The government has approved 17 solar parks and plans to auction 15,877 MW of solar generating capacity this year, which will be a very big boost to the power sector. "We are also considering dollar tariffs in some cases to encourage foreign investment," power minister Piyush Goyal said. A self-hedging mechanism is being worked out to ensure that dollar tariffs do not cause any distress to the distribution companies that purchase solar power. “Clean energy will be prioritised with 25 solar parks of about 100 MW each planned and a Rs. 38,000 crore green energy corridor being set up to transmit renewable energy,” Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal said. “Power deficit at 3.6 per cent in India is the lowest in its history.”
The minister further said that the government is working towards providing electricity to rural areas. Micro grid and off-grid solutions are being worked out to provide power to 28 crore people in rural India who are still without electricity. Many companies in the private sector have committed to producing 273 GW of solar power. Railways too are going to use solar power, he said. Central Government is commited to ensure 24 x 7 power supply in all parts of the country in the next five years, Goyal said that 22,566 Mega Watts of power generation capacity was added in the last one year of this government taking charge. He also said that 40,000 MW rooftop solar energy will be set up. He said, “It will help lakhs of people through indirect employment.”
Government is also planning to create job opportunities for more than 50,000 unemployed educated youth by engaging them as solar entrepreneurs to set up 20,000 MW of capacity and reduction in peak load shortages through revival of stranded gas-based power plants. Rs. 1.09 lakh crore investment in sub-transmission and distribution and Rs. 1 lakh crore of new transmission projects are to be bid out in the current year. Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi has set a target of increasing the renewable energy capacity to fivefold of 175,000 MW by 2022. The availability of power will ensure industries to function to its capacity and thus generating large job market.
By Premji
