The central government has sanctioned three solar ultra mega power projects in the state of Nagpur. One of them will come up in Vidarbha while the other two will be in Marathwada and Khandesh. An eleven member committee under principal secretary(energy) had been set up to identify the sites for these plants.
The central government has set a target of generating 1.75 lakh MW through new and renewable energy sources by 2022. Of this the share of solar power is 1 lakh MW. The state government has therefore decided to increase solar generation in the state.
The state government had announced an integrated non-conventional energy policy in July 2015. It had set a target of creating 7,500MW solar capacity by 2020.
The central government has announced a solar ultra mega power project policy under which the agencies setting up such plants will get a large number of incentives. The state government sent a proposal for setting up three such plants of 500MW capacity, which has been approved.
By Baishakhi Dutta
