India’s Ministry of new and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has unveiled a plan to set up 50 GW of ultra-mega renewable energy parks in Gujarat and Rajasthan.
Each power project will be established with a minimum capacity of 25 GW in Gujarat and Jaisalmer district in Rajasthan. The land will be made available to the builders for establishing solar, wind, and solar wind hybrid projects at these locations.
Amitesh Kumar Sinha, the joint secretary, Government of India (GoI), said that the respective state governments have given necessary clearances to these ultra-mega parks.
The MNRE made a request that the Ministry of Power should strengthen the transmission infrastructure to these locations within two years in order to evacuate power from these parks.
Tony Randhawa, the general secretary of Solar Association, said, “Though the move is a positive one, it is to be seen whether they are solar or wind or wind-solar hybrid projects as details are still not available in the public domain.”
Lauding the government’s move, Renewable energy firms advised to set up such large-capacity renewable energy parks in phases. India has already set a target to have 175 GW of renewable energy by 2022, mainly in the form of 100 GW solar and 60 GW wind. India has established 83 GW by December 2019. Around 29 GW of renewable energy is under installation that makes it 112GW.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an announcement that India would have 450 GW of renewables by 2030. In December 2019, the Rajasthan government also stated that it would achieve a target of 30 GW of solar power by 2024.
