India in world's top five nations in solar power capacity

solar-powerDubai: India is among the world's top five nations in concentrated solar power (CSP) technology capacity rankings topped by the US, according to a new report.

India is placed fourth, ahead of China, in the rankings recently released in a report by the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21 Century (Ren21), an international multi-policy stakeholder network that promotes rapid global transition to renewable energy.

The report said although the US and Spain were the market leaders in CSP, investment in the technology was growing most rapidly in regions that receive high amounts of daily sunshine.

Global CSP capacity has increased 10-fold World-wide since 2004 and surged 36 per cent last year to a total of 3.4 gigawatts generated.

The number of emerging economy nations with policies in place to support expansion of renewable energy has surged more than six-fold in just eight years, from 15 developing countries in 2005 to 95 earlier this year, report said.

The 100 megawatt CSP plant in Abu Dhabi, ranked third in the list, is one reason why CSP's growth in emerging markets almost tripled during 2013, it said.----- PTI