Scheme for Development of Solar Parks and Ultra Mega Power Projects

Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects, also known as Ultra Mega Solar Parks, are a series of solar power projects planned by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy of the Union Government of India. Each power project has a minimum capacity of 500 MW. The Solar Park is a concentrated zone of development of solar power generation projects.

• In December 2014, the Government of India introduced a scheme to establish at least 25 solar parks and Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects, adding over 20 GW of installed solar power capacity. The Central Government provides financial support for the construction of these solar projects.
• The scheme has a target capacity of 40 GW capacity by March 2022.
• The Nodal Agency is Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) on behalf of the Government of India (GoI).
• Solar parks provide solar power developers with a plug and play model, by facilitating necessary infrastructure like land, power evacuation facilities, road connectivity, water facility etc. along with all statutory clearances.
• As on 30.11.2021, 52 solar parks have been sanctioned with a cumulative capacity of 37.92 GW in 14 states. Solar power projects of an aggregate capacity of around 9.2 GW have already been commissioned in these parks.

Issues Involved

• The country is paying huge development costs because of energy poverty (lower or no electricity supply to the one third of the Indian mass, as per census 2011) as education, health and economic development are getting affected.
• In such a scenario, it is difficult to invest in large and expensive solar power plants and provide subsidised solar electricity to the rich domestic, commercial and industrial consumers etc.

Possibilities and Prospects

• The government should ramp up solar energy to provide electricity to the millions who do not have access to electricity. For this, the government needs to incentivize businesses to invest in small-scale solar plants and mini-grids.
• The government can make this possible by incentivising solar mini-grids with the same model it employs for grid-connected, large-scale solar power plants.