Indian State Of Himachal Pradesh Sets 700 MW Solar Power Target

The north Indian state of Himachal Pradesh has set an ambitious target to enhance its solar power power infrastructure.

The state of Himachal Pradesh is not the most sought-after location to set up solar power projects yet, but the government has set a target to install 700 MW of solar power capacity under its revised policy.

The state government has revised its solar power policy in light of the upgraded solar power target of 100 GW operational capacity by March 2022 stated by the central government. In order to achieve this national target, the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy states that Himachal Pradesh should have an installed capacity of 776 MW by March 2022.

Himachal Pradesh also needs to increase its solar power installed capacity in order to achieve its Renewable Purchase Obligation. It has the highest RPO target among all Indian states. The state plans to source at least 19% of its total electricity demand from renewable energy sources, which includes 3% from solar power projects by 2022. The central government, on the other hand, recently revised the solar RPO target to 8% by 2022; this is another reason for the revision of the solar power policy by the Himachal Pradesh government.

The terrain of Himachal Pradesh does not allow it to have large-scale solar power projects as can be found in the western and southern states of India. As a result, the government will focus of rooftop solar power projects, distributed projects set up in collaboration with farmers and unemployed youth, and medium-sized projects of up to 100 MW capacity that would contributed towards solar power parks under the central government’s scheme.

The central government, under its ultra mega solar power projects scheme, has approved 1 GW solar power in Himachal Pradesh.