India may be gearing to turn itself into the global leader in solar power generation, a sign that major developing nations could become renewable energy hubs to rival Germany and the United States.

Dubbed the National Solar Mission, the Indian plan outlines a target for 20,000 megawatts of solar capacity by 2020, according to a draft copy obtained by Greenpeace and posted to the Web.

“This would be the most ambitious solar plan that any country has laid out so far,” said Siddharth Pathak, a climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace India.

India would generate 100,000 megawatts of solar power by 2030 and 200,000 megawatts by mid-century under the plan.

The plan acknowledges the high cost of solar compared to other sources of energy, and coal in particular. But it says costs could be driven down to between 4 and 5 rupees per kilowatt hour by the period 2017-2020, making solar cost competitive with fossil fuels.

There would be one million rooftop systems with an average capacity of 3 kilowatts by 2020 to cut the use of diesel for daytime power while generation parks could be built in the “exclusion” zones around nuclear plants, where people are not allowed to live but solar facilities could be safely installed.

Key to the project would be building up local manufacturing capacity. The plan envisages training 100,000 specialists by 2020. It also foresees the need for processing facilities for raw materials, factories and technology parks for making components and equipment and generation parks to produce electricity.

India currently can make 700 megawatts of photovoltaic modules each year, according to the plan. The aim would be to make 20,000 megawatts of solar cells annually by 2017 and to establish expertise in solar thermal technologies.

Total costs would be 85,000 and 105,000 crores ($18.5 billion to $22.8 billion) over a 30-year period. To help finance the project, the plan foresees a significant tax on gasoline and diesel — fuels the government currently subsidizes.

The plan also foresees a feed-in tariff, solar power purchase obligations for Indian authorities, tax breaks for manufacturers, and exemptions on tariffs for imported equipment. A so-called Solar Energy Authority of India would be set up to manage the system.

But Greenpeace emphasized that help from rich-world countries would be essential for India to meet its goals.

“India needs international support,” said Mr. Pathak. “The industrialized world needs to come up with solid proposals on technology and finance to help developing countries deliver on ambitious plans like this one,” he said.

Solar Sector Foresees a Brighter 2010

this is a interesting news catch my eye today…..

Demand for solar panels is expected to be robust in 2010 and beyond. With 2009 aggregate demand for solar panels expected to be flat compared to 2008, this has been a tough year so far for producers and marketers of solar panels, who had ramped up production all through 2008 based on increasing demand.

The economic turndown in late 2008 all but dried up funding for all projects, including solar, releasing a glut of supplies on the market, solar energy experts said during the recent Reuters Global Energy Summit. The effect was exacerbated early this year when Spain pulled back on the generous solar subsidies it had in place for years, making it one of the largest global producers of electricity from solar.

The resulting glut in supplies lowered the price of solar panels, hurting profit expectations for solar producers, many of which are highly leveraged.

Prospects for 2010, however, look good, said Steven Chan, Chief Strategy Officer of Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd.

With U.S. policy trending toward adoption of solar, along with an ease in the credit market, solar will have better days ahead, said Tom Werner, Chief Executive Officer of SunPower Corp.

Access to improved funding is not expected to kick in until later this year, meaning that solar companies still have a few rough months ahead of them, said Mark Morelli, Chief Executive Officer of Energy Conversion Devices Inc.

The utility industry is moving toward mass adoption of solar power despite a tough economic climate, according to a new report from The Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA).