The state of Bihar has announced plans to attract investments in the renewable energy market to achieve the target set by the central government.
The state government of Bihar recently announced that it hopes to attract Rs 20,000 crore ($3.1 billion) in the next fives years to add more than 3 gigawatts renewable energy capacity. The target has been divided into 2,969 megawatts of solar, 244 megawatts of biomass and 220 megawatts of small hydro power capacity.
The technology-wise capacity targets announced by the Bihar government are in-line with the recommendations of the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy. The central government, through the ministry, had recommended technology-wise capacity targets for all states in order to achieve the cumulative capacity target of 175 gigawatts at the national level.
The solar power capacity targets have been calculated using 8% solar power consumption target for 2022. The overall renewable energy consumption target by 2022 is 15%.
Bihar is likely to push investments in the rooftop and distributed solar power market which would also benefit the farming sector. Bihar has had a record of being among the most under-developed states in India; it suffered substantially following the creation of the new state of Jharkhand. However, over the last few years it has been lapping some serious economic growth rate numbers.
Under the rural electrification program of the central government, almost 90% of the targeted villages had been electrified by 18 June 2017. Still, Bihar remains among the very few major states in the country that have not auctioned or even set up any large-scale solar power projects. So a huge potential for solar power in the state remains untapped.