While some large solar power projects in the southern region of India continue to make significant progress, some in the northern region are facing uncertain future.
According to media reports, work on a 1 GW solar power park in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh has been hit by doubts over the viability of the project.
Officials working on the project have to revealed that it is economically unviable to set up a transmission line in the area to evacuate 1000 MW of solar power. The project was planned in the mountainous district of Spiti.
Power transmission company Power Grid has stated that it is not possible to set up a transmission line over such a difficult terrain. The company had earlier raised similar issues regarding a transmission project for 5 GW solar power park in Ladakh district in Jammu and Kashmir.
Power Grid has been working on dedicated transmission projects for large-scale solar and wind energy projects around the country. The company has made substantial progress in setting such transmission lines in the southern states where large capacity of solar power capacity has already been auctioned.
The 5 GW project planned in Ladakh has already been scrapped and if the 1 GW project in Himachal Pradesh is also scrapped the supply of solar power to northern states will be seriously affected. In the northern region, only Rajasthan has ample land resource as well as a strong solar power policy.