India’s New Prime Minister Plans to Make a Major Push on Solar Energy

India’s new government plans to bring electricity to the homes of its entire population of 1.2 billion within the next five years, largely through solar panel installations, Bloomberg News reports.

Although nearly 400 million Indians do not have access to electricity, newly elected prime minister Narendra Modi, who won an overwhelming victory in last week’s national vote, has pledged to enable every household to run at least one light bulb by 2019.

If all goes well, household solar projects would allow every home to run two light bulbs, a solar cooker, and a television, one of Modi’s energy advisers said. The plan follows an unfulfilled pledge from the previous administration to bring electricity to all homes by 2012.

Modi, who pioneered India’s first incentive program for large-scale solar projects when he was chief minister of Gujarat state, has made expanding solar a top priority because it has the potential to create jobs and supply power to millions of households, many of which are scattered throughout rural areas and not connected to the grid. “We look upon solar as having the potential to completely transform the way we look at the energy space,” said the energy adviser.