Former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam was on a visit to a recently created Solar Power Park in Gujarat. Left impressed by the scale at which solar Energy is being harnessed, Dr. Kalam calls it the future of Power Generation in India.
By 2030, the total energy requirement for India could be around 400,000 MW compared to present 205,000 MW, hence, we have to add 195,000 MW capacity before that. Large scale solar energy farms of hundreds of megawatts capacity in certain number could contribute around 55,000 MW.
Read what Dr. Kalam has to say,
Recently I was on a one-day visit to Gujarat on 9 Nov 2012. I arrived in Ahmadabad in the 9 Nov 2012 afternoon and straightaway boarded a helicopter to visit Charanka solar power farm in north Gujarat’s Patan district. After arriving at Charanka I visited the solar park and exchanged ideas with engineers and higher officials.
Gujarat Solar Park is the name used for a group of solar parks being constructed in Gujarat, India. So far, 689.8 MW capacity Solar park had been completed in June 30, 2012. One is the Charanka Solar Park, a group of 17 thin-film photo voltaic (PV) power systems, on a 2,000-hectare (4,900-acre) site in the district of Patan.
I was told that at the completion and full operationalization of the 600 MW project will save around 8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere and save around 900,000 tonnes of coal and natural gas per year. A total of 84 developers have registered to build a total of 968.5 MW, from 1 to 40 MW. An increase to 1,000 MW is expected to be completed by 2013.
Rs. 15 (about USD 0.29) per kWh for the first 12 years and Rs 5 (about USD 0.10) per kWh from the 13th to 25th year is being sanctioned by the Gujarat Government. The national solar policy has fixed tariffs of Rs.17 for photo voltaic and Rs.15 for solar thermal for 25 years.
I strongly feel many more solar farms like Charanka should emerge in various states so that large scale solar energy farms of hundreds of megawatts capacity in certain number could contribute around 55,000 MW from Solar Energy.
Adapted from Dr. Kalam’s Official Website