New Delhi: The union ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) has extended the deadline for scheme of ‘Development of Solar Parks and Ultra Mega Solar Park Projects’ till 2026 fiscal. A notification from the ministry said that the extension would not entail any additional financial implication. The scheme was scheduled to end in March 2024.
The scheme was launched in December 2014 to support states and union territories in setting up solar parks at various locations in the country with a view to create required infrastructure for setting up of solar power projects.
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Development of solar park usually encounters many complications as it required a large chunk of land and other common infrastructure facilities like transmission infrastructure, road, water, drainage, communication network among others, with all statutory clearances.
Under the scheme, the MNRE provides Central financial assistance (CFA) of up to ₹25 lakh per solar park for preparation of detailed project report (DPR). Beside this, CFA of up to ₹20 lakh per MW or 30% of the project cost, including grid-connectivity cost, whichever is lower, is also provided on achieving the milestones prescribed in the scheme.
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Officials of the power ministry said that the extension was given in the light of a laggard progress in the development of solar parks. Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha in March, union minister for new and renewable energy (MNRE) RK Singh had said that of the 57 solar parks with an aggregate capacity 39.28 GW, only nine were fully complete and another eight parks were partially complete as of February 2023, with a cumulative capacity of 10.117 GW solar projects commissioned in these parks.
“The reasons for delay in establishing solar parks include challenges in acquisition of clear land, mismatch in timelines between solar projects and power evacuation infrastructure, environmental issues like great Indian bustard (GIB) issue, regulatory challenges like non-approval of solar tariff by the state energy regulatory commissions (SERCs), etc,” he had said in a written reply.
