12 states plan to set up solar power parks: Govt

Government has received proposals from 12 states for setting up of solar power parks/ultra mega solar power projects totalling 22,100 MW capacity, including the biggest 7,500 MW park to be set up in Leh and Kargil in Jammu and Kashmir.
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal said the other states where such parks are being set up are: Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Meghalaya, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Odisha.
He said the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has initiated a scheme for setting up of 25 solar parks and ultra mega solar power projects to be developed in five years in various states.

In reply to another question, Goyal said that under Off- grid Solar PV programme of the Ministry, 806 villages/hamlets with extended distribution network based SPV power plants aggregating capacity have been installed in states of Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, which has a maximum of 730 such plants.
In yet another answer, he said as many as 299 proposals in Jammu and Kashmir and 296 in Odisha have been received and approved for electrification of villages and hamlets under Remote Villages Electrification (RVE) programme for which funds to the tune of Rs 20.09 crore and Rs 28.59 crore respectively have been released.

Such proposals have also been received and approved in other states.

On setting up solar power parks/ultra mega solar power projects, Goyal said land has been identified by the state in Vav Taluka in Banaskantha district for a 750 MW project, in Rewa district in Madhya Pradesh for 1500 MW project and in Mehboob Nagar in Telangana for a 1000 MW project.
Besides, Andhra Pradesh has identified Anantpur district for a 2500 MW project and Karnataka has identified Bijapur for a 100 MW project with land identified in Jalaun, Sonabhadra and Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh for a 600 MW project and near Guwahati for a 50 MW project in Meghalaya.

Land has also been identified in Punjab for a 2000 MW project and in Bhandla and Jaisalmer by Rajasthan for a total of 3700 MW project. Land is being identified in Tamil Nadu and Odisha for a 500 MW and 1000 MW respectively in this regard, he said.