What explains India's embrace of solar? State-led energy transition in a developmental polity

Sarang Shidore and Joshua W. Busby

Energy Policy, 2019, vol. 129, issue C, 1179-1189

Abstract: In late 2014, India announced plans to increase the deployment of solar technology from 20 GW to 100 GW by 2022 and followed this up by putting in place a set of robust policies to achieve this target. What explains India's strong push to adopt solar electricity? Conventional wisdom mostly credits techno-economic factors, such as falling module prices and competitive bidding to explain this embrace. Though these factors undoubtedly aided the scale-up, solar power was substantially more expensive than domestic coal in the 2014–17 period under study. We conducted 23 elite interviews with former and current Indian government officials, think-tank researchers, consultants, private sector executives, Indian media, and two U.S. officials. We evaluated nine possible drivers behind the Indian government's policy push on solar going beyond the techno-economic emphasis on declining panel prices. Based on the interviews and a review of other observable implications of the various drivers, four chiefly political drivers clearly stood out: domestic politics, global pressure and partnerships, attracting investment, and energy sovereignty. Prime Minister Modi embraced solar to bolster his domestic image as a modernizing reformer and to boost India's reputation internationally. Solar also aimed to leverage investment and dampen India's dependence on energy imports.

Keywords: India; Solar energy; Energy transitions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:enepol:v:129:y:2019:i:c:p:1179-1189

DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2019.02.032

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