2 July:The National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC) has been studying the issues relating to manufacture of Solar Energy equipment in the context of clean energy requirements as well as the Energy security requirements of the country. In this context three meetings were held in which all the stakeholders, namely the concerned scientific Ministries, the Industry and other stakeholders participated and the issues were discussed threadbare.
Based on the conclusions at these meetings Dr. V. Krishnamurthy, Chairman, NMCC, has highlighted in a communication to the Prime Minister that it was extremely important to put activities relating to solar energy on top gear in order to make it the major supplier of energy to the country in the coming years. Recognizing that investment and effort of a very high order would be required for pursuing research, development as well as adoption for commercial purpose, the NMCC has suggested that a Mission on the lines of the Space Commission should be launched for concentrating entirely on all aspects of Solar energy.
It was noted that India’s energy needs in the coming years would be enormous. It is estimated that in the next 10 years the Power generation alone would require an additional capacity of 3,00,000 MW. The energy requirement for all other applications would be much higher. Already the price of oil has become unaffordable. Coal and other fossil fuels are also not inexhaustible. Besides this, the country is over-dependent for a primary input like energy, particularly on oil, on other countries which may not be in our national interest in the long run. The NMCC has therefore suggested, that Solar energy being the only source of abundant supply in our country all steps should be taken to harness it on a large scale even if it were to take some time to develop it in terms of scale. The NMCC recognizes that some very major work needs to be done in terms of research on materials, development and also on converting the technology into commercially viable products. It is for these reasons that the NMCC has suggested setting up of a Solar Mission on par with the Space Commission headed by a leader with similar long term vision.