Wind Energy

300 MW solar energy in Gujarat soon

Officials said that solar power generation capacity of close to 100 MW – 91 MW to be precise – has already been commissioned in the state, and a further 300 MW is expected to be commissioned by mid-January.

"We are expecting commissioning of 300 MW solar power capacity in the coming days. This includes around 200 MW in the Solar Park in Charanka, and 115 MW outside the park," DJ Pandian, principal secretary, energy & petrochemicals department, said.

The state government had made allotment of 250 MW solar power capacity in Charanka Solar Park, but none of the projects have been commissioned yet. Pandian said that this was because work on units within the Solar Park had started quite late. He, however, said that many projects in the Park were in advanced stages of completion, and would be commissioned soon.

The Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) had signed power purchase agreements for solar power capacity of 968.5 MW. For projects commissioned by December 31, 2011, the tariff has been fixed at Rs15 per unit for first 12 years and Rs5 per unit from the 13th to 25th year.

However, the Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC) recently extended the control period till January 28, 2012. This means that units starting power generation till January 28 would also get the above tariff. But, the units would have to pay a penalty of Rs10,000 per MW for each day of delay after December 31, 2011.

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