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Before I answer the specific question, it would be better if I let you know the World situation in solar energy (among many other renewable energy like Wind, etc. are excluded) as follows:1. Germany: 35.5 GW (2010: 9.8 GW — 1st place)Germany is clearly the world leader, as also in 2010, and has only continued the trend. Germany installed 3.8 GW of PV solar capacity in 2009 alone, and further added new solar capacity of at least 3.3 GW/year, and about 6 GW/year between 2010 and 2012. It has also introduced feed-in-tariff (FIT) scheme that is combined with a) good financing opportunities, b) a large availability of skilled PV companies, and c) a good public awareness of the PV technology, which mainly contributed to this success. By their approach and achievement, they got recognition from “European Photovoltaic Industry Association” (EPIA).Despite a slowdown in 2013, Germany is expected to remain at the top of solar market in Europe for the coming years, and still boasts a quarter of the world’s installed PV capacity of 26%, compared to the 13% held by each of the next two countries on the Top 10 list, i.e. China and Italy.2. China: 18.3 GW (2010: 305 MW — 8th Place)China has an industrial culture of doing anything in a big way, and the solar energy is no exception. As China is the most populous nation in the world, and that also with the biggest carbon footprint, it is great news that China has made such a massive commitment to solar power. China has grown its solar capacity by an amazing 6,000% since 2009-10 — from less than 1/3rd of one GW of capacity to 18.3 GW today. China is also one of the largest manufacturers of solar panels that had helped a lot in augmenting their solar power capacity. A repeated upward revision of the “targets” on solar power had to be done by the Chinese Govt. to motivate both the producers and the users — from a plan of 20 GW by 2020 to 20-30 GW by 2020 to the current target of an incredibly high as 70 GW of solar power by 2017. This is astounding indeed. Due to severe climate change issue, the Govt. planners had to commit to cut its coal use drastically that also makes the world’s biggest carbon polluter soon to be the country powered with the maximum ‘green energy’. This is a laudable achievement coupled with a large vision for solar energy.3. Italy: 17.6 GW (2010: 1.2 GW — 5th Place)Not far behind China is Italy with a plenty of sun shine in the country, and it continued its leadership in solar power — rising from 5th place in 2010 to 3rd place at the end of 2013. Actually, it generates more of its energy from solar than any other nation, with 7.8% of its energy coming from solar, compared to 6.2% for Germany. Mixing net-metering and a well-segmented FIT, Italy has become a world leader in solar energy. Restructuring of the administrative procedures are needed that will drive the future growth prospect, which will be ultimately aided by an expected price decrease.4. Japan: 13.6 GW (2010: 2.6 GW — 3rd Place)A reverse situation arises in case of Japan, wherein it dropped from the 3rd place in 2010 to 4th place in 2014, but it still remains an exemplary country, as during the past four years, Japan was able to grow its solar capacity by more than 500%. The reasons are: a) Govt. residential PV programs, b) adoption of net-metering system, c) high national solar energy target to reach 28 GW by 2020 and 53 GW by 2030, and d) the support of local authorities and the private sector. These efforts eventually made Japan a world leader in this field. In the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, the country has renewed its dedication to solar power, particularly with the recent innovative announcement of the first of many “floating solar farms” off the coasts of this island nation.5. United States: 12.0 GW (2010: 1.6 GW — 4th Place)USA is an example that just goes to show how quickly the field is changing, although it grew its solar capacity by 750% in four years, it could still have lost the ranking in the global solar boom. However, the USA have benefited as much as any other nation from: a) the steadily dropping price of solar energy, b) aided by smart financing, and c) some supportive state-level policies -- to grow its domestic solar industry. With many large ground-mounted solar projects in the pipeline (as shown in the above picture), the US is expected to grow its installed capacity significantly in the next few years. Moreover, if the ‘national legislation’ for the promotion of solar energy comes through, the USA could significantly move forward. Further growth was promoted in this industry, as the cap on the federal “solar tax credit” was lifted in 2009,6. Spain: 5.6 GW (2010: 3.4 GW — 2nd Place)In the newly installed PV solar capacity (2,605 MW) in 2008, Spain was the world leader due to the Govt.’s focus on creating a national solar energy industry, but since then it has dropped significantly — between 2010 and 2013. Despite planning, Spain could not even double its capacity mainly due to financial problem, while Germany nearly quadrupled its solar capacity. The reasons for this drop are also attributed to: a) complexity and delays related to a new government subsidy program and b) a decrease in energy demand due to the economic crisis. With expectations that both of these will improve in 2010, and considering its excellent sun irradiation and PV potential, Spain is expected to bump up its solar energy capacity again this year.7. France: 4.6 GW (2010: 272 MW — 9th Place)France has benefited from a well-designed FIT for building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV), and has continued to reap this benefit. However, due to a lack of political support for solar incentives, the solar growth in France has been slow. The EIPA in its 2014 report also attributed this slower growth to the adverse effects from the industries involving the nuclear and fossil fuels [7].8. Australia: 3.3 GW (2010: 125 MW)In the list of the Top 10 countries using solar power, Australia enters as a newcomer, as during the past 5 years, it has made the most of its sun-drenched status, although many raise question about its continued growth. This large continent-like country in 2009 only claimed 125 MW of solar capacity. However, it subsequently adopted the following smart policies: a) a FIT system, b) rebates, and c) a federal mandatory renewable energy “target”, which all led to a growth of 2600% by the end of 2013, reaching 3.3 GW. It is known that Australia boasts some of the greatest solar potential in the world. This fact coupled with steadily dropping solar prices give rise to the ‘solar power costs’ less than half what grid electricity costs. As the Govt. is considering to reduce the federal ‘renewable energy target’, this might slow if not stop the country’s upward movement in the ‘top ten list’.9. Belgium: 3.0 GW (2010: 363 MW — 7th Place)The image