After Khadi, Uttar Pradesh to replicate solar energy model of Gujarat

UP targetting 10,700 megawatt of solar energy in 4-5 years

After replicating the Gujarat model to boost the Khadi and Village Industries in Uttar Pradesh, the Yogi Adityanath government is working towards adopting the Gujarat model for harnessing solar energy by installing solar panels over the vast network of irrigation canals in the state.

The UP additional energy resources department is discussing the feasibility of the proposal with the irrigation department, which owns and maintains these canal assets. The state has a vast network of nearly 75,000 km long major and minor canal systems crisscrossing 75 districts. These canals have ample open spaces both above and flanking them for installing panels and creating other related infrastructure.

The installation of solar panels above canals would serve multiple purposes apart from saving cost of acquiring land. The solar panels not only prevent evaporation of water from the canal systems, the water beneath also cools the overarching panels thus extending their life.

During the recent UP Budget Session, state additional energy resources minister Brijesh Pathak had informed the house that the proposal was under active consideration and the state government would soon take the final call.

According to sources, a special committee had earlier been constituted to examine its technical and financial feasibility and submit a report to the government for action. The solar panels could be installed at places, where solar radiation has the maximum intensity, especially in the Bundelkhand region.

Even otherwise, the Yogi government is bullish on the solar energy space. At the recent UP Investors Summit 2018, the state had received private investment proposals worth over Rs 728 billion in the green energy sector, which accounted for about 15% of the total Rs 4.68 trillion worth of Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) signed during the two-day Summit on 21-22 February. Interestingly, the green energy sector investment proposals worth Rs 728 billion was almost 10 times compared to the conventional energy sector, which netted Rs 76 billion worth of MoUs.

Of the targetted 10,700 mw of solar energy capacity by 2022, 6,400 mw would comprise setting up of utility scale grid solar power projects, which directly feed the power grid under power purchase agreement (PPA).

Under the new UP solar energy policy 2017, the Adityanath government had set a target of investment worth Rs 500 billion and attaining solar energy capacity of 10,700 mw.

Top energy companies, including Adani Power, Essel Infraprojects Limited, Azure Power, Sukhbir Agro Energy Limited, Amplus Energy Solutions and CleanMax Solar had evinced interest in setting up solar energy projects to the tune of over Rs 50 billion. Under the new solar energy policy, the Adityanath government is preparing an action plan to develop a Green Energy Corridor in the arid Bundelkhand region at an investment of about Rs 40 billion, to be part funded by the Centre.