The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission is a major initiative of the Government of India and the state governments to promote ecologically sustainable growth while addressing India’s energy security challenge. The Mission, according to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, will contribute to the global effort to meet the challenges of climate change.
The first phase (till March 2013) is considered to have achieved the target. The Solar Thermal component of the JNNSM will now, until 2022, focus on promoting off-grid systems including hybrid systems to meet and/or supplement heating and cooling energy requirements and power. These systems still require interventions to bring down costs. The key challenge is to provide an enabling framework and support for entrepreneurs to develop markets. This programme will address off-grid and decentralised solar thermal application area/systems.
Fossil fuels are used for process heating, drying, distillation, water heating, space heating and refrigeration and generation of electricity. The Ministry has estimated that about 25 million households use electric geysers, consuming approximately 7,500 GWh of electricity (assuming minimum annual consumption of around 600 kWh/year/geyser) and 15 million tons a year of petroleum fuels are used in industries in thermal form at temperatures below 300°C. As about 30% of the energy consumed by industry is used for heating water, there is huge potential.
