Govt Commissioned 11 Out of 50 Sanctioned Solar Parks in India: Govt

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) claimed it had commissioned 11 out of India’s 50 sanctioned solar parks. These solar parks were constructed under the Ministry’s scheme named ‘development of solar parks and ultra mega solar power projects.’ 

Union MNRE Minister RK Singh, in his written reply to a question before the Lok Sabha, disclosed these figures. It had earmarked a total of 50 solar parks under the scheme with a total cumulative capacity of 37.99 Gigawatt (GW).

The minister said that against the sanctioned strength, the country commissioned 11 solar parks with a total aggregate capacity of 8.51 GW. In contrast, seven solar parks with a total capacity of 3.985 GW were partially completed. This progress was made up to June 30 this year, Singh said. 

He also said that 1.70 lakh acres of land were acquired, and their development was in progress. “The amount of land required for installing solar projects varies based on various factors like the technology used, plotting and contiguity of land etc. However, an average of four acres of land is required to set up 1 MW capacity. Renewable Energy projects are implemented largely through private investments, and land acquisition is undertaken by the respective project developers as required. Land is under the purview of respective State Governments, and they are required to remove the hurdles in land acquisition,” the minister said in his written reply before the Parliament. 

Singh also added that some parks were initially sanctioned and subsequently cancelled due to issues like forest clearance (e.g., Kaza and Kinnaur Solar Parks in Himachal Pradesh), Coastal Regulation Zone clearance (e.g., West Bengal Solar Park, Dholera Ph-II Solar Park in Gujarat) among others. 

Regarding the involvement and participation of states in such projects, the minister said, “Ministry has been following up with concerned State Governments to allot barren land free of all encumbrances and not falling under zones such forest, coastal, etc. Under Mode-8 of the Solar Park Scheme, a facilitation charge of Rs. 0.05/unit is provided to the State/UT Governments for the quantum of power being exported outside the State from the projects in the park, for facilitating in the acquisition of land and for obtaining required statutory clearances.”