India has immense potential of solar energy though there are regional variations in its development. Elaborate.
Approach · directive: “elaborate”
What it asks · Describe India's large solar potential, and explain why development is uneven across States: resource, land, grid, policy and finance.
The question has 3 parts — answer each
- Elaborate India's immense solar potential and the push to develop it
- Elaborate the regional variations in development and the reasons behind them
- Indicate how development can be spread more evenly
Open with · India lies in the tropical sun belt, with strong sunshine over most of the country for most of the year.
Cover
- Potential: NISE estimates about 748 GWp; Rajasthan (about 142 GWp), Jammu & Kashmir (111), Maharashtra (64), Madhya Pradesh (62) and Andhra Pradesh (38) lead.
- Drivers: National Solar Mission (2010), the 100 GW-by-2022 target, solar parks, reverse auctions, PM-KUSUM (2019) and the International Solar Alliance (2015).
- Concentration: big plants cluster in Rajasthan (Bhadla), Karnataka (Pavagada), Tamil Nadu (Kamuthi), Andhra Pradesh (Kurnool) and Gujarat; the North-East and hill States lag.
- Why variation: sunshine, cloud and dust; availability of cheap barren land; transmission and evacuation lines; and the strength of State policy, PPAs and distribution-company finances.
- Constraints: land acquisition, curtailment, weak grids in remote areas, intermittency needing storage, dependence on imported modules, and delayed payments by distribution companies.
- Way forward: rooftop and distributed solar, agrivoltaics and floating solar, storage, Green Energy Corridors and inter-State power trade.
Close with · India's solar promise is large but uneven; better transmission, storage, State finances and local manufacturing can spread it beyond a few resource-rich States.
Add value (verified)
- The Government's official figure, given in February 2024, is a solar potential of 748 GWp assessed by NISE from Waste Land Atlas data, with a State-wise table showing Rajasthan far ahead. Ministry of New and Renewable Energy — India's solar energy potential is estimated to be 748 GWp (PIB, 7 February 2024) ↗“India’s total solar energy potential has been estimated to be 748 GWp (Giga Watt peak), as estimated by National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE), on the basis of the data from Waste Land Atlas of India 2010.”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2020, GS Paper I — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer · 308 words (UPSC limit 250) · Minimalist IAS
Lying in the tropical sun belt, most of India receives strong sunshine for most of the year; the National Institute of Solar Energy puts the country's solar potential at about 748 GWp, many times its installed capacity.
Immense potential
- Resource: the 748 GWp estimate, drawn from wasteland data, places Rajasthan (about 142 GWp), Jammu and Kashmir (111), Maharashtra (64), Madhya Pradesh (62) and Andhra Pradesh (38) at the top.
- Policy push: the National Solar Mission (2010) and the 100 GW-by-2022 target, solar parks, reverse auctions that drove tariffs down, PM-KUSUM (2019) for farmers and the International Solar Alliance (2015).
- Result: parks at Bhadla (Rajasthan), Pavagada (Karnataka), Kamuthi (Tamil Nadu) and Kurnool (Andhra Pradesh) rank among the largest in the world.
Regional variation and its causes
- Concentration: capacity clusters in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, while the North-East, the hill States and the Gangetic plain lag far behind.
- Resource: cloud, monsoon length, dust and haze cut yields; the western desert combines the strongest sun with the clearest skies.
- Land: cheap barren land is abundant in Rajasthan and Gujarat but scarce in densely farmed eastern States and forested hill States.
- Grid: evacuation lines and substations reach the big parks of the west and south; remote regions lack transmission and face curtailment.
- Policy and finance: State solar policies, land banks and prompt power-purchase agreements matter, and distribution companies with weak finances delay payments and deter investors.
- Common constraints: land acquisition, intermittency without storage, dependence on imported modules and payment delays.
Spreading development
- Rooftop and distributed solar for land-scarce States, agrivoltaics and floating solar on reservoirs, storage to firm supply, Green Energy Corridors and inter-State power trade so that sunny States can serve the rest.
India's solar promise is large but lopsided; better transmission, storage, healthier State utilities and local manufacturing can carry it beyond a few resource-rich States.
Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.