New Delhi (NVI): Rajasthan has the highest solar energy potential followed by Jammu and Kashmir and Maharashtra among all the states and Union Territories in India, a government report shows.
In the annual report 2018 -19, a study by the National Institute of Solar Energy, Rajasthan has 142.31 GWp while Jammu and Kashmir has 111.05 and Maharashtra with 64.32 GWp. The state of Goa has the least solar energy potential with .88 GWp .
However, in the solar installation capacity, Karnataka tops the list with 6095.55 MW capacity till March 2019. Telangana comes second with installed capacity of 3592.09 MW and Rajasthan 3226.79 MW of solar installation. Other states with solar installations are Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadi, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.
The Annual Report 2018 -19 by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy said that based upon the availability of land and solar radiation, the potential solar power in the country has been assessed to be around 750 GWp.
The report of the MNRE 2018-19 said that, as on March 31 this year, 28,180.66 MW of total solar power capacity was installed. Besides capacity of around 14,041 MW are under installation and for around 35,972 MW tenders were issued but Letter of Intent (LoI) are yet to be issued.
The government has a target to develop atleast 50 solar parks with aggregate installed capacity 40,000 MW of solar power by 2021-22. The government based on the proposals received from states has approved 42 solar parks with aggregate capacity of 23,499 MW to 17 States up to March-2019.
According to the Annual Report, solar projects of aggregate capacity of 5,835 MW have been
commissioned inside various solar parks till March-2019 and the Kurnool solar park of 1000 MW in Andhra Pradesh and Bhadla-II solar park with 680 MW in Rajasthan are fully operational.
It may be noted that the National Solar Mission (NSM), launched on 11th January, 2010, had set a target for development and deployment of 20 GW solar power by the year 2022. The Cabinet in its meeting held on 17th June 17, 2015 had approved revision of target under NSM from 20 GW to 100 GW.
