Yes indeed! Solarcon India 2010, where Photonics Media happens to be a media partner, is just around the corner! It will be held at the Hyderabad International Convention Center (HICC) on July 28-30. I will be present at this conference, and hope to bring some key messages from there to you! A recent news item drew my attention, which said that there will likely be a quantum leap likely in solar/PV power installations in India. At a recently held interactive panel discussion and curtain raiser for Solarcon India 2010, industry experts articulated that the Indian solar PV industry has seen over 300 percent growth during the last two years. It was also stated that a number of proposals for setting up large and small solar/PV power plants have been submitted by public and private sector companies to achieve the 1100-MW target of Phase I of the National Solar Mission (NSM), which is estimated at about Rs18,000 crores! That's a sizeable amount of money! The Solarcon India 2010 – whose theme is, “Achieving 1000 MW of solar generation capacity by 2012 followed by 20,000 MW by 2022” – is going to be held in the backdrop of such major announcements! Having been present at the first edition of this show, I am looking forward to try and find the answers to several questions – rather issues – that were raised at the inaugural show, as well as fresh updates. For one, I'd be keen to know how will solar fit into Utility 2.0? It is not only about solar, but it is also about storage. Have any constructive plans been formulated since this point was raised? Or, what is being done so that there should be hassle free interconnection to the grid and the purchase of electricity in priority to conventional electricity. Have any plans been formulated in terms of some training program for contractors to learn how to install solar PV? As they say, it does require a huge effort to make the grid smarter. Well, now is the time to take the correct steps and ensure it happens. I'll be watching closely! Pradeep
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