From the Executive Summary:

At the 2015 Paris Climate Change Conference of the Parties, India’s climate policy has emerged as a top concern, because its greenhouse gas emissions are projected to rise far into the future and could overtake those of the United States and China by midcentury. Under Prime Minister Modi, India plans to produce more power from coal, from both domestic and imported sources, greatly expanding its largest source of carbon emissions. At the same time, the Prime Minister has committed India to dramatically increase its deployment of solar power to 100 gigawatts (GW) by 2022, equal to more than half of all solar capacity installed world-wide as of 2014.1

And at the Paris Conference, the Prime Minister announced the International Solar Alliance, a coalition of 121 countries that India will lead to promote worldwide collaboration on developing and deploying solar power. This study assesses the feasibility of Prime Minister Modi’s solar ambition and the opportunities it presents for India and the world. The study reaches three important conclusions. First, for solar power to succeed as a serious climate tool in India, it will also need to deliver an array of domestic co-benefits — from improving power reliability and access to electricity to cutting air pollution and energy imports-thereby

This study assesses the feasibility of Prime Minister Modi’s audacious solar ambition and the opportunities it presents for India and the world building significant political support and
investment to dramatically ramp up solar deployment. Second, three very different segments of the solar industry—utility-scale, distributed, and off-grid solar-—will be required to deliver both climate results and domestic co-benefits to India.

Third, the Indian national and state governments, with the support of countries and institutions around the world, can advance the development of these diverse segments of solar by pursuing four building blocks of a successful solar strategy: reform the utility sector; harmonize federal and state policies; secure substantial and cost-effective financing; and foster the diffusion of technology and standards from abroad. With these building blocks in place, India can greatly accelerate the deployment of solar power and with it progress toward the world’s climate imperative.

This report explains the promise of solar to address India’s various energy challenges in Chapter 1, “Solar: India’s Ultimate Solution?” Although the Modi administration has set an ambitious target for overall deployment of solar, this chapter divides solar into three essential but very different segments—utility-scale, distributed, and off-grid—and makes the case for why all three are needed to advance India’s international climate commitments as well as deliver key domestic co-benefits.

Chapter 2, “Climate and Solar Action in the Indian Context,” provides background on India’s positions in international climate negotiation, assesses recent progress in deploying solar, and describes the different challenges India will face in scaling up all three segments of solar. The chapter lays out four key building blocks that the Indian federal and state governments, along with international players, should pursue to accelerate solar deployment and have a decent prospect of meeting the 100 GW target.

Chapter 3, “The Path Forward: Achieving Success in Three Segments of Solar,” takes deep dives into each of the three solar segments: utility-scale, distributed, and off-grid solar. Within each segment, the chapter describes the specific climate benefits and domestic co-benefits that could arise from rapid deployment and details segment-specific challenges that could obstruct progress. For each solar segment the chapter then discusses how to implement the four building blocks of a winning solar strategy, offering specific recommendations to enable progress toward the Modi administration’s ambitious solar goals.

Finally, Chapter 4, “Conclusion and Future Research Priorities,” highlights areas of ongoing policy uncertainty that require further research. This chapter aims to convey the magnitude of the task ahead for India and the importance of continued analysis to help guide the Modi administration toward achievement of its goals, as well as to raise awareness of international players who can support India in its ambitious solar mission.