New Delhi India plans to provide affordable power to all households in the next five years, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said today.

"The Government of India aims to provide 24x7 electricity to all households in the country and affordable access to electricity in the next 5 years," he said inaugurating an International Seminar on Energy Access organised by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and CII here. Singh also said the government was taking steps to offer cooking gas to all rural households.

First Solar Inc, Mahindra Solar One Pvt. Ltd., and Kiran Energy Solar Power Pvt. Ltd., have signed an agreement for the supply of advanced, thin-film solar modules for two solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants of 50 MW to be set up in Rajasthan.

The two adjacent projects, which together will be one of India’s largest PV installations upon completion, are part of the second batch of utility-scale solar projects concluded under India’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (NSM). The NSM aims to install 20,000 MW of new solar electricity generating capacity by 2022.

New Delhi The ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) has proposed tapping into the Clean Energy Fund proceeds to subsidise the capacity addition envisaged in the second phase of the national s

New Delhi: The Delhi environment department has identified 25 government schools and 10 government hospitals that will get independent solar power systems.

Cost of solar power may equal to that of conventional energy by 2014: Study

If India’s conventional power sector, particularly coal-based thermal power projects, has found itself squarely stuck under the long shadow of governmental inefficiencies and suspect allocation mechanisms, there is a drastically different story unfolding in the country’s solar energy sector. The rising cost of conventional power, largely driven by increasing raw material exports and the growing cost of establishing greenfield projects, alongside a steady decline in solar power prices — mostly a function of a sharp reduction in the prices of solar photo voltaic (PV) modules — could result in solar projects reaching grid parity by 2014, a new study by KPMG has suggested.

Mumbai India needs to stem an influx of cheaper imports from China and ease taxes on locally made solar cells to boost domestic manufacturing, Tata Power Solar Systems’ newly appointed CEO Ajay Goel told FE in a telephonic interview on Wednesday.

The government aims to turn India into a major solar power hub, targeting a 20-fold rise in sun-power generation to 20 Giga Watts (GW) by 2022. The country’s growing power needs and a shortage of coal and gas used in conventional thermal plants has highlighted the need to develop energy from alternative sources, such as sun and wind.