Mncs Fail To Light Up Rajasthans Solar Zone

Rajasthans solar energy enterprise zone (Seez) in the Thar Desert has got stuck as multinationals Amoco and Enron are not meeting the financial criteria, according to state government officials.

A foundation stone, which was laid on March 2, 1996, for setting up the first 50 mw solar power project at Sanu village, near here, has now been covered with a ply-board and nailed at four corners forever. A display model of solar panel and a short windmill fan were the only objects noticed in the barren land by a visiting media team from Jaipur recently.

After two years of its foundation dust storms have blown the prospects of power house on the sands and the sand dunes have shifted from other places and occupied the project site here, the officials said. The project in the sandy desert tract of Jaisalmer is self-explanatory to foreign investors apathy, he said.

 

Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat had laid the foundation stone in the presence of the chairman of Amoco-Enron Solar Power Development Company Robert C Kally and officials of department of non-conventional energy sources. The state government had planned to establish the Seez in Barmer, Jaisalmer and Jodhpur by offering a package of incentives to private investors willing to develop solar power technologies.

We have been asking the mncs to give a final answer on their projects. By February-end Rajasthan government will take the final decision whether to continue with their bidding or cancel it, he warned.

On another 35 mw solar power project, coming up at Mathania in Jodhpur district, Dayal said negotiations with the World Bank are in the final stage. l Press Trust of India

He said, the project involves construction of an integrated solar combined cycle plant with a solar field of about 35 mw and a fossil field of up to four times the solar field capacity. The total output would be around 175 mw, he added.

Under the Mathania project, about 104 hectare land has been acquired. Even the compound wall has been erected and internal roads constructed at the site, he said.