above shows Belgian solar flowers. Belgium has been a surprising solar contender even since 2009. Belgium’s success was from a well-designed “Green Certificates” scheme that actually works as: a) adoption of a FIT system, b) combining additional tax rebates, and c) electricity self-consumption. These policies, coupled with the steady drop in solar panel prices, have kept Belgium growing its solar market year-over-year since 2009.10. United Kingdom: 2.9 GW (2010: 27 MW)For the global solar boom, another feather in the cap is the UK that was nearly a non-entity in 2009-10, as it did not make up in the Top 10 list -- with just 27 MW of solar capacity. However, it has made quite fast recouping all the necessary resources since that period, and as EPIA reports in 2013, the UK nearly doubled its solar capacity, installing more than even Italy, which is in the 5th place in ranking.Looking at the above list of Top ten countries and also the pictures of different installations in these countries, one surely gets an impression that the roof-mounted to wall-hanging to ground-mounted systems of glass-panel arrays are all possible eventually to augment the capacity. The demand for float-glass panels in India will also go up tremendously with more such installations not just across the country, but also in the coming ‘smart cities’. This is a typical situation of co-existence of ‘smart cities’ and ‘glass-panels’ for clean, environment-friendly and renewable solar energy in India.As you could see from the abov, India is nowhere among the top 10 countries in Solar, not definite in other renewable energies like Wind, Hydro-power, etc. Although Indian Govt is trying very hard due to recent emphasis on smart city as well as “start-ups”. Incidentally, although dormant not so long ago, the Private initiatives are not lagging either. So, I give you little picture on India as well:There is a market-buzz that India is said to be making a target of 1000MW solar capacity addition for 2015. Among many regions, Delhi Capital Region (DCR) badly needs solar power and it will be interesting to know the capacity of DCR to be added in the new target. India seems to have just increased the amount of solar power plant licenses it plans to award next year by 30% — a move that adds one additional GW of capacity to the government’s 2015 target.The push is part of India’s “J. N. National Solar Mission” (JNNSM). The goal is to install 10 GW of solar by 2017 and 20 GW by 2022. India’s current solar capacity now stands at 2.18 GW — part of 27 GW of overall renewable capacity that includes wind and hydropower — after it added one GW of solar installations over the course of 2013. This appears to be rather slower, but efforts are being made to augment it to a greater extent. This would also allow India to gain slightly on the ‘carbon credit’ front, in terms of international recognition for showing lesser reliance on the fossil fuel (mainly coal) to generate our energy needs.However, the Indian government also down-scaled its target for ‘solar-thermal’ plants in the same decision, reducing its 2015 target to 100 MW of capacity from 1,080 MW originally. Rather than producing electricity from solar photovoltaic cells, solar-thermal plants use mirrors to concentrate massive amounts of sunlight on a single point, thus heating water to steam that drives electricity-generating turbines. Only one of the eight solar-thermal projects India had scheduled for completion last year is finished, while the other seven have faced delays and cost overruns.India’s push for solar has not come without a few other bumps. The JNNSM raised the ire of American officials by requiring that half of the solar components purchased to meet the target come from domestic Indian suppliers. More recently, Phase II of the JNNSM expanded that requirement to the purchase of thin film solar panels, which the USA often exports to India. USA representatives say that the requirement violates trade agreements between the two countries under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. India and the USA have little time left to reach an agreement, before the WTO could move into this matter to resolve the dispute.With the “Make India” mission in place by the present government, it is clear thatIndia has to create domestic manufacturing capacities. India must create more capacities, by considering our future needs, like China has done so to keep their business mission in tact a long time ago. This is a serious policy matter, where there seems to be not much option left. Otherwise, we will end up importing for the rest of our lives that will have contradiction with the above slogan for the domestic industry.It is known that 66% of India’s electricity comes from burning coal at present, and the country’s coal imports actually hit a record high in the last fiscal year. With the introduction of rationalization of auction process for ‘coal blocks’, the situation might improve a little bit on the ‘balance of payments’ front. However, as a result, India’s smog problem comes closer to that of the rival China’s, and the use of combined fossil fuel of the two countries has made Asia the biggest territorial emitter of carbon dioxide in the world. On top of that, acquiring coal supplies is becoming both a more costly endeavor for India and a less reliable one. This caution on the environment has been duly mentioned several times in many of my articles during the last few years, while writing about solar energy and energy efficient buildings with E-glass.Climate change driven by humanity’s desire to reduce carbon emissions is also a serious issue for India: the latest Climate Change Vulnerability Index (CCVI) determined the country is facing “extreme risk” from the droughts, floods, sea level rise, and the extreme storms that global warming will bring. As there is a massive effort in terms of international conferences and meetings all over the world, India has to do something tangible to reduce carbon emission with due regards to climate change issues.Finally, I come to your question on “education” in Renewable or Solar Energy. Till today, to the best of my knowledge, there is no such course in AICTE. Or, even there is a course, no Institute has properly selected a syllabus for a good teaching-learning practice in this evolving field. However, ENERGY comes under Electrical Engineering Departments of all Engineering Colleges & Universities — so there could be some “specialization” in 4th year projects on “Photo-Voltaics” — or, in M.Tech course in EE and related subjects that AICTE website or any educational website would be able to highlight. Although my answer is not complete, but one has to remember that we have not prepared ourselves to the fullest extent — as evident from the above “excerpts” from some of my ‘articles on Solar Energy’, etc. Hope to be able to go to the extent of helping even some “star-ups”.@���8?�ܹdctId":*��[Nf