A solar research and technology park (SRTP) that will house a solar research institute for basic and applied research in the field of solar energy will be set up at Chakan near Pune. This was announced by Entrepreneurs' International (EI) on March 12, 2013. "The solar project will be developed in various cities in collaboration with Solar Valley, an energy group from Germany," said EI chairman Santosh Lalwani. The EI is a trust registered with the Union government for budding entrepreneurs in the country. Further, according to Lalwani, there is also a proposal to set up a centre of incubation and entrepreneurship in the field of solar energy.

"The EI has formed a national core committee for the SRTP project and will set up a special purpose vehicle to ensure proper implementation. The proposed SRTP will create modern infrastructure for research, training and manufacturing of solar and allied industries. The SRTP will include areas like photovoltaic components, electro-chemical storage, electrical systems, power electronics, etc. Besides, a training institute to impart skill development and training in the latest technologies of solar and allied systems is also expected to come up at the proposed park. We have already received an offer to set up a solar park on a 100-acre land in Chennai. Next in line is Pune. We are scouting for land here," Lalwani informed.

According to energy experts, India needs 5.20 per cent growth of power generation every year for the next 20 years in order to achieve the proposed 8 per cent GDP growth rate of economy. Given the current status of the country's energy dilemma, one such initiative of tapping solar energy has been taken by the Hyderabad-based National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD) which has set up a renewable energy park to facilitate solar energy technology transfer in collaboration with Social Work Research Centre (SWRC), Tilonia, Rajasthan. SWRC has trained four illiterate women at Tilonia in fabricating, wiring and setting up solar energy systems. After completion of their training, these women established the rural energy workshop at the rural technology park at NIRD as a production cum training and maintenance facility.

They fabricated 100 solar lanterns, including assembling of PCBs and installed a 5 KWP solar generating unit. The uniqueness of this initiative at NIRD is that it has shown that even illiterate women can be trained in the production, operation and maintenance of the solar energy systems. In fact, where rural communities have been trained and given competencies to maintain the systems at the village level only, particularly women, the solar energy facility extension has proved successful and sustainable. In Andhra Pradesh, two tribal villages namely Pusulapalem and Thamingula of Paderu, Visakhapatnam district were identified for the transfer of solar energy technology.