Change everything so that (almost) nothing changes? Investigating the territorial distribution of solar energy subsidies in rural India

Abstract

The current massive rollout of solar energy in India is primarily driven by private investments, with the federal and state governments facilitating sectoral investments with subsidies, preferential licensing and clearances, and corollary investments in transmission infrastructure. In this article, we draw on extensive fieldwork in the states of Rajasthan and Bihar to analytically characterise the solar rollout in contemporary India and advance the existing understanding of the territorial distribution of public solar energy funding. By attending to the multi-scalar modalities of resource allocation in the solar energy sector, our study contributes to an analysis of how public intervention has evolved in rural areas and in the power sector in a context of neoliberalisation and generates insights on the dynamics of distributive politics in contemporary India.