The western Indian state of Maharashtra has announced its new
renewable energy policy through which it plans to achieve an installed
renewable energy capacity of 14.4 GW by the end of the next 5 years.
The state government of Maharashtra has devised
an impressive policy to promote the expansion of renewable energy
capacity. The policy targets an installed solar power capacity of 7.5
GW, wind energy capacity of 5 GW, and biomass-based co-generation
capacity of 1 GW by the end of the next 5 years. The policy also
envisages an installed capacity of 400 MW of small-scale hydropower, 300
MW of power generation capacity based on agricultural waste, and 200 MW
based on industrial waste.
The government estimates that the new capacity additions would result
in an investment of around $640 million. The state government is
expected to receive around $600 million in terms of regulatory fees. The Maharashtra government plans to significantly increase the share
of electricity from renewable energy sources in the total power demand
of the state. The target is to increase the share to 15% over the next 5
years.
So far, almost none of the states have been able to achieve the set
renewable energy share targets as their respective utilities are in poor
financial states and claim to have insufficient funds to purchase
electricity from renewable energy projects. To overcome this issue, the
state government has mandated that renewable energy projects sell
electricity at tariffs determined through competitive auction rather
than the feed-in tariffs fixed by the state regulatory body. This is
expected to give the utilities additional incentive to purchase
electricity from renewable energy sources.
For project developers, too, the state government has offered several
incentives. Regulatory charges such as electricity duties and power
evacuation charges will either be waived or refunded. The developers not
participating or making a successful bid in the competitive auction
will be free to sell the electricity to any buyer.
http://cleantechnica.com/2015/06/05/indian-state-maharashtra-add-7-7-gw-renewable-energy-capacity/