India to add 100 Mw solar power capacity

The new and renewable energy ministry has signed power purchase agreements for solar capacity of as much as 100 megawatts to speed up solar power capacity addition in the country.

New and Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah today said his ministry had received around 300 applications from various companies for the construction of solar projects. The ministry has also sought expressions of interest from companies to construct solar capacity to the tune of 700 Mw. This is a big development in the sector as the country had set up only 7-8 Mw of solar energy last year.

“We have also approved yet another 25 Mw for off-grid power,” said Deepak Gupta, secretary of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. Off-grid power would help supply power to areas like villages, border areas and other remote places which are not connected to the solar grid, he added.

The government’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission has recommended the implementation of an installed capacity of 20,000 Mw by the end of the 13th Five Year Plan, in 2022. While this will be implemented in three stages, the first stage would involve setting up 1,100 Mw of grid solar power and 200 Mw capacity of off-grid solar applications utilising both solar thermal and photovoltaic technologies, by March 2013.

Meanwhile, on the controversy over allowing Chinese equipment in the country’s solar power space, Abdullah said he was not against the use of Chinese equipment to build massive solar capacity. “There is good Chinese equipment and bad Chinese equipment. We want to get the best technology to India. However, we are also encouraging domestic manufacturing of equipment,” he added.

The ministry also said that 12,000 Mw of wind power capacity was in the pipeline, and it planned to scale up to 48,000 Mw in another 15-20 years.