Some interesting statistics to date on solar installations and solar power in India ..

1. India installed roughly 1 GW in 2012 accounting for 80% of the country’s total installed capacity till date 

2. Of the 2.11 lakh MW energy in India, less than 1500 MW is being produced via JNSSM, according to one recent report. This is less than 1 % of the energy production. 

3. The 300 sunny days in year gives a green signal for the implementation of the solar power. India receives 4-7KWHr of the solar radiation per square metre of area. 

4. India is a vast country with enough solar potential in certain states like Gujarat, Haryana and Rajasthan. Surprisingly even areas like Leh get high solar irradiation making these ideal for setting up solar power plants. 

5. Most of the population in India lives in villages, where energy access is difficult, and erratic at best. The rural regions remain last priority for supply primarily because recovery is an issue. Also in mountainous areas it is very difficult and a costly affair to supply electricity through normal grid supply. Solar power is decentralised energy generation and ideally suited for such conditions. It is the answer to Indias energy access problem – better than Biomass and Wind Power ! 

6. Solar power is environment friendly & pollution free. If we look at the cost of electricity generated by the fossil fuels and add up the cost of the health & environment hazards, we will find that cost of generating electricity from solar power is very less. At todays prices, this is economically feasible and lower than hybrid generation costs that factories and industry uses.

7. Solar Power is renewable.The fossils are non-renewable in nature and cause pollution to the environment. The Solar power is best option to cater our increasing demand of energy. 

8. The gestation period of setting solar power plant is far less than that of its non-renewable energy source counterpart of the same capacity. The maintenance cost is relatively low. 

9. The fast development in technology is continuously making it cheaper.

Globally :

Mercom Capital Group, llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, forecasts another year of solar growth with installations expected to reach 64.7 GW in 2016 up from 57.8 GW forecast for 2015.
“The largest markets in 2016 will again be China, the United States and Japan; the United States is set to overtake Japan as the second largest solar market behind China. These three countries will account for about 65 percent of installations next year” said Raj Prabhu, CEO and Co-Founder of Mercom Capital Group.
China will continue to be the largest solar market in the world, installing approximately 19.5 GW in 2016. China has installed almost 10 GW in the first three quarters this year, well ahead of 3.79 GW installed in the same period last year. 

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