Indian Desert State Rajasthan Plans four gigawatt Solar Parks in Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Bikaner and Barmer – Pipe Dream or Reality

The Indian Desert State of Rajasthan in the West which borders Pakistan is planning to set up four gigawatt scale solar parks in 4 districts of Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Bikaner and Barmer. Note under the first 2 phase of JNNSM , Rajasthan has got the lion’s share of the solar farms being constructed. The State of Solar Energy in India has been marked by stiff competition between some states like Gujarat, Rajasthan to take the top solar dog spot. The reasons why Rajasthan has managed to corner 80% of the JNSSM solar projects is because

a) Solar Radiation is the highest in the country

b) Land is cheap and plentiful in the state with the government literally given them for free to solar developers. A huge plus in a country where land acquisition is a big industrial problem

c) Support from the government in the form of getting power grid connections.

Rajasthan

The Desert State of Rajasthan has  seen an equal amount of interest by solar investors that Gujarat has.Though the government has not spelled out the Solar Subsidy Policy clearly as of now,it has got hundreds of megawatts in initial proposals from Solar Developers.The government their has given out large tracts of unused,desert land to solar developers in the western districts of Barmer,Jaisalmer which border Pakistan.The Renewable Energy Policy will probably be set out by the end of the year when these large projects can move forward to the next stage.Transparency and clarity in Policy like Gujarat will help Rajasthan go a long way in promoting Solar Energy.

Rajasthan has set up Renewable Energy Corporation Limited (RREC) to promote Solar Power in the state.

While the neighboring state of Gujarat too has been making a lot of headway attracting investment and developers, it has not got a lot of the federal solar projects. Gujarat however through its own state solar subsidy has made substantial progress. Gujarat has been the biggest promoter of Solar Energy in India amongst all the other states.The State has already implemented a clear and forward looking Renewable Energy Policy with emphasis on Solar Energy.It has signed PPAs with a number of solar project developers under its State Solar Subsidy Scheme.While other states are looking mainly towards the federal subsidy scheme JNNSM to push Solar Energy Generation,Gujarat is looking to push Solar Energy on its own.Gujarat now has reportedly acquired 3000 acres at Charnaka village in Patan District which it will give to solar project developers to install solar panels.In the First Phase of this projects,80 Developers will install 1-45 MW Solar Plants to generate 500 MW capacity.The next phase will feature another 500 MW of capacity.