India's Union Cabinet Approves Solar Parks, Ultra Mega Solar Power Schemes

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources India (Delhi, India)--India's Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister, on Thursday approved a scheme for setting up 25 solar parks, each with a capacity ranging from 500-1,000 megawatt (MW) and Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects in various parts of the country where large chunks of land can be spared for these massive solar energy installations.

These parks will together house over 20 gigawatts (GW) of solar power projects. To expedite realization of the country's huge solar power potential, the Government of India has proposed the scheme for developing large solar parks. The government is eyeing development of these solar parks in a span of mere five years, that is from 2014-15 to 2018-19. The scheme will require financial support of around $651 million from the central government.

The ministry has identified 12 locations in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Odisha, Punjab and Mizoram to set up these parks, which will be developed in collaboration with state governments and their agencies. The states, applying under the scheme, will have to designate an implementing agency for these projects. The choice of implementing agency for developing and maintaining the park is left to the state governments.

While only projects above 500 MW capacity would be considered under the solar park scheme, the ministry may also consider smaller parks of 100 MW and above capacity for development in the states in the North Eastern region, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu & Kashmir as well as in Union Territories with population less than 20 million. All States and Union Territories are eligible will be covered under the scheme.

India could emerge as a major solar power producing country as nowhere in the world solar parks are being developed on such a large scale. Solar parks will enable development of clean energy-based power projects in remote areas where land is inexpensive.

"As an integrated transmission system will be developed for the entire Park, developers will not have to set up their own transmission lines. Further developers would be able to set up projects quickly as they will not have to get statutory and other clearances", said an MNRE-statement

As per the guidelines stipulated by the ministry for the scheme, the State Government will first nominate the implementing agency and identify the land for the proposed solar park. The state will then send a proposal to the MNRE for approval along with the name of the implementing agency, which would then be asked to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR), which should be completed within a period of 60 days.

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