India is confronted with the triple challenges of climate change, energy security and economic development with political will and technological prowess. But will that be enough to bring in the capital it needs to ensure a transition to green growth? India already has a head start in the race for renewables, ranking fifth in the world for installed clean energy capacity. Much of that capacity is wind power, but given India’s climate, solar power could prove an even better opportunity. In 2009, the Centre launched an ambitious three-phase plan to generate 20 gw of solar power by 2022, up from just 17 mw today.

But the reality is that solar energy requires capital — a lot of it. While the feed-in tariffs for phase I are attractive, investors remain cautious in the wake of the global economic crisis and need more convincing of a potential project’s viability. Unfortunately, globally, most solar capacity projects thus far have been small in scale and few in number, meaning that investors have too few precedents on which to assess risks and returns. Source>>