Rajasthan Solar Energy Policy – What you want to Know

India’s western state of Rajasthan which had won the lion’s share of solar panel projects under India’s central subsidy scheme has come out with a state solar subsidy scheme of its own. Note we had earlier stated that Rajasthan and Gujarat will lead India’s growth in solar power capacity. While Gujarat has leapfroggred far ahead of its neighbor in terms of solar capacity, Rajasthan government had not done much in incentivizing renewable energy. However after a long delay the government has come out with a solar energy policy which mostly copies the central solar policy JNNSM in awarding solar plants to bidders through a reverse auction.

Background on Rajasthan

The Desert State of Rajasthan has  seen an equal amount of interest by solar investors that Gujarat has. Note, under the first 2 phase of JNNSM , Rajasthan has won the lion’s share of solar power plants in the federal subsidy due to the high solar radiation and cheap land prices. The state also boasts of around 10% of India’s wind energy capacity with most of the wind power plants located in the western desert districts of Jaisalmer and Barmer. The Government there has given out large tracts of unused, desert land to solar developers in the western districts of Barmer, Jaisalmer which border Pakistan. Rajasthan has set up Renewable Energy Corporation Limited (RREC) to promote Solar Power in the state. Earlier the state had announced its intention to to set up four gigawatt scale solar parks in 4 districts of Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Bikaner and Barmer. The 200 MW that will be awarded in Jodhpur is the first concrete action being taken to fulfill its ambition of 4 GW of solar power.

Also read the about Wind Energy Policy of Rajasthan.

Rajasthan Solar Energy Policy

The main highlights of the policy are:

1)      200 MW of solar power plants will be awared with 100 MW to solar PV technology and 100 MW to the solar thermal plant technology

2)      All the solar power plants will come up at a specially designated solar park created in the district of Jodhpur

3)      The government agency Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation will buy the power from the solar energy developers through a PPA for 25 years

4)      The bidders will be selected through a reverse auction process in which they will have to offer discounts to the Rs 8.42/kwH ( 16c/Kwh) reference price

5)      All the winners will have to sell power at the lowest bid price (L1)

6)      Two Solar Thermal Plants of 50 MW will be awarded and the time duration is given as one year (too low)

7)      Solar PV Panel plants will be awarded in 5 and 10 MW capacities and will have to build the plant in 6 months

8)      Solar Panels can be imported and can use any technology. This is a key difference between JNNSM which allows only domestic made crystalline solar panels.

Solar Developer in Rajasthan you can read the completed Request for Proposal for Rajasthan Solar Energy Policy.

Read on GWI:

• Solar Panels in India 

• Solar Inverters in India