资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

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.