Draft on solar parks aims at 20,000 MW

 

The scheme envisages establishment of 25 solar parks in the next five years with a total capacity of around 20,000 MW. Each solar park would house a plant with a capacity ranging from 500 MW to 1,000 MW. 

The draft has been released following the announcement made in the Union budget to establish the ultra mega solar power projects and solar parks at a total allocation of Rs 1,000 crore for this fiscal year. 

MNRE cited the solar parks in Gujarat, the Charanka Solar Park and Rajasthan Bhadla Solar Park as models for the parks to be constructed as part of the scheme. 

 

The solar park is a concentrated zone of development of solar projects, by providing to developers an area with proper infrastructure, minimising risk and facilitating the permitting process. The solar parks would be developed in collaboration with the state governments while the Solar Energy Corporation of India would be the implementation agency on behalf of the Central government.

 

With the large tracts of land required for the solar parks, the draft has put the onus on state governments to acquire land. The states must agree to buy through its discom at least 20 per cent of the power produced in the park. In case the state refuses to buy power then connectivity with central transmission utility systems has to be ensured, the draft says.