India

It will commission the world's second largest solar power plant.

Aims to accelerate activities in clean energy.

Will establish an LNG importers’ group.

Will focus more on rooftop solar systems.

Will accelerate investment in Indian infrastructure.

Not an opportunity in disguise but a crisis, it says.

License to build solar power plants resumes after two years.

Both make enormous progress on civilian nuclear power.

Heads of state will lead October 5 launch.

“Ultra mega” plant will generate 4 GW.

Will provide US$500 million for this project.

Coal to supply over half of India’s energy needs.

Will build a 4 GW solar farm to attain this aim. State-run companies including Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd., Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd., SJVN Ltd. and the Solar Energy Corporation of India will form a joint venture to complete the first gigawatt by the end of 2016. The farm will be built near Sambhar Lake in Rajasthan state to supply power to government distribution companies through the national grid, said the Department of Heavy Industry.

Expands relationship in conventional energy.

New policy covers shale gas and oil exploration. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates show that India could have as much as 96 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of recoverable shale gas reserves equivalent to 26 years of the country's gas demand. Exploration and production of shale gas, however, remains a long way off for India. India is beset by energy shortages that make power outages common and hinders its industrial growth. Energy imports account for a large share of its energy supplies and strains its finances. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the shale gas and oil exploration program to boost domestic output. This policy will allow national oil companies to carry out exploration and exploitation of unconventional hydrocarbon resources particularly shale gas and oil in their already awarded in Petroleum Exploration License/Petroleum Mining Lease (PEL/PML) acreages under the nomination regime. Six basins hold shale gas potential: Cambay (Gujarat); Assam-Arakan (in the northeast); Gondawana (in central India); KG onshore (in Andhra Pradesh); Cauvery onshore and the Indo-Gangetic basins. State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp and Oil India Ltd have been permitted to explore and produce shale oil and gas. Of the 356 blocks held by ONGC and Oil India, 176 could hold shale resources. The government will offer shale oil and gas blocks to other companies through an auction planned after this policy is taken to the Cabinet for approval in next few weeks.

Plans to derive 63,000 MWe from nuclear power by 2032. The Department of Atomic Energy said the average annual availability of Indian nuclear power producers has remained at 90%. Six of the 19 operational reactors have logged continuous operation of over 300 days this year. DAE said Indian pressurized heavy water reactors are some of the most economical in the world. India is ready to sell these reactors and is currently building four: two each at Kakrapar in Gujarat and Rawatbhatta in Rajasthan. It noted that India has brought down the price of a nuclear reactor to among the cheapest in the world. The prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam is close to completion. PFBR is expected to achieve criticality in about a year.