Indian govt, states to soon sign deals for up to 7 GW of solar - report

Aug 7, 2014 - The government of India is expected to sign contracts by the end of this month for the construction of between 5,000 MW and 7,000 MW of solar parks in several states, the Business Standard said today, citing a government official.

According to the report, Power Minister Piyush Goyal has urged the government to sign soon agreements with the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

About 4,000 MW of the said photovoltaic (PV) capacity will be installed in Rajasthan. Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh is targeting between 750 MW and 800 MW, while Andhra Pradesh will seek to add 1,000 MW of PV parks. Each of the respective projects will have a capacity exceeding 500 MW.

The schemes will be supported through the viability gap funding (VGF) model, under which the government provides financial support to make projects commercially viable and to compensate them for selling the produced power at regular rates and not at preferential.

Under its National Solar Programme India aims to install 20,000 MW of solar capacity by 2022. By the end of March 2015, the government will invite bidding for 750 MW of PV capacity as part of the second batch of the mission’s Phase II. Another bidding process for 750 MW more is planned for 2015/16.

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