Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM)
Introduction and Vision
The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), often referred to simply as the National Solar Mission, is a major initiative of the Government of India and State Governments. Launched in January 2010, it is one of the eight core national missions comprising India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).
The primary vision of the mission is to establish India as a global leader in solar energy. It aims to achieve this by creating the necessary policy and regulatory conditions for the rapid and large-scale diffusion of solar technology across the country.
Evolution of Targets
The mission was designed to be implemented in three distinct phases (Phase I: 2010–2013, Phase II: 2013–2017, and Phase III: 2017–2022). The capacity targets underwent a massive historic shift midway through the mission:
- The Original Target (2010): Initially, the mission set a target of deploying 20 Gigawatts (GW) of grid-connected solar power by the year 2022.
- The Revised Target (2015): Recognizing the massive geographical potential of the country and the rapid global drop in solar technology costs, the Government of India drastically revised the target in 2015. The new objective was scaled up five times, aiming to achieve 100 GW of solar capacity by 2022.
Breakdown of the 100 GW Target:
- 40 GW to be generated from Rooftop Solar projects.
- 60 GW to be generated from Large and Medium Scale Grid-Connected solar projects
Key Objectives of the Mission
Beyond simply generating electricity, the mission serves a broader strategic and economic purpose:
- Ecological Security: To promote ecologically sustainable economic growth while solving India’s long-term energy security challenge.
- Grid Parity and Cost Reduction: To aggressively reduce the cost of solar power generation. The goal is to achieve grid parity—meaning the cost of solar electricity becomes equal to or cheaper than electricity generated from conventional coal plants.
- Domestic Manufacturing: To promote the domestic manufacturing of solar panels and related equipment, reducing reliance on imported solar cells.
- R&D and Off-Grid Solutions: To promote Research and Development (R&D) and deploy off-grid systems (like solar water heaters and solar streetlights) in remote rural areas.
Strategic Mechanisms and Support
To ensure private companies aggressively invested in the solar sector, the government introduced several innovative financial and policy mechanisms under this mission:
- Solar Park Scheme: The government helped acquire large tracts of barren wasteland and built the necessary supporting infrastructure (like roads and high-voltage transmission lines) to establish massive Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects. This removed the biggest hurdle (land acquisition) for private developers.
- Viability Gap Funding (VGF): A crucial capital subsidy scheme. The government provided financial support to private solar developers to make their projects commercially viable, which helped keep the final electricity tariffs extremely low for the common consumer.
- Suryamitra Skill Development Programme: A specialized national training program launched to train thousands of youth in the installation, operation, and maintenance of solar panels, creating a highly skilled domestic workforce.
Significance and Impact
The National Solar Mission single-handedly triggered a revolution in India’s renewable energy landscape. Because of the aggressive policy support under this mission, the cost of solar tariffs in India dropped from over ₹15 per unit in 2010 to record lows of around ₹2 to ₹2.50 per unit in recent years. This mission laid the absolute foundational groundwork that allowed India to become one of the top five nations globally in terms of installed solar capacity today.
