India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) recently announced that it plans add 7.5GW of solar power capacity in a northern state: Jammu and Kashmir. This ambitious aim followed the signature of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the state’s government and MNRE.
Jammu and Kashmir receives some of the highest solar radiation in India yet has problems of large-scale power sources. Due to its remoteness, decades-long insurgency and mountains terrain, the central government pays little attention to it and hence the state has been lack of infrastructure. Ladakh, one of the remotest places of this state, relies excessively upon fuel imports from other states. Solar power seems to be its best opportunity to generate power independently as well as earn revenue by exporting electricity. According to Clean Technica, the state has only 308 kW of solar power capacity installed. This is in comparison to over 2,200 MW solar power capacity installed across the country till January 2014.
Last week, the state’s government signed a MoU with the central government to build 7.5GW volume of solar power, highlighting the area’s solar potential. Before this deal, India has already announced a plan to add 2GW of solar projects in this year. PV Tech therefore pointed out that some people are questioning whether these projects proposed will go promptly because of problems of fund or investment. Nonetheless, some of India’s solar projects are already underway.