Solar developers say the introduction of such contracts, which would protect investors from the expected depreciation of the rupee over the next 25 years, would overcome one of the last remaining obstacles to new investments and cement India’s position as the next big destination for renewable energy groups.

“The scale-up will happen extremely rapidly,” says Tejpreet Chopra, chief executive of Bharat Light & Power, which plans to quintuple its wind and solar output in India to 1,000 megawatts (1GW) in the next few years. “The good news is that at least the government is showing intent. In order to do this scale of projects, we’re going to need foreign capital.”

Piyush Goyal, the minister responsible for power and renewable energy, launched bold plans a year ago to provide electricity 24 hours a day for all Indians by 2019, partly from ever cheaper green power: the plan for the solar sector is to spend $100bn to raise capacity from just under 4GW today to 100GW by 2022. An estimated 400m Indians lack basic access to electricity. Coal remains India’s most important energy source, supplying more than half of all power stations.

David Fuller's view

According to a graph in the article above, only China, Japan, the USA, and UK will be adding more solar capacity in 2015.  Moreover, with Narendra Modi leading India, this rapid development will continue for many more years.

To grow rapidly, India needs vastly more energy.  This is certainly possible and, preferably, India will be able to phase out most of its reliance on coal within the next 20 years.  In today’s world, good leadership can modernise a third-world economy in a little over a generation.