Three Solar Parks Proposed in Anandpur Sahib - Punjab

The Punjab government is planning to set up three solar parks in the Anandpur Sahib parliamentary constituency, Congress MP Manish Tewari has said.

The Punjab government is planning to set up three solar parks in the Anandpur Sahib parliamentary constituency, Congress MP Manish Tewari told local reporters. The state government has asked the deputy commissioners of Mohali and Rupnagar to identify the land for the purpose, the Anandpur Sahib MP said.

Tewari said he had taken up the matter with Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. "The Chief Minister was kind enough to issue immediate instructions to initiate the process," Tewari said in a statement.

The MP said he had received a communication from the state government that the process will be taken up further after identifying the land. The Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) will take up the matter with the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), the former Union minister further said.

Tewari said he was told that for developing three solar parks with a 200-MW capacity each, 1,000 acres of contiguous land was required. However, as per the MNRE guidelines, a minimum capacity of 100 MW solar park can be set up at a single place that requires about 500-acre land, he said.

For this, the state government has already asked the district administrations of Mohali and Rupnagar to identify the land at the earliest, Tewari added. The projects, when they fructify, would be a game-changer for the region and have the potential of attracting over Rs 10,000 crores of private investment as renewables are the future, he said.

In June, CM Amarinder Singh had hailed the decision taken by the nodal agency Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) to slash domestic tariff despite a drop in revenue on the back of coronavirus lockdown. Singh had said at the time that his government had recommended even more reduction in tariff for domestic as well as industrial consumers, however, the PSERC had been unable to accommodate the request in view of the sharp decline in revenue.

The Chief Minister had pointed out that the domestic power tariff rationalisation had been done after many years. With the current reduction in 50 paise per unit for load up to 50 KW and 25 paise per unit for 0-100 unit and 101-300 unit slabs would give Rs 354.82 crore relief to 69 lakh domestic consumers.