Solar Energy Adoption in India: A Comparative Analysis across States with a focus on West Bengal

Solar energy development is paramount for India to achieve environment-friendly energy and fulfil sustainable development goals. It will help reduce the country’s energy demand and supply gap. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and NITI AAYOG are working together to achieve the alternative energy requirement through solar power. The government of India set the target in 2015 to reach 175 GW of renewable energy by 2022 and 100 GW only from solar power. In line with the Central Government, the states should develop policies to promote solar energy to meet the target. Under the circumstances, this paper attempts to compare the approaches taken by different states in the country and compare such policies to see where West Bengal is falling behind and to discover the barriers and challenges to solar power development in West Bengal.