Chhattisgarh has targetted to commission grid connected solar plant projects with a cumulative capacity of 64.9 MW by March 31, 2016 under the State policy.
A total of 136 Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) had been signed but no projects had been commissioned as on October 1, 2015, a report on the visibility plan of implementation of various schemes to achieve 1,00,000 MW solar plan in the country of the Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) had mentioned.
On the other hand, the State has commissioned grid connected solar power projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) having total capacity of 65.58 MW by October 31, 2015, it mentioned.
Chhattisgarh had been offered no wind power generation target by MNRE to be generated in all states by 2022 as per another Ministry document which although mentioned that 25 MW power generation target is to be achieved from Small Hydro Power (SHP) projects in the State.The total target for solar power to be generated by 2022 had been set at 1783 MW.
The Ministry is targetting cumulative renewable energy target of 1,75,000 MW from across the country by 2022,the document mentioned.
Interestingly in June this year, the Chhattisgarh Renewable Energy Development Agency (CREDA) had already identified suitable sites in three districts of the State suitable for setting up wind power projects.
The locations are- Rajmergarh in Bilaspur district, Kameleshwarpur and Rouni in Jashpur district, Chipani and Kukdur in Kabirdham district.
The National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) ( formerly known as Centre for Wind Energy Technology ) ( C-WET) , Chennai and CREDA have also jointly established a Wind Monitoring Station at a height of 50 metres in the year 2005-06 for assessment of wind resources and its characteristics at Rajmergarh village in Bilaspur district.
Accordingly, CREDA has started the process of setting up wind power projects in the three districts of the State.
India ranks 4th in the world in terms of power generation.
The MNRE has proposed grid power of 175 GW from various renewable energy sources by the year 2022. This includes 100 GW from solar, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from bio-power and 5 GW from small hydro power, officials stated.
The geothermal programme of the Ministry is presently in research and development stage. The cost of generation of electricity from geothermal energy is presently very high, hence, the promotion of geothermal energy production of power will not be possible in short and medium terms .
The MNRE has been carrying out a Wind Resource Assessment (WRA) Programme in the country through the Centre for Wind Energy Technology (C-WET), Chennai in association with State Nodal Agencies.
The Ministry has initiated a new scheme on implementation of Wind Resource Assessment in Uncovered / New Areas with an aim to assess the realistic potential at 100m level in 500 new stations under the National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF) also to be implemented through C-WET.
As per the website of National Institute of Wind Energy, the State-wise list of Wind Monitoring Stations for which Micro Survey has been done which is as follows: Andhra Pradesh ( 11), Gujarat ( 21), Karnataka ( 15), Kerala ( 3), Madhya Pradesh ( 5), Maharashtra ( 17), Odisha ( 2), Rajasthan ( 3), Tamil Nadu (19), West Bengal (97).
On the solar energy front, significant to mention here is that Chhattisgarh achieved a total commissioned capacity of 7.1000 MW from grid connected solar PV power projects as on March 31, 2014, according to the 2013-14 annual report of Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
The total commissioned capacity of such Solar PV power projects was 4.000 MW as on March 31, 2013 in Chhattisgarh, it stated.
The grid connected power projects were commissioned under Phase-I of JNNSM . A total of 11 projects of 50.5 MW capacity under the ‘migration scheme’ and 26 projects of 140 MW capacity under Batch-I were commissioned during the year across the country.
The JNNSM is a key initiative of the Union government and the State governments to promote ecologically sustainable growth while addressing India’s energy security challenges. The Mission is one of the several initiatives that were part of National Action Plan on Climate Change, it stated.
The JNNSM was launched on January 11, 2010 and the Mission targets included- deployment of 20,000 MW of grid connected solar power by 2022, 2000 MW of off-grid solar applications including 20 million solar lights by 2022, 20 million square metre of solar thermal collector area besides creating favourable conditions for developing solar manufacturing capability in the country and to support R&D and capacity building activities to achieve grid parity by 2022.
The Mission is to be completed in three phases, the report stated.