The focus on floating solar parks will reduce the need for vast tracts of land to set up solar parks.
• Solar Parks have been developed in partnership with State Governments, their agencies, CPSUs and private entrepreneurs
New Delhi: The central government is planning to launch the second phase of a dedicated program to develop solar parks across the country, aimed at plugging the gaps and slowing progress.
Two officials with knowledge of the matter said the extended plan would try to address the issue of solar park developers failing to make initial investments and delay in development of projects until they receive money from power producers who do not want to invest in such projects. Make bids to develop power in projects.
He said the government is also considering the issue of an inflated Detailed Project Report (DPR).
“Those who come to develop solar parks do not invest any money. They place the bids first (for Power Developers). The money that comes from bids, they develop solar parks," said one of the officials cited above.
The scheme 'Development of Solar Parks and Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects' was launched in December 2014 to help solar project developers to set up projects in plug-and-play model. This scheme is valid till the end of this financial year. The government is now planning to launch the second phase of the scheme with a focus on floating solar projects.
“We are thinking of expanding the plan and coming up with a second part, specifically to take care of floating solar parks. The cost of floating solar parks is high. The subsidy rates will be better,” said another official.
The focus on floating solar parks will reduce the need for vast stretches of land to set up similar parks. However, the technology of floating solar module projects, in which photovoltaic solar panels are mounted on floating structures over water bodies, is expensive.
Queries referred to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) remained unanswered till press time.
Under the current scheme, MNRE provides Central Financial Assistance (CFA) up to ₹20 lakh per MW or 30% of the project cost including grid-connectivity cost, whichever is less.
The solar parks have been developed in partnership with state governments and their agencies, CPSUs and private entrepreneurs.
The implementing agency is called Solar Power Park Developer (SPPD). After the selection of SPPD, bids are invited for Power Developers, who are large scale Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to produce power on site in plug and play model.
On examples of SPPD lagging behind in infrastructure development, Amit Kumar, Partner and Leader of Power, Utilities and Mining, PwC India, said: “The scheme aims to provide a plug-and-play model of infrastructure for power developers. But the opposite happens in some cases where the SPPD starts the development of the project only after the money comes from the IPP. This delays the project."
Moreover, according to experts in the field, the development of the project is getting delayed even though the SPPD receives a grant from the Center for the project.
