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The Central Government has started discussions with States for bringing them on board for meeting the target of setting up 100 GW of solar power by 2022.
“Talks are on with 7-8 States where there is significant solar energy potential. We are looking at whether we can have some common and simplified way to set up solar plants,” Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal said on Wednesday.
Goyal was speaking ahead of Re-Invest 2015, the global investor meet for the renewable energy sector being organised by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
There are commitments from companies to set up 200 GW of renewable energy capacity which would require investments of up to $200 billion, Goyal said.
The Minister said about 30-35 per cent of investment in the renewable energy sector to meet the target of 100 GW capacity will come from foreign funds either in the form of debt or equity.
“If $100-billion investment is required for 100 GW then around $30-35 billion should come from foreign investors in the form of debt or equity,” he said.
Land availability Asked about the land availability issue, Goyal said the Government could contemplate a model where land owners are made stake holders in the project to give them an annual or monthly rent which can be raised annually.
The Government has set a target of having 100,000 MW or 100 GW of solar power by 2022. Of this, 40,000 MW will come from rooftop solar projects, 20,000 MW from solar parks and another 20,000 MW from off-grid plants set up in remote areas, Goyal said. India currently has between 3,000 and 3,500 MW of solar power capacity.
Tariff issues The Minister said the government plans to have renewable energy based spinning reserve. The country is facing stranded gas-based power capacity of nearly 16,000 MW.
On the issue of solar power achieving grid parity or same tariffs as thermal power, “I think over the next few years this will keep fluctuating. Coal-based power generation costs will go down because of the coal auctions, but that wouldn’t be a big issue as we are also looking at bundling and selling coal and solar power together through NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd, the power trading arm of NTPC,” he said.
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