The politics of late late development in renewable energy sectors: Dependency and contradictory tensions in India’s National Solar Mission

Renewable energy investments are expanding across the world at an astonishing rate. The United States and Europe obtained early advantages in renewable energy technologies. However, East Asian late industrializers have now extended substantial support to domestic renewable energy manufacturing firms alongside encouraging increased deployment of renewable energy projects. In the solar energy sector, Chinese companies now dominate global production of solar cells and panels. Other developing countries, in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, have lagged in their support to manufacturing segments of renewable energy sectors. Yet many countries still aim to promote domestic production of solar panels and cells though such priorities are often secondary to increasing deployment of solar power projects.