Gujarat govt plans 60 Mw solar power through roof-top units in next 3 years

Mulls a policy to attract manufacturers in solar power sector

Gujarat government on Monday said that it plans to install about 60 Mw solar power generation capacity in the next three years through roof-top units on houses. It further said it was mulling a policy to attract manufacturers in solar power sector.

"Gujarat will now mainly concentrate on roof-top solar power, since it offers enormous potential. If we cover only 20 per cent of the houses, which works out to be about two million, we can install solar generation capacity of about 2,000 Mw, which is a big thing," said Gujarat principal secretary, energy & petroleum department, D J Pandian during one-day conference on 'The Future of Solar Energy in India' organised by Gujarat Energy Research and Management Institute (GERMI) in Gandhinagar today.

"So we plan to install about 60 Mw capacity in next three years through this (roof-top units) route. Tenders for 5 Mw roof-top solar power generation in five cities namely Rajkot, Mehsana, Bhavnagar, Vadodara and Surat are ready and waiting approval from GERC (Gujarat Electricity Regulation Commission)," he added.

He further said that to make the roof-top solar power genration economically viable the state government was also planning to come out with a policy to attract solar manufacturing sector.

"We have been successful in reducing the capital cost of a roof-top solar power plant significantly and Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd is in the process of setting up a 10 MW canal-top solar power plant on SSP canal network near Vadodara," Pandian said.

The other issues discussed at the conference include the second phase of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), the road ahead, scaling up renewable energy mini-grids for rural electrification, financing for solar power projects, reforms required in the financial assistance for solar in India, innovation and global deal, auxiliary industries and their impact on solar industry, power storage technologies, human resource development in solar energy to name a few.

Under the JNNSM the union government has set target to generate 20 gigawatts (Gw) of solar power, while the present installed solar capacity in the country was about 1.8 Gw.