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State draws a blank in solar power generation

JAMMU: Despite having the second highest solar power potential in the country, Jammu and Kashmir has drawn a blank in solar power generation, mainly due to lack of seriousness and failure of successive governments to clear administrative bottlenecks.



Arteev Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, January 28

Despite having the second highest solar power potential in the country, Jammu and Kashmir has drawn a blank in solar power generation, mainly due to lack of seriousness and failure of successive governments to clear administrative bottlenecks.

Two major projects with a potential of generating 7500 MW of solar power have already been sanctioned for the state, but it has failed to contribute to the country’s total installed capacity of 5000 MW solar energy.

“The state has solar power potential of 111.05 GW. It is the second highest in the country after Rajasthan, which has the solar energy potential of 142 GW,” an official source told The Tribune.

“The solar power capacity of the country recently crossed 5,000 MW mark. Rajasthan topped the list with a total commissioned capacity of 1264.35 MW followed by Gujarat (1024.15 MW). J&K does not even figure in the list of states having grid connected solar power projects as it has failed to generate energy through solar power plants,” said the source.

Sources said the Union Government under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission had already sanctioned two major projects with a total solar power generation capacity of 7500 Mega Watts for the Ladakh region, also known as the solar capital of the country.

Under the mission, there was a proposal of setting up an ultra mega solar power project with a capacity of 5000 MW in Leh, one of the world’s largest solar energy project, while a similar project with solar energy generation potential of 2,500 MW was sanctioned for Kargil.

The projects were proposed as Ladakh receives the best solar radiations in the country, a source said.

“A memorandum of understanding was signed between the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and Science and Technology Department of J&K in March 2014. It got the approval of the state Cabinet in May 2014, but no progress has been made thereafter,” said the source, adding that no process was initiated to identify the land for the project in Ladakh.

In July 2014, the BJP-led NDA government in its maiden Budget had announced to take up four ultra mega solar power projects, including the one in the Ladakh region. An amount of Rs 500 crore was also set aside for these projects.

In February last year, Governor NN Vohra had asked the state administration for removing all the existing impediments in effectively harnessing the solar power potential of the state, particularly the Ladakh region.

Project Director, Ladakh Renewable Energy Development Agency, Jigmet Takpa said: “We had learnt that several meetings took place at the Centre and the state level, but no achievement vis-à-vis setting up of ultra solar power project in Ladakh has been made so far. We don’t know exactly what the present status of the projects is.”

Takpa said the projects also faced the problem of energy transfer and connectivity to the Northern Grid through the under-construction Leh-Kargil-Srinagar transmission line.

“As per the available solar energy potential in Ladakh we require at least 750 KV transmission line for evacuation of energy from the region. The ongoing project of 220 KV transmission line will not serve the purpose as evacuation of energy generated in these solar parks for consumption in other parts of the state as well as the country will remain a major issue,” he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation of 375-km transmission line at 220 KV voltage level on August 12 last year.

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