Renewable energy programmes in India

With a strong industrial base and successful commercialisation of technologies in renewable energy, India is in a position today to offer state-of-the-art technology to other developing countries and is poised to play a leading role in the global movement towards sustainable energy development. India has a separate ministry to promote renewable energy sources, which has been named Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (MNES). The ministry has different programmes, such as the solar energy programme, wind energy programme, bio-energy programme and small hydro programme. These renewable energy programmes are discussed in detail in this paper. The ministry has estimated the potential of solar, wind, bio-energy and small hydropower as 55 MW/Sq Km, 45 000 MW, 14 300 MW and 10 000 MW respectively. Out of this potential, the ministry has installed 191 MW, 2980 MW, 727 MW and 1693 MW through solar, wind, bio-energy and small hydro respectively. The country is aiming to install more renewable energy systems to contribute 25% of the total energy requirement by the year 2020.