Chhattisgarh has achieved total commissioned grid connected solar power capacity of 73.18 MW as on January 14, 2016, the Central Government has informed.
Compared to this, neighbouring Madhya Pradesh achieved the grid connected solar power capacity of 678.58 MW during the same period.
The installed capacity of solar power in India has now crossed the milestone of 5,000 MW. The cumulative installed capacity has reached to 5,130 MW with installed capacity of 1385 MW in the current financial year.
Rajasthan stands 1st in the country with 1264 MW, followed by Gujarat (1024MW), Madhya Pradesh (679 MW), Tamil Nadu (419 MW), Maharashtra (379 MW) and Andhra Pradesh (357 MW).
The Central Government has set the ambitious target of generating 100 GW of solar power by the year 2021-22 under the National Solar Mission. It is envisaged to generate 60 GW ground mounted grid-connected solar power and 40 GW through roof-top grid interactive solar power to fulfill the 100 GW of solar power, officials stated.
The Ministry has also fixed year-wise targets to monitor the solar power generation in the country. The target for the current year is 2,000 MW and next year target is 12,000 MW. The Ministry is putting all efforts through various schemes of Central Government and State Governments to achieve the targets. It has been planned that around 18,000 MW tender should be out by March 31, 2016.
To achieve above stated objective, the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy has initiated several projects like Scheme for Development of Solar Parks and Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects; Scheme for Development of Solar PV Power Plants on Canal Banks/ Canal Tops; Scheme for setting up 300 MW of Grid connected Solar PV Power Projects by Defense Establishments under Ministry of Defense and Para Military Forces with viability Gap Funding; Scheme of setting up 1000 MW of Grid- Connected Solar PV Power Projects by CPSUs with Viability Gap Funding ; Scheme for Setting up of 15000 MW of Grid connected to achieve this target.
Solar PV Power Projects by NTPC/NVVN; Setting up of 2000 MW Grid connected solar power with Viability Gap Funding through Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). This apart, an ambitious scheme has been launched by the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy for roof-top solar installation. Various state governments are coming up with solar power projects under their own policies.
Notably, the Chhattisgarh Renewable Energy Development Agency (CREDA) would soon get solar photo voltaic power plants installed in 18 districts of the State under the Central Government’s ‘Decentralised Distribution Generation' (DDG) project.
The solar plants of capacity in the range of 2 Kwp to 10 Kwp each will be installed in different parts of the State in more than 300 locations, officials stated.
The solar power plans would be installed in 18 districts mainly- Korba, Koriya, Narayanpur, Bijapur, Sukma, Dantewada, Kondagaon, Bastar, Gariaband, Balodabazar, Dhamtari, Kanker, Surajpur, Balrampur, Surguja, Jashpur, Kabirdham and Rajnandgaon.
Notably, Chhattisgarh is among 10 other states in the country which will participate in a joint initiative with the Central Government for creating a cost-effective power generation infrastructure which is sustainable and inclusive of clean energy solutions, officials stated.
The Central Government has also taken up a joint initiative for preparation of State specific documents for ensuring 24X7 power supply for All. Documents for 10 States namely Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Meghalaya, Goa, Jharkhand, Assam , Telangana , Bihar , Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh have already been signed, they stated.
The preparation of documents for other States is proposed to completed by end of this month.
The Union Cabinet recently approved Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojna or UDAY to ease the financial crunch faced by power distribution companies. The scheme was launched to tackle debt of `4.3 lakh crore on DISCOMs utilities besides measures to cut power thefts and align consumer tariff with cost of generating electricity.
UDAY assures the rise of vibrant and efficient DISCOMs through a permanent resolution of past as well as potential future issues of the sector. It empowers DISCOMs with the opportunity to break even in the next 2-3 years. This is through four initiatives of improving operational efficiencies of DISCOMs, reducing power costs, decreasing interest cost of DISCOMs and enforcing financial discipline on DISCOMs through alignment with State finances.
The scheme is getting great support from several states. Twelve states namely Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh , Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Gujarat , Haryana ,Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand have given their in-principle nod to join UDAY as on December 19, 2015, officials stated.
The NDA Government has initiated National Smart Grid Mission to make the Indian Power infrastructure cost effective, responsive and reliable. Smart grids use sensors, meters, digital controls and analytic tools to automate, monitor and control the two-way flow of energy across operations—from power plant to plug.
This is a very ambitious programme and the 100 smart cities to be set up will also have smart grids resulting in sizeable savings in power.
The generation capacity addition during 2015-16 (April-November, 2015) is 9,466 MW against the annual target of 20,037 in the country. The capacity addition during the first 3 years and 8 months (1-April-2012 to 08-December-2015) of the 12th Plan is 70,480 MW which has not only exceeded the capacity addition of 54,964 MW of the entire 11th Plan (2007-2012) but also constitute 79.6% of the total 12th Plan target of 88,537 MW.
Notably, Chhattisgarh has wind energy potential of 77 MW at 100 meters above ground level according to the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE).