Villages, industries and shopping centres will lead the development of renewable energy in India in the coming years, a senior official from the New and Renewable Energy Ministry told a seminar in Singapore today.
"The Indian market for renewable (energy) is huge," said Dr Arun Tripathi, a director and a scientist at the ministry.
He stressed on the wide range of incentives being given to private sector investment in wind, solar and other resources.
Some 100,000 villages that are yet to get power would drive the installation of new renewable energy capacity, especially solar systems, he added.
Renewable energy would also be developed by industries and shopping centres, as the government offers capital investment-supporting incentives, in some cases up to 50%, he said.
Dr Tripathi pointed out that 400,000 villages out of the 500,000 in the country are only able to enjoy partial power supply every day.
Currently, India has 18,655 MW of installed renewable energy, accounting for a total of 11% of the total capacity of 168,954 MW.
The target includes adding 20,000 megawatts of solar energy by 2022, which would take the share of renewable energy in the total electricity generation capacity of the country to 15 per cent, said Dr Tripathi.
The Indian government's goal is for renewable energy to account for 30% share of the total electricity capacity by 2032, he said.