New Delhi, March 22 -- Dear Reader,

I spent some time recently to understand the journey of the renewable energy sector in India, particularly solar power. My interest was piqued by the fact that renewable energy (RE) capacity has surpassed 200 gigawatts, contributing nearly 45% to installed power capacity in India. Within renewables, solar capacity has seen a stellar 27-fold growth in less than a decade. And the best part is: a unit of electricity generated from solar energy costs as little as Rs.2.5 per unit, nearly half the cost of thermal or coal-based electricity.

The natural question to ask then is: if solar is so cheap, why are we not producing more electricity using this endless resource? Currently, solar contributes less than 1...