The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission is implemented in three phases with phase -1 by 2013, phase 2 by 2017 and phase 3 by 2022.  Against the targets for phase 1, major achievements include the following:

i)      The entire capacity of 1,100 MW of grid connected solar power has been allocated.

ii)     As on date, over 979 MW capacity of grid connected solar power has been installed in the country. The State-wise installed capacity is given below:- 

iii)    The sanctioned capacity for off grid applications is over 118 MW.

iv)   No direct financial assistance is provided by the government for setting up solar power projects connected to the grid.  One scheme of 1000 MW has been implemented through a mechanism of bundling of solar power with thermal power from unallocated quota of the Government.  For projects connected to less than 33 kV grid, a scheme of generation based incentive has been implemented under which a total of  98 MW capacity projects were allotted. 

v)    To support deployment of off grid solar applications, the Government provides capital subsidy upto 30% of the benchmark cost and / or soft loan at a rate of 5% interest.

            Since launch of the JNNSM, the capacity of solar power projects has grown from 8 MW in January 2010 to over 979 MW in the country.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has a research and development scheme whereby up to 100% support is provided to research institutions in the public as well as private sector to undertake research on various aspects of solar technology including photovoltaics and the storage.

            China has a plan to add solar capacity of the order of 15 GW by 2015 in comparison to up to 10 GW capacity addition in India by 2017. There is no significant solar power project reported in Brazil and Russia.

This information was given by the Minister of New and Renewable Energy Dr. Farooq Abdullah in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

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MA/KT/VN