This will be done through promotion of commercial scale solar utility plants, mandated deployment of solar rooftop or on-site solar PV (photovoltaic) applications in government and public sector undertaking buildings, promotion of these applications in other commercial buildings, and mandating that at least five percent of power generating capacity being added every year will be through solar sources.

Vacant land in existing power plants will be used for this purpose, and anybody who produces solar power at home or office will be able to sell the excess back to the power distributor.

Solar PV panels will be promoted to charge invertors at homes and offices.

Phase II will run from 2012 to 2017 during which schemes which are found to work in Phase I will be scaled up.

Phase III, from 2017 to 2020, will see further scaling up with minimal or no subsidy. This envisages the installation of one million rooftop solar energy systems, plus solar lighting for 20 million households.

In the process, India will reduce its emission of carbon dioxide -- the world's main greenhouse gas that is leading to climate change -- by almost 60 million tonnes a year.

It will save 1.05 billion litres of diesel, a billion litres of kerosene and 350 million litres of fuel oil per year by 2020.

The plan advocates change in law to enable people to sell extra solar power they generate to utility firms.

A 10-year tax holiday and customs and excise duty exemptions on capital equipment and critical materials are also being proposed.

A slew of other financial incentives has been proposed, as well as the setting up of a strong research and development programme, human resources development and international cooperation.

If this plan succeeds, India will become the world's largest solar energy market.