Solar Power is in the limelight now as India is looking for a sustainable source of energy. Environment activity and sustainability have been a vital subject of conversation as well as execution, particularly somewhat recently, in the country as well as on different worldwide stages too like the G20, World Economic Forum, and so forth. Petroleum products are scarce and also its prices increase from time to time. It is estimated that fossil fuels will be exhausted after approximately thirty years (which is a matter of concern). 

The government and some private organizations are now investing to flourish the solar sector in the upcoming years. In the last Fiscal Year(FY) 2022-23, 6900 crores were allotted to the Ministry of New and Renewable Resources, but now it has increased by almost 48% to 10220 crores in this year’s union budget 2023-24. 

Solar energy has the largest share of green energy in India with a share of 36% after it, hydro projects and wind energy followed it with 31% and 25% share. Solar energy has increased 18 times the power of renewable energy in India in the last seven years. Regardless of this outstanding development in the earlier seven years, India is still far away from its 2030 target of accomplishing 500 GW of green power or 50% of its complete introduced power limit. The objective set by India for itself reduces to adding around 50 GW every year.

Union Budget 2023-2024 Outlook for the Solar Energy Sector

Green Energy is in the ” Saptarishi ” i.e, seven guiding lights that would lead to ” Amrit Kaal for the next 25 years “. In the Union Budget 2023-24, the finance minister ” Nirmala Sitaraman ” allot 5331.5 crores to the solar energy sector for all grid and off-grid projects. This budget allocation is 53.65 per cent more than the previous year (3365 crores) and 104.58 per cent more than FY21 (2606 crores) which is a huge financial investment to become “Atma Nirbhar” in Solar Energy. 

This budget allocation is divided into some government schemes/projects or according to the Expenditure Budget. 1996.46 crore allocated under the scheme of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) launched in 2019 for the solar energy sector. This includes the installation of 17.5 lakh standalone solar agricultural pumps in off-grid areas and 10 lakh solarised grid-connected pumps. With this, we saw a 9 crore hike in budget allocation to the National Institute of Solar Energy which was 45 crore last year. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy ( Shri Raj Kumar Singh ) said that India will develop 65% production capacity in Solar Energy by the year 2030.

Solar Energy Goals in India and its Scope in Future

India had a goal of introducing 100 gigawatts (GW) of solar power projects by 2022 yet has just introduced 63 GW. Off-matrix solar projects comprise under 5% of the objective. The allotment for solar power expected to be provided to the grid has been raised to ₹4,970 crore, up from the ₹3,469 crores expected to be spent by Walk 2023. The Public Green Hydrogen Mission – a ₹19,000-crore program to deliver, use and supply hydrogen from environmentally friendly power sources – has been designated ₹297 crores.

India’s vision to expand its portion of non-petroleum energy to 50 per cent by 2030 will rely on how the government changes shape-up.