India puts the accelerator on Solar Energy generation through giant Solar Farms after new government focus
New US trade sanctions on Taiwan and Chinese made solar cells will prove as ineffective as the 2012 duty
August 6, 2014Zimbabwe looks to build three large Solar Farms to solve its energy crisis
August 8, 2014Now focus on Solar farms in India
India is going to see rapid growth in solar energy generation in the coming years, after installing capacity much below potential in the last 
couple of years. Many of the laggard states which had not installed much solar capacity are now moving quickly on this front. Uttar Pradesh which is India’s largest state both by capacity and population has hardly any solar power generation. The state government is now starting to push the pedal here by announcing a 300 MW auction of solar power farms in the state. This comes after it announced deals to install nearly 200 MW with a number of private developers earlier.
Read more about the Indian Solar Industry here.
Madhya Pradesh which is another large state situated in the middle of India has been pushing solar power generation hard, with Welspun installing the country’s largest solar farm earlier. The state which is ruled by the BJP led Modi, is now asking for help to set up a giant ultra-mega power plant which will have gigawatts of solar capacity. Note the Indian government has already sanctioned more than Rs 500 crores in the recent budget to set up 4 giant solar farms in the country.
The solar farms are to be set up in Rajasthan, J&K and Gujarat. MP has also joined the list and feasibility studies have already started for some of these projects, which should take at least 5 years to complete with 2000 MW or more to be installed at each site.
Andhra Pradesh has also lobbied to get a giant solar farm in the state. This southern province suffers from large power cuts, which has made industrialists shift to other places. Now Seemandhara which is the name of the new bifurcated entity, is looking to set up a farm to fill in the gap due to this power deficit.
Seemandhara is also looking to start a reverse auction for buying upto 1000 MW of solar capacity from developers through a reverse auction process. The last auction had led to many issues and had failed. The government under a new ruling dispensation has decided to go with a fresh approach and is looking to procure 1000 MW of solar power through a new procurement process, which will correct the deficiencies found in the last process.
To another question, the Minister said the government has proposed to tap the country’s solar and wind energy potential lying unexplored in the deserts.A study to identify the likely renewable power potential in desert regions in Rajasthan (Thar), Gujarat (Rann of Kutch), Himachal Pradesh (Lahul & Spiti) and Jammu and Kashmir (Ladakh) was also conducted in this regard.”The report has assessed a total available potential of 315.7 GW of solar and wind power in these regions. The report has further estimated that the investment requirement for harnessing the available potential upto 2050 would be Rs 43,74,550 crores,” the Minister added.
1 Comment
Solar energy is abundantly available in India. There is no concrete and long planning of state governments for development of solar energy in their states. The JNNSM targets under various phases are very much less and therefore needs revision. Both the factors are causing high cost of solar power plants in the country and slow progress.