The Indian government has sanction three solar power parks, or ultra mega solar power projects, in the western state of Maharashtra.
Maharashtra state officials told Indian media outlets that approval for three solar power projects has been secured from the central government. Each of these projects will have installed capacity of 500 MW and shall be spread in different districts of the state.
The state government seems to have zeroed down on the specific sites for the projects. Each project will be spread over 2,500 acres of land. The projects are likely to be auctioned by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) as it has already done in states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan, among others.
SECI currently lists 34 such solar power parks across the country that have received in-principle approval. The cumulative capacity of these solar power parks is 20 GW. The solar power park program is linked to the green energy corridors project that will see installation of dedicated transmission lines for large renewable energy projects. These transmission lines shall enable supply of electricity from states rich in renewable energy generation to other states.
In June, it was reported that Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is reportedly planning to implement a second phase of the solar parks program. Initially, the capacity addition planned through ultra mega solar power projects was 20 GW, the ministry is now considering to double that.
Maharashtra, through its state policy, plans to set up 7.5 GW of solar power capacity by 2020.
