Installation of Solar Water Pumps

Image courtesy: agricorner.com

The Government has proposed a programme for installation of one lakh solar pumps for irrigation and drinking water purposes across the country. This was stated by Sh. Piyush Goyal, Minister of state for Power, Coal & New and Renewable Energy (Independent Charge) in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today. He said a total number of 11626 solar pumps have already been installed in the various parts of the country till 31/03/2014. A total of 14788.45 lakh rupees have been sanctioned for solar pumps under “Off grid and Decentralized Solar Applications’’ scheme of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission to 12 states.

Scheme Approved for 750 MW Grid-connected Solar PV Power Projects

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the implementation of a scheme for setting up of 750 MW of Grid-connected Solar PV Power Projects under Batch-I of Phase-II (2013-17) of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) with Viability Gap Funding (VGF) support from the National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF).

The total VGF requirement for implementation of the scheme is estimated as Rs. 1,875 crore at the rate of Rs.2.5 crore/ MW The actual requirement will, however, depend on the bid prices. This VGF support is estimated to leverage private investment to the tune of Rs. 5000 crore in setting up of the projects.

The VGF scheme will facilitate setting up of the 750 MW grid connected solar power projects, in mainly the private sector on Build, Own and Operate (BOO) basis at various locations, which will help supplement grid power generation in the country. These projects will also lead to an associated development of their surrounding areas with positive impact on the socio-economic conditions of the local population.

The scheme will be implemented through the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI, a Section 25 company set up by the Ministry) in close association with NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited (NVVN). The power generated shall be purchased by SECI at a fixed levelised tariff of Rs.5.45 per kWh for 25 years and sold to willing State Utilities/ Discoms at a fixed tariff of Rs.5.50 per unit for 25 years.

The selection of projects would be done through a process of open competitive bidding for their VGF requirement in order to enable them to supply the solar power to SECI at the fixed tariff of Rs.5.45 per kWh for 25 years.

Background:

The JNNSM was launched by the Government in January 2010. The main objective of this Mission is to create a policy and regulatory environment for large scale diffusion of solar energy technologies across the country as quickly as possible. It has laid down, a long-term goal of adding 20,000 MW of grid-connected solar power by 2022, to be achieved in three phases (Phase-I up to 2012-13, Phase-II from 2013 to 2017 and Phase-III from 2017 to 2022).

Power Generation at Reduced Cost in Coming Years

The cost of power generation from new and renewable energy sources is expected to further reduce in the coming years. The cost of generation of solar power has already come down to Rs. 8 per unit from Rs.18 per unit few years back. This was stated by Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Minister for New and Renewable Energy while delivering his inaugural address on the Stakeholders Workshop on New and Renewable Energy in the Capital today. Dr. Abdullah stressed on the importance of the new and renewable energy sources in providing energy access to almost 40 per cent of the country’s population which lacks energy access at present. The Minister hoped that renewable energy could become the biggest driver of inclusive growth in rural and remote areas.
Highlighting the progress made by India in the field of new and renewableenergy, Dr. Abdullah stated that UPA has given a big thrust to this area and the Jawaharlal Nehru Solar Mission launched in January, 2010 has led to great success in the area of Solar power. India today has become no. 5 in wind power generation and has developed wind turbines capable of generating 8 Megawatt of power.
Apart from senior officials of MNRE and CAG, a range of stakeholders, including regulatory agencies, 11 State nodal agencies, PSUs like NTPC, NVVN, NABARD, Associations in Solar and Wind Energy, NGOs, IIT Roorkee and subject matter experts from the sector are participating in the one day workshop organized by the office of C & AG of India.
Dr Farooq Abdullah highlighted the importance of promoting the Green Buildings concept of saving the energy consumption since almost 40 per cent of the total energy is utilized in the building sector. The Ministry is pursuing promotion of green buildings in a major way and every new Government building to come up shall have a GRIHA rating of 3 and above.
Delivering the welcome address, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India Shri Shashi Kant Sharma said that CAG has planned to undertake an All India Performance Audit of the New and Renewable Energy sector in the near future. Shri Sharma said that this subject has been chosen keeping in view the tremendous growth potential of renewable energy and its growing importance for the economy and well being of the population at large.
Shri Sharma said that the CAG organization possesses a good experience of undertaking Performance Audit, which provides an independent assessment of the extent to which the audited entity, programme or organization operates efficiently and effectively, with due regard to economy.

Villages Electrified Through Renewable Energy Systems

A total number 3568 villages/hamlets have been electrified through renewable energy systems/devices and an amount of Rs. 158.81 crores have been released during the last three years under the remote villages electrification programmes of the Ministry.       Under the Off-gird Solar Applications Scheme of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, so far, 40 stand-alone SPV power plants with aggregating Capacity of 826 kWp and mini-grid concept have been installed. State-wise details are as follows: S. No. States No. of villages Total Capacity in kWp 1. Jammu & Kashmir 14 454.16 2. Jharkhand 12 180.18 3. Madhya Pradesh 8 90.18 4. Utter Pradesh 6 102.06 Details of villages/hamlets electrified through renewable energy systems/devices  and funds released during the last three years under the remote villages electrification programmes of the Ministry. S. No. State Villages/Hamlets electrified during last 3 years  Funds released during last 3 years (Rs. In Lakh) 1. Andhra Pradesh 13 7.4 2. Arunachal Pradesh 51 3. Assam 1017 876.87 4. Chhattisgarh 169 5. Haryana 92 6. Himachal Pradesh 20 7. Jammu & Kashmir 189 3896.75 8. Jharkhand 44 1395.7 9. Kerala 49 10. Madhya Pradesh 327 1490.12 11. Maharashtra 2 501.267 12. Manipur 49 13. Meghalaya 52 14. Nagaland 8 76.05 15. Orissa 726 2904.05 16. Rajasthan 90 842.59 17. Tamil Nadu 30 18. Tripura 441 444.84 19. Uttarakhand 88 197.26 20. Uttar Pradesh 105 1721.14 21. West Bengal 6 1447.61 22. Delhi* 24.96 23. Goa 9.74 24. Gujarat 35.27 25. Karnataka 9.82 Total 3568 15881.42 sources: Ministry of new and renewable energy