Gujarat government will have to bear a burden of Rs 800 crore per annum for purchasing solar power from companies. The state government has decided to purchase power from solar photovoltaic and solar thermal power projects under its recently announced Solar Power Generation Policy.
Gujarat government has alloted 716 MW to solar power capacity to 34 national and international companies in order to promte solar power generation under solar policy. The government has fixed the tariff Rs 14 per unit and Rs. 10 per unit for purchase of power from solar PV and thermal solar power projects.
"The state government will have to bear a burden of Rs 800 per annum for purchasing solar power from these companies", said a government official.
It may be mentioned here that Gujarat government has been constantly trying to promote power generation from renewable energy sources. According to government sources, Gujarat has the potential to attract investment of Rs 65,000 crore in renewable energy sector. Around Rs 20,000 crore are likely to be infused for solar projects in the state.
The 34 solar power projects, for which Gujarat government has allotted capacities, are likely to draw an investment of over Rs 10,000 crore. Of the 716 Mw allotment, the share of Solar Photovoltaic is 365 Mw while the remaining is for solar thermal projects.
The companies, who have received allotment of capacity from Gujarat government, also include Lanco Solar Pvt Ltd, (35 MW), US based firms such as AES Solar Energy (15 MW), a Fortune 500 firm, Astonfield Solar (25 MW) and Azure Power Ltd (15 MW), German companies Dreisatz GmbH, Mi GmbH, Germany.
