States drag feet on renewable power

Only 3 have issued a schedule with targets, 6 months after Centre notified a set of recommendations

With hardly any state coming forward with a plan to purchase energy from renewable sources, around 8,000 Mw of solar power and 15,000 Mw of non-solar capacity are likely to find no takers by the March-end.

Six months after the central government issued a five-year trajectory for Renewable Purchase Obligations (RPOs), only three states have indicated a plan in this regard. The RPO notification, issued in mid-August by the ministry of power, makes it obligatory for distribution companies, open-access consumers and captive power producers to meet part of their energy needs through such sources.

According to the schedule, 30 states