Farmers told to establish mini solar plants

The Sun is all set to shine bright on Punjab, with the State Government encouraging the farmers to establish mini solar plants on their own land.Stating this, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal on Thursday also announced that the State Government was open to subsidise installation of solar pumps for agricultural purposes from the funds being given to PSPCl for free power.

Sukhbir, presiding over the first ever State Solar Summit, added that Punjab would target establishment of solar generation capacity of 2,000 megawatt (MW) in the next two years — increasing the initial target of 1,000 MW.He also congratulated the State’s New and Renewable Energy Minister Bikram Singh Majithia and his entire team for the “phenomenal” solar energy capacity addition in Punjab which has increased from nine MW in 2012 to 541 MW this year and brought in an investment of `4,000 crore into the State.

“The decision to allot projects between one to 2.5 MW capacity to farmers to generate a total of 500 MW would turn farmers into entrepreneurs,” he said.

He said that 6,000 acres of land had already been registered with Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) with a large number of farmers expressing their interest to establish their own mini solar plants.

Floating a new idea to the large number of solar entrepreneurs gathered at the Summit from India and abroad, Sukhbir said that the State was open to the idea of subsidising installation of solar pumps in the State. “We can divert money being given to Punjab State Power Corporation limited (PSPCl) as subsidy for free power for agricultural operations for installation of these pumps,” he said.

He said that the State would try to encourage maximum solar pumps out of 1.20 lakh pumps which are to be released to farmers soon. “This will reduce the burden on thermal power and also reduce free power subsidy quotient in the long run,” he added.Sukhbir also called for an Invest India set up on the pattern of Invest Punjab office. “We have come up with the idea of one person, one telephone number and one address for all investors so that there is complete ease of doing business in Punjab,” he said.

He urged the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to replicate this at the Centre also. “After establishing ‘Invest Punjab’, the state had processed 174 proposals in an average time span of 38 days. I have asked Invest Punjab CEO Anirudh Tewari to reduce this period to a maximum of 30 days,” he added.

‘PUNJAB TOWARDS GREEN POWER REVOlUTION’

Majithia said that it was an honour for Punjab that the State, which had been at the forefront of the green revolution, had now taken the lead in establishing a green power revolution in the country.“It is to the credit of Punjab that it has succeeded in its ‘Go Solar Mission’ despite constraints of land. We do not have any wastelands or deserts, nor are we big States like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh,” he said.

Detailing Punjab’s solar journey, Majithia said that this was achieved because Punjab came out with one of the best solar policies in the country by removing antiquated laws and conditions.“We also backed it up with a 25-year power purchase agreement with our electricity utility — the PSPCl. The fact that PSPCl has got a good credit rating of B+ also boosted investor confidence,” he said while thanking PSPCl chairman KD Chaudhari for his role in Punjab’s solar story.

Explaining the successes of ‘Go Solar’, Majithia announced new initiatives to be taken up by his department. “We have taken a decision to allow establishment of mega projects of 50 MW each. Due to problems in acquiring large tracts of land in Punjab, entrepreneurs could avail of this scheme even if they establish their project in separate tracts of land,” he said.

Describing wide network of irrigation canals another potential for solar expansion, Majithia said that Punjab has more than 5,000 kms canal lengths and it has decided to harness this potential by initially floating a tender for 20 MW capacity generation on canal tops.“Entrepreneurs bidding for this project will be eligible for a subsidy of `3.5 crore per MW keeping in view the challenges in installation of such projects on canal tops,” he added.