National solar mission has potential to shine

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) recently announced the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, which will focus on promoting large-scale generation of solar power and the manufacture in India of equipment to support it.

The mission aims to address and overcome key impediments to the increase of solar power generation in India. It envisages steps that will facilitate a high level of sustained investment in the sector, reduce capital costs and promote technical innovation. Among the proposed incentives to developers are the reduction or removal of duties, the establishment of special economic zones and the enabling of “single window clearance” for projects.

To promote the manufacture of the necessary solar power generation equipment in India, the mission visualizes significant private participation in technology transfer and the improvement and expansion of facilities, and emphasizes research and development programmes focused on solar energy, and the establishment of world-class training centres.

Akshay Jaitly is a partner at Trilegal in Delhi, where Anuja Tiwari is an associate. Trilegal is a full-service law firm with offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. The firm has over 100 lawyers, some of whom have experience with law firms in the US, the UK and Japan.