Raj, Goa and Gujarat lead in placing govt trained solar panel technicians

Spending on research and training of solar panel technicians (suryamitras) was halved in 2022-23 compared to 2019-20

Earlier this week, the minister of state for new and renewable energy, Bhagwanth Kubha, informed Rajya Sabha that 123.11 GW of solar capacity had either been commissioned or was in the pipeline. India had set a target of 100GW solar capacity by December 2022.

While the government is rushing to meet its next ambitious target—it plans to install 300GW of solar capacity by 2030—support for ancillary programmes seems to be waning. Analysis of data from the ministry of new and renewable energy shows that the government has considerably reduced the budget for training and research related to the solar programme.