Districts like Jodhpur, Bikaner, Barmer and Jaisalmer have been shortlisted by the government to develop solar parks of more than 1000MW
EB Bureau
The Rajasthan government has launched a solar policy, the scope of which dwarfs the national solar policy itself. The current national policy on solar power targets 22GW of installed capacity by the year 2022, while Rajasthan’s solar policy is targeting 25GW over the next five years. At the present juncture, Rajasthan has about 600MW of installed solar power capacity.
Objectives of the policy
The government of Rajasthan has announced a number of new measures to aid in increasing solar power generating capacity in the state. The state’s policy aims at building a solar power programme driven by the PPP (public private partnership) model. The core objective of the policy is to develop a worldwide centre of solar power of 10,000-12,000MW capacity in the next 10-12 years to meet the state’s energy obligations, while also generating huge direct and indirect employment opportunities in solar and related industries. The state plans to utilise the non-industrialised desert areas to create an industrial hub and build facilities conducive for solar manufacturers, while providing monetary incentives too. Along with this, the policy aims at creating a research and development hub for deploying diverse combinations of solar power technologies, in order to achieve grid parity in the next seven to eight years. Plans also include establishing an industrial setup with participation from domestic and overseas manpower. In short, the broad aim of the state’s policy is to create a solar centre for excellence.
Development of solar parks in the state
Districts like Jodhpur, Bikaner, Barmer and Jaisalmer have been shortlisted by the government to develop solar parks of more than 1000MW. The new regulations make the policy more flexible and practical by reducing the minimum slab of net worth from Rs 25 million to Rs 10 million. The state government will be responsible for providing the necessary infrastructure like land and regulatory support, along with monetary incentives as offered by the Centre (via the National Solar Mission) to the developers of solar parks. The Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation (RREC) will act as the nodal agency for developing solar parks in the state. The state government has also made a proposal to develop a special package of supplementary fiscal incentives for solar industries based in the solar parks.
Incentives offere
The state government is offering a number of incentives to the developers of solar power plants, in the form of monetary incentives, exemptions and subsidies. Here are some of the major incentives being offered by the government:
- Solar plant developers will be exempted from paying electricity duty
- Grant of incentives will also be extended to solar power producers
- Water will be supplied for power generation
- Land reservation will be realised within 30 days
- Government land will be allotted for the development of solar power projects
- Power purchase agreement; third party sale/captive use/sale to other states through open access
- Open access for third party sale
- Apart from this, solar power plants up to the capacity of 10MW will be approved by a junior level bureaucrat, which is expected to reduce the time taken to get approvals. Environment clearance from the state pollution board will be provided within 15 days.
