Andhra to come out with solar policy soon

Andhra Pradesh will soon evolve a policy to encourage the solar energy industry. This will complement the to-be- announced Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, a dedicated national policy for solar energy that outlines 20 giga watt of solar generation by 2020, said chief minister K Rosaiah.

Inaugurating the three-day Solarcon India, an event focusing on the solar and photovoltaic sector, here on Monday, he said Solar City would attract investments worth Rs 3,000 in the first phase. The first-of-its-kind solar farm cluster is coming up on 10,000 acre at Kadiri in Anantapur district.

Four companies - Sunborne Inc, Lanco Solar, AES Solar and Titan Energy- today signed a memorandum of understanding with the state to set up units there.

These companies will be the anchor units in Solar City and have a combined capacity of 2,000 Mw. It would take six months for them to start the spadework before beginning their activities.

The chief minister said the state, which has a prominent presence in the solar energy sector with Fab City, a cluster for semiconductor and solar PV manufacturing, was emerging as the capital of solar power in India. However, absolute costs of solar energy are high and efforts should be to reduce them apart from increasing the efficiency of photovoltaic modules and cells.

The state has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Fraunhofer Institute of Germany, a global research and development institute, to collaborate on new technologies, testing and certification, and training programmes on solar energy, he said.

Sathya Prasad, president of Semi India, an association for microelectronic, display and photovoltaic industries, said the event would delve into photovoltaic markets, climate change, policy, finance and applications for India.