Chhattisgarh Renewable Energy Development Authority (CREDA) will be installing solar photo voltaic water purification system in various locations of the State, officials claimed on Sunday.

Notably, Chhattisgarh will procure additional power from renewable energy sources to the tune of approximately 700 MW by FY 2018.

 With this the average power purchase cost for Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Company ltd (CSPDCl) based on the above power availability will increase from Rs 2.58 /kWh in FY 2015-16 to Rs 3.12 /kWh in FY 2018, the officials further informed.

 The rates have been derived based on cost of power at existing rates and considering  no escalation in power purchase cost since it is passing through for the distribution company.

Notably, CREDA has invested Rs 400 crores during last 11 years in developing infrastructure for solar power generation which had resulted in 40 MW of electricity being generated from non conventional energy sources.

The agency will be installing a total of 10,000 submersible and surface solar photo voltaic (SPV) irrigation pumps in farm lands soon across the State.

The SPV Pumps shall be provided with lightening and over voltage protection. The principal aim in this protection is to reduce the over voltage to a tolerable value before it reaches the PV or other sub-systems components. The source of over voltage can be lightening or any other atmospheric disturbance, officials informed.

Notably, the State government has already commenced preparation for setting up 51,000 solar powered irrigation pumps in a span of two-and-half-years in the State.

The government had set the target of setting up 11,000 solar pumps in the current financial year till March 2017 and the rest during the next two years.

Notably, Chhattisgarh government is also planning to add 2640 MW of additional renewable energy capacity by financial year 2018-19, officials informed.

 The State currently has total renewable energy potential of 4,500 MW which includes solar (grid connected and roof top), wind, biomass and small hydro.

 The State has also planned to install solar powered pump sets for agriculture consumers which will benefit 16,000 consumers.

 It may be recalled that there are significantly more number of villages which are to be electrified in Chhattisgarh using the off-grid (solar) mode than the grid-based (conventional power supply.

The State has launched a ‘Solar Community Irrigation Project’ for drawing water extracted using solar pumps for supplying to the agricultural land of farmers across the State.

A total of 19 remote villages were approved for creation of solar ‘mini grids’  to provide them access to power supply as on February 2017 in Chhattisgarh, the Central Government has informed.

Village mini-grids are important components of universal access to electricity in the country particularly for those villages where grid connectivity is either not feasible or not cost effective, it informed.

 Under the RGGVY scheme launched by the Central government  for attainment of goal of providing access to electricity to all households, a provision of Rs 540 crore has been kept as  subsidy requirement  for electrification of  villages where grid connectivity is either not feasible or not cost effective for  Decentralized Distributed  Generation (DDG) during 11th Plan period.

DDG may be from conventional or renewable or non-conventional sources such as biomass, bio fuel, bio gas, mini hydro, geo thermal, solar, etc.

The funding is on the  pattern of 90% subsidy from Government of India and 10% loan from Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) or from own funds of the state/loan from financial institutions.

In a separate scheme, the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) provides a subsidy of 30% of project cost subject to a maximum of Rs 150/- per watt peak for installation of stand alone rural Solar Photo Voltaic (SPV) power plants with battery storage in a micro grid mode/local distribution network under the Off-grid Solar Applications Scheme of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission.

This scheme is open to all the States and Union Territories.  So far, one project of 20 kWp capacity standalone SPV micro grid project has been installed in the State of Jharkhand.

MNRE has released an amount of Rs .30 lakh during 2009-10 for a 20 kWp stand-alone SPV power project at Jhargram village in Gumla  district in Jharkhand.  Rs 50 lakh and Rs 53 lakh were released during 2010-11 and 2011-12 respectively for a stand-alone SPV power plant in Village Jari, Gumla district in Jharkhand.  During 2011-12, MNRE has sanctioned 533 kWp for SPV micro grid projects in the States of Uttar Pradesh(U.P) and West Bengal.  An amount of Rs.45 lakh has been released for projects in U.P.

The Central Government has approved 11.2 MWp of power generation capacity from grid connected roof-top solar power plants in Chhattisgarh as on January 31, 2017.

Nationally, an amount of Rs  600 crore has been allocated for the projects under “Grid Connected Rooftop and Small Solar power Plants Programme” and Rs 508.84 Crore has been released as on the aforesaid period, the Central Government has informed.

The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) has been  promoting “Grid Connected Rooftop and Small Solar Power Plants Programme” with a Central Financial Assistance (CFA) of upto 30% of benchmark cost in General category States and up to    70 % in Special Category States, North Eastern States, lakshadweep, Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Residential, Institutional and Social sector are covered under this CFA pattern.

For Government Sector, achievement linked incentive up to Rs 18750/kWp in General Category States and Rs 45000/kWp in Special Category States , North Eastern States and Andaman & Nicobar Islands and lakshadweep  is available under the Programme, it informed.

Solar power plants having total capacity of 2,467 kWp have been installed at various places including industries in Chhattisgarh in 2016-17, the Central Government has informed.

Notably, Chhattisgarh Government has decided to identify more potentially rich areas for installation of renewable energy projects and carry out advance planning for evacuation and transmission of power in an effective and coordinated manner.

 The commitment was made by the State to the Union Ministry of Power as per a document presented by Union Ministry of Power in a Conference of Power, Renewable Energy and Mines held on May 3 and 4 in New Delhi this year.

A total of 159 Government schools in Chhattisgarh were using solar energy to meet their power supply requirements during the last financial year (2016-17), officials informed.

The State currently also has total renewable energy potential of 4,500 MW which includes solar (grid connected and roof top), wind biomass and small hydro, they informed.

 It has also planned to install solar powered pump sets for agriculture consumers which will benefit 16,000 consumers.