Global off-grid renewable capacity tripled between 2008 and 2017
While Africa has emerged as a dynamic, fast-moving hub, Asia leads in capacity deployment with its total capacity more than tripling to nearly 4.3 GW in 2017 from 1.3 GW in 2008, finds IRENA. Particularly, in India, a strong policy has pushed deployment of off-grid solar for agriculture and public end-uses.
Subsidies alone will not scale-up solar pumps, says CEEW
India’s Council on Energy, Environment, and Water (CEEW), which is actively working with the Indian government to update the country’s solar target, says increasing solar pump installations in India requires more than just subsidies.
Summary: Central subsidies for solar PV
The Indian government has introduced a number of subsidies under various categories of solar projects, from big PV parks to small rooftop and off-grid installations, in order to achieve its 100 GW solar target by 2022. The current status of the subsidies are summarized below.
MIT researchers release evaluation of solar pumps for irrigation in India
Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) study of solar pump technology used in India assesses technical performance and explores innovative business cases to increase user adoption. The study also helps farmers to choose the right size of the pump according to their requirement or size of fields.
