Bangalore, August 4 2012: Against the background of the power outage across 22 of India’s 28 states in North India a few days ago, which  left 10% of the world’s population without power, Applied Materials, the global leader in providing services and software for the semiconductor and solar industries, has focused on energy issues in India, in its blog, with special reference to solar power.
The blog suggests:
"This a great time to rethink and recommit to solar being a larger part of the energy mix. Although the National Solar Mission has a goal of 20GW of solar installed by 2020, the goal is relatively modest given that India currently faces an 8-12% energy deficit at peak times and is estimated to need to add between 600-1200 GW of generating capacity before 2050 (that’s 20-40GW/year). Solar can contribute immediately and significantly to meeting India’s urgent and growing energy needs."
The blog cites a recent study ( http://blog.appliedmaterials.com/solstice2012  ) to suggest that among all the options India has to deal with its energy crisis, “betting” on solar is among the safest plays it can make.
Here is a link to the blog and other Applied Materials resources on solar energy options: - http://blog.appliedmaterials.com/India-energy-crisis