Solar energy

Topic: Energy Resources of India: Conventional and Non-conventional · NCERT: Class 8, Ch 1 "Natural Resources and Their Use"; Class 10, Ch 5 "Minerals and Energy Resources"; Class 12, Ch 5 "Mineral and Energy Resources"

Meaning

Solar energy is energy from sunlight. It is captured in two ways: photovoltaic (PV) cells turn it straight into electricity, and solar thermal technology traps its heat for water heaters, crop dryers and cookers. It is a non-conventional source because it is renewable, clean and new in large-scale use, unlike coal or oil.

It matters because it is now India's largest renewable source, with 168.04 GW installed on 31 August 2026 [2]. Solar is the main way India plans to reach 500 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030 [2].

Explanation

How sunlight is turned into usable energy

Method	How it works	What it is used for
Photovoltaic (PV) cells	A thin layer, usually silicon, takes in sunlight and turns it directly into electricity	Solar parks, rooftop panels, solar pumps, street lights
Solar thermal technology	Mirrors or dark surfaces take in sunlight and trap its heat	Solar water heaters, crop dryers, solar cookers

• PV gives electricity. Solar thermal gives heat. Exam questions often test this difference.

Why India, and western India most of all, has high potential

• Cause → process → result:
• India lies mostly in the tropics and sub-tropics. The Tropic of Cancer (23.5°N) passes through Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
• The sun stands high in the sky for much of the year. Much of the country gets about 300 clear (sunny) days a year.

• As a result, the ground gets strong sunlight on most days. This suits both PV and solar thermal use.

• Western India (Rajasthan, Gujarat) has the highest potential (NCERT Class 12):

• The Thar desert has dry skies with no clouds and little rain.
• There is a lot of flat, barren land where few people live, so large parks can be built there.

• The Rann of Kutch is a flat salt-marsh with almost no farming.

• Rural use (NCERT Class 10): solar is spreading in rural and remote areas.

• It reduces the use of firewood and dung cakes as fuel.
• This saves forests and keeps dung for use as manure.

• It also cuts indoor smoke.

• Exam caution: the Class 12 textbook says solar is "7 per cent more effective than coal or oil". This line has no clear basis, so do not build an answer on it.

How solar is used across India: parks, hybrids, floating plants and small units

• Solar park: a large, planned area. The government brings land, roads, water and transmission lines (high-voltage power lines) together in one place. Developers then build solar plants there "plug-and-play": they only need to connect and start.

• 50 solar parks of almost 37.5 GW were sanctioned between 2014 and December 2023. Of this, 10.2 GW had been built by then [6].

• Hybrid park: one site that produces both solar and wind power.

• The sun shines by day. The wind often blows harder in the evening and during the monsoon.

• Together they give steadier power and make better use of the same transmission lines.

• Floating solar: PV panels fixed on floats on a reservoir, lake or pond.

• It saves land because no farmland or forest is needed.
• It cuts evaporation because the panels shade the water, so the reservoir loses less water.

• It gives more power because the water keeps the panels cool, and PV cells work better when cool.

• Distributed solar: many small solar units close to where the power is used, such as rooftops and farm pumps, instead of one big park.

Growth of capacity, and its limits

• National Solar Mission (NSM), also called the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, began in 2010 under the National Action Plan on Climate Change. In 2015, its target was raised to 100 GW by 2022.
• Installed solar capacity grew from 2.8 GW (2014) to 164.59 GW (31 July 2026) [3][4].
• How the 168.04 GW installed on 31 August 2026 was split [2]:

Segment (31.08.2026)	Capacity
Ground-mounted solar plants	123.99 GW
Grid-connected rooftop solar	32.59 GW
Hybrid projects (solar part)	4.83 GW
Off-grid solar	6.63 GW

• Record additions: India added 44.61 GW of solar in 2025-26, almost double the 23.83 GW added in 2024-25 [3][4]. Total non-fossil additions in 2025-26 were 55.29 GW, the highest in any year so far [2][3].
• Non-fossil share: non-fossil capacity was 300.50 GW on 31 July 2026, more than 54% of total installed capacity [3][4].
• India ranks third in the world in installed renewable energy capacity [5].
• Limits:
• Day-only supply: solar output peaks at noon. It falls to zero in the evening, just when demand is highest.
  • This means India needs battery storage, pumped-storage hydro and strong transmission lines.
  • Without them, the grid has to use coal at night. Solar power is also sometimes wasted. This is called curtailment: the grid has to refuse power that could have been generated.
• Land: big parks need a lot of land. The best sites in the Thar and Kutch are desert and grassland ecosystems, not "wasteland".
• Imports: India has depended on imported cells and modules, mostly from China.

