India is improving its industrial and financial health through structural reforms. The country no longer wants fossil-based energy generation, but it wants the adoption of green and clean energy for sustainable growth. India's rapidly expanding efforts to increase renewable energy portfolio and that is one of the primary reasons for the rise in solar power generation. The solar power industry in India has tremendous potential to grow. India is a tropical country because of geographic and numerous factors, it produces energy at a high rate. These development efforts are laying a path to transition towards sustainable energy. The growing demand for energy perfectly aligns with the country's green energy advancement initiatives, to satisfy future energy needs while reducing carbon footprints.

Let's find out a few things

• Overview of Solar Industry in India
• Future of the Solar Industry
• What are the major constraints and opportunities?
• Road Ahead
• Conclusion

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Overview of Solar Industry in India

Solar power in India is one of the fastest-growing industries. India has already surpassed the United States and became the second-largest solar power market in the world (in terms of solar energy installations). The nation's solar installed capacity has reached 34.404 GW as of 29 February 2020. The installation of solar power plants in India has the lowest capital cost per MW globally. India had a target of 20 GW capacity for 2022, which it has accomplished four years before the schedule. In 2015 the goal was raised to 100 GW of solar capacity (including 40 GW from only rooftop solar plants) by 2022, aiming for an investment of US$ 100 billion. India has installed nearly 42 solar parks to make land usable to the promoters of solar plants. A big reason for its tremendous growth is the average

current price of solar electricity plunging to 18% below the average cost of its coal-fired counterpart. The growth trajectory anticipates rising exponentially in the years to come now.

Future of the Solar Industry

Let's take a quick look at the different factors why Solar Energy Companies in India has a bright future coming in by 2022:

• Geographical Advantage

The geographical location of India offers supporting grounds for the solar industry. It can not only produce enough energy to meet our requirements, but also generate sufficient electricity for the whole planet. India is a tropical country, which receives a considerable amount of solar radiation throughout the year. Typically, a few states in India have a vast renewable energy capacity and hence can generate significant amounts of electricity even on cloudy days.

• Highly profitable at Cheap Cost

We all know that solar panels and solar systems are relatively costly to install; however, the cost of the solar product has been reduced with the help of government subsidies. It is also the fact that once you set up the solar system, it will certainly be worth the investment as it reduces the electricity bills to a great extent upfront and hence increases the savings of the customer.

Solar power is also good to reduce the hefty monthly electricity bills up to zero for the common man, and this is the reason why everybody wants to install solar panels on their homes. People can observe a great extent of return on investment in setting up these Solar systems and hence, solar companies have a promising future in India.

• Employment Prospects

People are switching to solar energy, trending across the country. The problem of unemployment is continual in India, and the growth in renewable energy

companies will assist in diminishing this issue by generating more and more job opportunities in the market.

• Potential of the Solar Energy in India

Due to the country's initiative and push to boost the share of solar power in the country's energy mix and plunging equipment (PV Module) costs, the solar energy industry in India anticipates having almost double growth during the next few years.

The cost of solar power has decreased together with a strategic policy of the administration. These policies have resulted in an increase in the share of solar power in the energy mix. Also, the Government of India has launched many plans and regulations for a better future of solar energy in India to boost the adaptability of solar energy in India.

The solar sector in India has enormous market potential. India has a massive population of over 1 billion and a flourishing economy, but still has always gone through the issue of scarcity of electricity. Our country has struggled to meet the electricity requirements of its ever-so-rapidly increasing population, even though India is among the largest producers of electricity in the world. Hence, In this case, solar power companies are becoming a blessing for the people to meet their requirements.

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What are the major roadblocks and opportunities?

For India, where electrification for each home was once a dream is now close to reality. The government's drive of "power for all" is improving the socio-economic structure of the country.

The sector also has an enormous capacity to generate new jobs, 1 GW of Solar manufacturing facility produces approximately 4000 direct and indirect jobs.

Besides, solar installation, operation, and maintenance create additional recurring tasks in the sector.

India's solar industry mainly builds over imported products. Renewable energy cannot replace fossil-based power production because of apparent reasons like the unavailability of the sun throughout the day.

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Solar production is highly uncertain and technological innovations yet to cultivate an efficient storage solution. Though groundbreaking tech improvements are underway for storage, which has the potential to revolutionize this sector globally, then dependency on fossils can be reduced. Solar energy can replace fossil-based production only if efficient and cost-effective mass-scale storage solutions will develop.

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Road Ahead

The Government of India is committed to increasing the use of green energy sources. They are installing numerous large-scale sustainable power projects. Renewable energy has the potential to create many employment opportunities at every level, especially in rural areas.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has set an ambitious target to set up renewable energy capacities of 175 GW by 2022 of which about 100 GW is aimed at solar, 60 GW for wind, and other for hydro, bio, etc. India's renewable energy sector anticipates attracting investments of up to US$ 80 billion in the next four years.

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It predicts that by the year 2040, around 49 percent of the total electricity will be generated by renewable energy. With efficient batteries, we can store electricity generated from solar, which will be a cost-effective energy solution. Replacing coal with renewables will save India Rs 54,000 crore (US$ 8.43 billion) yearly.

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Conclusion

The solar sector has a bright future ahead with the support of different stakeholders like the government, investors, businesses, and consumers. The

technology is evolving rapidly, and the cost of the solar system is reducing. Intensive research and development are happening to make a cost-effective battery-based solution. Investment coming in boosting the economy and benefiting the consumers.