The allotment of solar power generation projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission is slated to begin in September, with over 1,000 firms interested in the scheme that will allow setting up 100 projects of 5 MW each. The National Solar Mission, part of India's National Action Plan on Climate Change, to be implemented in three stages, envisages establishing 20,000 MW of grid power, 2,000 MW of off-grid solar applications and 20 million sq meters solar thermal collector area and solar lighting for 20 million households by the end of the 13th five-year plan in 2022.

In the first phase of the Mission, up to March 2013, a target of feeding 1000 MW of solar power, including photo voltaic and solar thermal, to the grid has been set. As part of this target, the ministry of new and renewable energy had invited bids for a total of 500 MW solar photo voltaic power generation capacity, of which, it will select about 100 firms through a reverse bidding process.