Yogi govt targets Rs 50,000 crore private investment in solar energy

Betting big on green energy space, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh is targetting to attract investment of almost Rs 50,000 crore in the solar energy sector over the next five years till 2022.

Besides, the government is targetting total solar energy generation of about 10,700 megawatt (mw) during the same period vis-à-vis tentative target of 500 mw set by the previous Akhilesh Yadav regime, which was voted out of power in March 2017.

The Yogi cabinet last night put its seal of approval on the new UP solar energy policy, which aims at thrusting the state at the forefront of clean energy domain in the next five years.

Under the new policy, the state is drafting an action plan to develop an exclusive Green Energy Corridor in the arid Bundelkhand region at an investment of about Rs 4,000 crore with part funding by the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.

"Bundelkhand is ideal for solar energy, since it is abundant in barren land to set up new plants. The setting up of solar energy units in the region would not only give a major economic filip in the region, but also create employment opportunities to arrest the migration of youth," UP additional energy resources minister Brijesh Pathak said here this afternoon.

The new industries being set up in Bundelkhand would also get comparatively cheaper power from the solar energy plants in the region to further industrialisation.

Similarly, the state is looking at promoting the solar energy industry in the impoverished Purvanchal region (Eastern UP) to boost economic activities and generate jobs. Chief minister Yogi also comes from Gorakhpur, which is one of the biggest centres in Purvanchal.

"One of the basic objectives of giving a major push to the solar energy space is to ensure that UP plays a vital role in the country’s broader roadmap of 'International Solar Alliance'," Pathak underlined.

Another incentive in the new solar energy policy is that it allows investors the facility of 'open access' and thus to sell power to individual or institutional consumers within and outside the state. This was restricted in the previous policy framework and they were supposed to feed the entire energy generated to UP Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) grid.

Open access solar energy generators would be provided 50 percent subsidy on transmission levy.

Meanwhile, UP is gearing to showcase the solar energy space as a major attraction at the forthcoming Global Investors Meet 2018 being organised during February 21 and 22 in Lucknow. The state is eyeing to sew memorandum of understanding (MoU) worth almost Rs 10,000 crore in the solar energy space alone at the summit of the total private investment target of over Rs 5,000 crore.