Mercom poll shows strong support for India's solar future

Jun 13, 2014 - Almost half of all participants in a new consumer awareness study on renewable energy believe it is crucial for India to develop and produce more solar power, Mercom Capital Group LLC said yesterday.

About 48.7% of commercial respondents have answered that the further development of solar power is “very important”, while 46.9% believe it is “somewhat important”. Just 0.7% say it is “not important at all”, while 3.8% had not opinion. As per residential respondents, around 45% believe that solar development is “very important” and 42.9% consider it “somewhat important”.

More than 1,700 residential, commercial and industrial customers were polled as part of the “India Consumer Perceptions on Renewable Energy Survey”. The majority of all poll participants name the protection of the environment as the most important benefit of solar energy.

Overall, solar energy is the most widely recognised type of renewable energy in India, Mercom's poll showed. Some 91% of commercial and 83% of residential participants are familiar with solar energy. However, just 59% of commercial respondents were informed about government-backed subsidy programmes for renewable energy versus only 45% among residential respondents. Almost 90% of all participants in the poll urged the government to launch more subsidy schemes.

The BMS College of Engineering and the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering in Bangalore, the Institute of Management Development and Research in Pune and the Lalbhai Dalpatbhai College of Engineering in Ahmedabad helped prepare the survey.

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