Indian solar installations are rapidly growing.
Credit: www.climateparl.net

The Indian solar story is much bigger than the story of one country and one technology. It is one of those game-changing developments that will have an impact on many aspects of our lives, around the globe.

It is the opportunity of a lifetime for India, for the global energy industry, and for the climate. Here is why:

A Lifetime Opportunity for Indians

India is where China was 30 years ago: It needs to industrialise, and for that, it needs to massively expand its energy infrastructure. The difference is: its choices are much better and clearer.

A look at China shows the downsides of a coal-heavy strategy: severe pollution and enormous water-usage. At the same time, the costs of wind and solar have fallen to about 10% of what they were in 1990.

India today has an option China never had: to build its future energy infrastructure around solar (and other renewables, storage, and smart grids), rather than coal.

This will be a choice that costs less, is much cleaner, saves water, […]