1,300 MW solar power to be added in 3 years

A day into the Copenhagen climate change meetings, the Union ministry of new and renewable energy has indicated that it has no definite roadmap to implement its ambitious target of 20,000 MW of solar power by 2022.

Although, on Tuesday, MNRE Minister Farooq Abdullah inaugurated the country's first mega-watt level solar photovoltaic plant at Jamuria, near Asansol, he was, however, unable to provide a clear blueprint for his ministry's plans for bringing solar power into the mainstay of India's energy mix.

Abdullah said that about 1,300 MW of solar power would be added over the next three years, however, moving forward his ministry would first evaluate its initial performance before deciding on the future course of action.

Effectively, the enlargement of solar power nationwide over the next two decades continues to seemingly remain without a concrete plan of action.

Despite this, the minister remained confident that there would be increasing private participation in the sector in the coming years.

"The Clinton Foundation, of the former US President, will undertake two solar thermal power projects of 3,000 MW each in Gujarat and Rajasthan. All-round participation will be required if we have to take the solar mission forward," Abdullah said, without divulging the time-line for the implementation of these projects.

Meanwhile, West Bengal Power Minister Mrinal Banerjee said that meeting the national solar power generation target would continue to be a challenge unless the production of materials used to set-up such plants was substantially hiked domestically. "We are presently fully dependent on imported raw materials. Unless we can change this, things will be difficult," he said.