By Muslim Saleem
The Madhya Pradesh Government is
set to promote solar energy generation as part of its efforts to overcome the
power crisis in the State. The government will leave no stone unturned to
promote the generation and use of solar energy. Tthe State Government is doing
its best to frame the Solar Energy Policy by March-end. Government’s initiative
to tap solar energy is indeed a major achievement of the State after wind
energy, reports SM News & Features.
Solar energy can be generated
under the policy in five districts of the State bordering Rajasthan — Mandsaur,
Neemuch, Guna, Rajgarh and Sheopur. About 800 megawatts of solar power can be
generated in the State after ramming of the policy. Sates such as Gujarat , Rajasthan and many others have already been
promoting the use of solar energy in the country.
The new Madhya Pradesh solar
policy unlike other Indian policies does not contain geographical limits. The
second largest Indian
State released its first
solar policy last month, inviting bids for projects worth 200 MW. In a marked
departure from the existing policies in other states the policy does not
mandate any geographical limits on the location of the project. Therefore, they
can be located in any other state. For transmission, a Power Purchase Agreement
with Madhya Pradesh Power Trading Company can be signed.
In other aspects too, this policy
adopts a new approach. For example, the size of solar projects may vary from
five MW, to as much as the complete capacity to be allotted: 200 MW. For a
project located outside Madhya Pradesh, the minimum size of the plant must be
10 MW. The Odisha Solar Policy is an exception — it allocated its complete
capacity of 25 MW to a single bid by Alex Green Energy last month, and also did
not specify the maximum capacity allowed for a project.
With a similar scenario under the
Madhya Pradesh Solar Policy, bids for projects of size greater than 25 MW can
be expected. The Madhya Pradesh policy further specifies separate deadlines for
projects of different sizes. The commissioning deadline for projects up to 25
MW is 13 months. It is proportionally more for larger projects — for example,
for a 200 MW project, there is a 24 month deadline. This is the longest
commissioning time allowed under any solar policy in India .
Concerning domestic content,
unlike the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat ,
Madhya Pradesh’s guidelines adheres to those of the National Solar Mission
(NSM). As such, crystalline photovoltaic cells and modules must be sourced
locally, while thin film modules can be procured from international suppliers.
For solar thermal plants too, 30 per cent of the raw materials have to be
sourced locally.
While the land costs might seem
like a good incentive to set up plants in these States, doing so will also
increase the cost of wheeling and transmission. Grid evacuation could prove to
be an issue. Plants usually depend on the nearest 33 KV substation, which is
provided and owned by the electricity board of the State where it is located.
If a plant outside Madhya Pradesh, which has a PPA with MPPTC, fails to get an
evacuation from its native State, the cost of transmission lines leading to the
closest substation owned by MPSEB will have to be incurred by the project
owner.
While the policy has redefined
the perspective with which Governments have been looking at the solar energy
industry, it will be equally important for MPPTC to take care of the very last
mile as far as power transmission goes. It will also have to lay down clear
guidelines for evacuation arrangements to avoid any administration issues in
the future.
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