NEW DELHI, INDIA: Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy and Sushilkumar Shinde, Union Minister for Power, jointly unveiled the guidelines for selection of new solar power projects under the 1,000 MW solar power scheme in the first phase of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission.
This would put India in league with countries like Germany, Spain and Japan who are leaders in harnessing solar power.
Bharatsinh Solanki, Minister of State for Power, also graced the function held in New Delhi to mark the development. B.K Chaturvedi, Member, Planning Commission, Deepak Gupta, Secretary, MNRE and P. Uma Shankar, Secretary, Power, were also present.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Farooq Abdullah said that he is committed to adding 1100 MW of grid connected solar power by the end of the first phase of the Mission and this will only be possible if all activities are carried out with clockwork precision.
The Minister informed the gathering that a tremendous excitement both domestically and internationally about our National Solar Mission was evident from the fact that the small grid connected plants scheme that was recently launched attracted nearly 400 MW worth of applications -- nearly four times the available capacity. He said that he has asked IREDA to ensure that it should announce the list of eligible projects selected under the scheme latest by August 15, 2010.
Dr. Abdullah anticipated a similarly large response in the large grid-connected power plants as well and expressed hope that NVVN will now take immediate steps to bring out the expression of interest, invite applications and select eligible developers under the policy released today.
The New and Renewable Energy Minister also acknowledged the effort put in by both the Secretaries and their team of officers, scientists and experts involved in the process for operationalising the Mission in record time.
Sushilkumar Shinde said that the guidelines have been finalised after considerable deliberations in true spirit for the success of the National Solar Mission. He said that the NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd (NVVN), a wholly owned subsidiary of NTPC, is the nodal agency for entering into PPA with Solar Power Developers and will shortly be inviting project developers to participate in the Request for Selection (RFS) for development of Solar Projects under this scheme.
Bharatsinh Solanki said that to achieve the target of 20,000 MW of solar energy by 2022, we need to put in concerted efforts and the indigenous manufacturing of solar power equipment will be of paramount importance in achieving this goal.
B.K. Chaturvedi, in his address, termed the occasion a reflection of synergy between the two Ministries to take India ahead in achieving target set under the Mission. He also assured all support from Planning Commission.
Uma Shankar reaffirmed the commitment of Ministry of Power to the Mission and also spoke of the efforts being taken to overcome the barriers such as high cost of solar power and payment security etc.
Earlier, Deepak Gupta delivered the welcome address.
Under the Jawaharlal Nehru Mational Solar Mission, NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN), which is the power trading arm of the NTPC has been designated as the nodal agency to purchase solar power generated by independent solar power producers, at rates fixed by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission(CERC) and for a period of 25 years.
For 2010-11 the CERC has fixed the rate of Rs. 17.91 per unit for PV and Rs 15.31 per unit for solar thermal power projects. The rates will be applicable for solar PV projects commissioned by March 2012 and solar thermal projects commissioned by March 2013.
The government will provide equivalent MW of power from the unallocated quota of NTPC for bundling with solar power. NVVN will select projects to set up about 1000MW capacity of solar power plants based on solar thermal and photovoltaic technologies. The utilities will be able to account for purchase of solar power against their RPO obligations.
The government has also announced guidelines to encourage domestic manufacture. Dr. Abdullah has invited global solar companies to invest in India.
The NVVN has also signed MoUs with 16 project developers to set up to 84 MW capacity solar power projects. Under migration 54 MW capacity will be through solar PV and balance 30 MW through solar thermal technology. These projects are expected to be commissioned by middle of next year.
Earlier this year, on 16 of June, 2010, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy had announced the guidelines for providing support for off gid solar applications and also small grid connected solar power plants of 100kW to 2 MW capacities.
The Ministry has now released the guidelines concerning all the three major deployment programmes under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission to fully operationalise the deployment related activities.
Source: Press Information Bureau.
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