Short Note on National Solar Mission?
The National Solar Mission is also known by the name the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission is among one of the eighth key National mission’s which comprise India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). NAPCC was launched on 30th June, 2008 by Dr. Manmohan Singh which identified development of solar energy technologies in the country as a National Mission. In order to promote ecologically sustainable growth and meet the challenge of India’s energy security the national solar mission was launched by Government of India and State Governments as a major initiative. The Government of India approved National Solar Mission on January 11, 2010. As far as India is concerned undoubtedly, solar energy has got tremendous potential to reduce reliance on non-renewable and depleting energy sources as sunshine is available in great intensity and for longer duration per day. Besides, it can also permit decentralized distribution of energy for empowering people at the grassroots level.
Keeping in view this vision and the brand name “Solar India”, The National Solar Mission was launched with the prime objective to establish India as a global leader in solar energy, by creating the policy conditions for its diffusion across the country as quickly as possible. The mission was launched following a three phase approach extending till the period of 11th plan and first year of the 12th plan (up to 2012-13) as Phase 1, the remaining 4 years of the 12th Plan (2013-17) as Phase 2 and the 13th Plan (2017-22) as Phase 3.
The mission aims at establishing an enabling environment for solar energy in our country at both the levels centralized and decentralized. During June 2015 the ambitious target of 20,000 MW was revised to 1 lakh MW of grid connected solar power by 2022. There is a provision of midterm evaluation of the progress review of capacity and the targets for the successive phases in order to protect government from the exposure of subsidy.
The mission had two well defined purposes:
- Long term energy security
- Ecological security.
Environmental impact:
- Solar energy is environmentally friendly as it has zero emissions while generating electricity or heat. It produces electricity which doesn’t cause pollution of environment.
- The energy produced from the sun is a renewable source of energy. The power source of the sun is absolutely free.
- It can be used in remote and isolated areas where there is no power supply.
- Most solar energy systems have a lifespan of about 30 to 40 years.