rooftop systems, to medium commercial and large utility-scale solar parks. Germany's largest solar farms are located in Meuro, Neuhardenberg, and Templin with capacities over 100 MW.
Financial incentives for photovoltaics are incentives offered to electricity consumers to install and operate solar-electric generating systems, also known as photovoltaics (PV).
Solar power represented a very small part of electricity production in the United Kingdom until the 2010s when it increased rapidly, thanks to feed-in tariff (FIT) subsidies and the falling cost of photovoltaic (PV) panels.
A feed-in tariff is a policy mechanism designed to accelerate investment in renewable energy technologies by offering long-term contracts to renewable energy producers. This means promising renewable energy producers an above-market price and providing price certainty and long-term contracts that help finance renewable energy investments. Typically, FITs award different prices to different sources of renewable energy in order to encourage development of one technology over another. For example, technologies such as wind power and solar PV are awarded a higher price per kWh than tidal power. FITs often include a "degression": a gradual decrease of the price or tariff in order to follow and encourage technological cost reductions.
The National Solar Mission is an initiative of the Government of India and State Governments to promote solar power. The mission is one of the several policies of the National Action Plan on Climate Change. The program was inaugurated as the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 11 January 2010 with a target of 20 GW by 2022. This was later increased to 100 GW by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2015 Union budget of India. India increased its utility solar power generation capacity by nearly 5 times from 2,650 MW on 26 May 2014 to 12,288.83 MW on 31 March 2017. The country added 9,362.65 MW in 2017–18, the highest of any year. The original target of 20 GW was surpassed in 2018, four years ahead of the 2022 deadline.
Solar power in Gujarat, a state of India, is a fast developing industry given that the large state is mostly arid. It was one of the first states to develop solar generation capacity in India.
A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building-mounted and other decentralized solar power because they supply power at the utility level, rather than to a local user or users. Utility-scale solar is sometimes used to describe this type of project.
Mithapur Solar Power Plant is a 25 MW solar power plant located in Mithapur, Gujarat. It is expected to produce 40,734 MWh/year. 108,696 230 Wp panels were used.
The Canal Solar Power Project is a solar canal project launched in Gujarat, India, to use the 532 km (331 mi) long network of Narmada canals across the state for setting up solar panels to generate electricity. It was the first ever such project in India. This project has been commissioned by SunEdison India.
The Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park is a photovoltaic power station in Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan, named in honor of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the Founder of Pakistan. It is a 100 MW solar plant spanning 500 acres (200 ha) and hosting 392,158 solar modules. The initial phase of the project was constructed by the Government of Punjab, Pakistan in May 2015 at a cost of $131 million.
Bhadla Solar Park is the largest solar park in the world as of 2022 and is spread over a total area of 5,700 hectares in Bhadla, Phalodi tehsil, Jodhpur district, Rajasthan, India.
Pavagada Solar Park is a solar park covering an area of 53 square kilometres in Pavagada taluk, Tumkur district, Karnataka. Completed in 2019, the park has a capacity of 2,050 MW. As of April 2021, it is the World's third largest photovoltaic solar park after the 2,245 MW Bhadla Solar Park in Rajasthan and 2,200 MW Huanghe Hydropower Hainan Solar Park in China. The total project cost was ₹14,800 crore.
Kadapa Ultra Mega Solar Park is a solar park spread over a total area of 5,927.76 acres (23.9888 km2) in the Mylavaram mandal of Kadapa district, Andhra Pradesh.
