The Green Energy Development Corporation Ltd (Gedcol), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Odisha Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC), has asked the state government to provide 300 acre land in central Odisha for development of solar power plants.
“After the government provides us land, we will create all necessary infrastructure for establishment of power plants and private developers would be invited to install their solar projects,” said Sahadev Khatua, managing director of Gedcol at Odisha Solar Conference 2013, organised by Bhubaneswar chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE).
The newly-created corporation has asked the government to provide land in Kalahandi, Bolangir and Boudh districts, where the intensity of sun generated heat is higher.
Apart from using government provided land, OHPC is also planning to use large amount of unused land available with it for generation of solar energy.
“We have about 700 acres lying unused with us, out of which about 200 acres are in Kalahandi district only. We are planning to develop solar plants on this land with the help of private developers,” Khatua added.
Khatua, however, declined to comment about the amount of solar energy to be generated once all the plans of Gedcol get implemented. As per a policy decision of Odisha government, target has been set at 80 Mw solar power generation by 2014-15.
At present, 13 Mw is produced in the state by small solar power developers. The state government aims to generate additional 10 Mw from its scheme to install roof-top solar power projects, conceived earlier this year.
“We will complete the detail project report for generating solar power from roof top of every government establishments in Cuttack-Bhubaneswar area by December this year. By March 2014, the bidding for the project will be completed and in the next financial year, construction work will start,” said the top official of Gedcol, which is the nodal agency for implementing the project.
If the government initiative to generate roof top solar power becomes successful, the state government would take steps to encourage private players to take up such projects in future, he added.
Renewable energy potential in Odisha has been assessed at 11,820 Mw, with solar energy having the highest potential at 10,000 Mw among all green energy sources. The potential for solar photo-voltaic source is pegged at 8,000 Mw followed by solar thermal and wind power at 2,000 Mw and 910 Mw respectively. Potential for power generation from biomass paddy husk and bio-mass paddy straw has been assessed at 250 Mw each.
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