Where it occurs

Site	Location	Key facts
Bhadla Solar Park	Jodhpur district, Rajasthan (Thar desert)	2,245 MW on about 5,700 ha of barren land. It is one of the world's largest solar complexes [7]. In 2017, a SECI auction for Bhadla Phase-III found a then record-low tariff of ₹2.44 per unit [8]
Khavda Renewable Energy Park	Rann of Kutch, Kachchh district, Gujarat, near the Pakistan border	A hybrid solar-wind park of about 30 GW, being built as the world's largest renewable cluster. About 538 sq km is the area usually quoted. The hybrid park zone near Vighakot village was planned over 72,600 ha [9]. NTPC, NHPC, SJVN, NLC, GSECL and Adani are all building parts of it [9][10]
Pavagada	Tumakuru district, Karnataka	One of India's largest solar parks, on dry, rocky plateau land
Kurnool	Andhra Pradesh	A large solar park in the dry Rayalaseema region
Rewa	Madhya Pradesh	A large solar park that supplies power to bulk buyers in other states
Omkareshwar Floating Solar Park	Narmada River reservoir, Khandwa district, Madhya Pradesh	India's largest floating solar park, with 600 MW planned. 278 MW was running by January 2025, and it is expected to produce more than 4,600 million units over 25 years [11]. SJVN's 90 MW unit there was commissioned in 2024 [12]
NTPC Ramagundam	Peddapalli district, Telangana	A large floating solar plant on the reservoir of NTPC's thermal power station

• PM-KUSUM (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan, 2019) covers farms across India:
• Component A: small grid-connected solar plants on barren or fallow farm land. 667.31 MW was installed by 30 November 2025 [13].
• Component B: standalone solar pumps that replace diesel pumps. Over 9.42 lakh were installed by 30 November 2025 [13].
• Component C: existing pumps that run on grid power are switched to solar ("solarised"). Over 10.99 lakh pumps were solarised by 30 November 2025 [13].

• In 2025, more than 13.13 lakh pumps were installed or solarised under B and C. This was about three times the number in the year before [13].

• PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana (launched February 2024, outlay ₹75,021 crore) is for home rooftops:

• It offers rooftop solar to 1 crore homes, with up to 300 free units a month, by 2027 [14].
• It crossed 10.09 lakh installations on 10 March 2025 [15].
• By 3 December 2025, it had received 53.54 lakh applications. 19.18 lakh rooftop systems had been installed, covering 23.96 lakh households [16].
• Households can get collateral-free loans (loans that need no security) from 12 public sector banks at 6.75% interest, for loans up to ₹2 lakh [17].

Don't confuse with

• Photovoltaic vs solar thermal: PV turns sunlight directly into electricity. Solar thermal only traps heat, for water heaters, crop dryers and cookers.
• Solar park vs hybrid park: a solar park makes only solar power, as at Bhadla. A hybrid park makes solar and wind power at the same site, as at Khavda, Gujarat.
• PM-KUSUM vs PM Surya Ghar: PM-KUSUM (2019) is for farmers: solar pumps and small plants on farm land. PM Surya Ghar (Feb 2024) is for household rooftops, with up to 300 free units a month.
• Floating solar vs ground-mounted solar: floating panels sit on reservoirs, such as Omkareshwar on the Narmada. They use no land and cut evaporation. Ground-mounted plants, the biggest segment at 123.99 GW [2], need large areas of land.

Prelims Hooks

• Bhadla Solar Park is in Jodhpur district, Rajasthan (Thar desert). It has about 2,245 MW on about 5,700 ha [7].
• Khavda is a ~30 GW hybrid solar-wind park in the Rann of Kutch, Gujarat. It is not in Rajasthan.
• Omkareshwar Floating Solar Park is on the Narmada River in Madhya Pradesh. It is India's largest floating solar park, with 600 MW planned [11].
• Place–state pairs: Pavagada – Karnataka, Kurnool – Andhra Pradesh, Rewa – Madhya Pradesh, Ramagundam floating solar – Telangana.
• Scheme dates: National Solar Mission began in 2010, and its target was raised to 100 GW in 2015. PM-KUSUM (2019) components: A = plants on barren or fallow land; B = standalone pumps; C = solarising grid-connected pumps.
• Trap: "Solar is 7% more effective than coal or oil" is an odd textbook line. Do not treat it as a fact. Also note that rooftop solar (32.59 GW) is the second-largest segment, after ground-mounted plants [2].

Mains Points

• Spatial pattern (GS-I): solar parks are grouped in western India (Thar, Rann of Kutch) and on the dry Deccan plateau (Pavagada, Kurnool).
• These areas have strong sunlight, many clear days and cheap, flat, barren land.

• This creates a "solar belt" far from the big cities that use the power. So Green Energy Corridors (transmission lines built only for renewable power) are essential.

• Energy transition (GS-III): solar grew from 2.8 GW (2014) to over 168 GW (2026), and non-fossil sources now make up over 54% of capacity [2][3][4]. This puts the 500 GW by 2030 goal within reach.

• The main problems now are storage, grid balancing and curtailment, more than building new capacity.

• Distributed solar for equity: PM-KUSUM and PM Surya Ghar spread the benefits widely.

  • Farmers save on diesel and can earn money by selling extra power to the grid.
  • Homes get lower bills.
  • Villages burn less firewood and dung, so indoor air is cleaner.

• Trade-offs and policy response (GS-III): desert solar parks threaten grassland ecosystems and the Great Indian Bustard (GIB).

• The threat: the GIB is a critically endangered large bird of Rajasthan and Gujarat. It has poor front vision and flies heavily, so it often hits overhead power lines and dies.
• Supreme Court orders since 2021 have asked for power lines in GIB habitat to go underground or carry bird diverters (markers that help birds see the lines).
• Import dependence: relying on imported modules, mostly from China, is a risk to supply and security. Under the PLI (Production-Linked Incentive) scheme, the government pays companies extra for each unit they make in India, to build local module manufacturing.
• Other responses: expand floating solar, rooftop solar and solar on canal tops to save land.

Related concepts

• Bhadla Solar Park
• Khavda Renewable Energy Park
• Floating solar
• PM-KUSUM
• PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana

Read more

• Solar energy: potential, parks and schemes