Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi has said that the country’s solar module manufacturing capacity has surged from just 3 Gigawatt during the UPA government to 172 Gigawatt at present.
Replying during the question hours in Lok Sabha, he said that the solar cell manufacturing capacity, which stood at zero during the UPA period, has now risen to 27 Gigawatt. Making a strong comparison between the previous UPA regime, the Minister said the overall solar electricity generation capacity, which was only 2.8 Gigawatt during the UPA years, has now increased to 144 Gigawatt.
He further said that under the government’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, projects for ingot and wafer cell manufacturing have also been announced across the country. He alleged that no such integrated manufacturing push existed during the previous regime. In the wind energy sector the Minister said that installed capacity has gone up from 21 Gigawatt during the UPA period to 55 Gigawatt currently.
In another question, the Minister said that nearly 10,000 solar installations are being carried out every day across the country under the Pradhan Mantri Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, while Maharashtra has emerged as the second-best performing state under the flagship rooftop solar programme. He said that at the national level, 40 lakh rooftop solar installations have been completed during the tenure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reflecting the rapid expansion of decentralised solar power in the country.
