The Political Economy of India’s National Solar Energy Mission

12 Pages Posted: 2 Jul 2010 Last revised: 16 Sep 2013

See all articles by Dipankar Dey

Dipankar Dey

Nilkantha Trust for Studies on Bay of Bengal Region; Department of Business Management, University of Calcutta

Date Written: July 2, 2010

Abstract

The Solar Energy Mission as announced by the Indian Prime Minister is not an isolated announcement made in haste. It is a pledge to pursue with the policy as followed by the dominant players of the industry. Moreover, it suits the ambitious state to retain its control, as were the case with petroleum and nuclear, on the supply of this renewable source of energy also. Absence of an independent energy policy has prompted the government of India to rely on foreign sources for critical inputs like crude oil, uranium, silicon et al and take short term initiatives at different periods to address the energy needs of an elite group- comprising mainly of the upper and middle class citizens of urban India, big corporate houses, and large farmers. In this endeavor, the ruling elites and global energy utilities act in tandem as collaborators to the state and enjoy maximum benefits in the form of subsidies and easy access to better quality energy sources. This recent euphoria about solar and nuclear energy is the continuation of such a policy initiative aimed at retaining the state’s hegemony on energy needs of its citizens. The paper concludes that the emerging model consists of numerous producers/generators who will be supplying energy to one or few major distributors/retailers that control the industry by virtue of their technical and marketing superiority. It will be the SMEs which will be the forerunner of this revolutionary change by generating electricity in millions of such small and medium units and through the application of ‘smart grid’ or ‘global grid’ large utilities will ensure total control on electricity transmission. Over last four decades, control on global personal computer industry has been exercised by a handful of firms like Intel, Microsoft and Apple just by retaining their proprietary control on critical technology. In solar power also similar model is being explored.

Keywords: Solar Energy, India, Climate Change, SME, Energy Retailing

Suggested Citation

Dey, Dipankar, The Political Economy of India’s National Solar Energy Mission (July 2, 2010). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1633911 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1633911

Dipankar Dey (Contact Author)

Nilkantha Trust for Studies on Bay of Bengal Region ( email )

J 48 Banerjee Para
Garia
Kolkata, 700 084
India

Department of Business Management, University of Calcutta ( email )

J 48 Banerjee Para
Garia
Kolkata, 700 084
India

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