Monday, July 22, 2013: Despite 325 days of sunshine, there has been quite of a gloom looming above solar power projects in the state of Rajasthan. The MNRE (Ministry of New and Renewable Energy) in collaboration with the state government had initiated ecologically sustainable power projects to fight the electricity scarcity, but it seems that work has been delayed.
There were five concentrated solar power projects to be undertaken in the state amounting to a total capacity of 470 MW but four of these projects are already running far behind schedule. Allotted under the first phase of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, 9 May, 2013 was the initial deadline, but a little has been done, while the deadline has been missed by two months now. However, the ministry has now decided to extend the deadline and defer the Rs 1,00,000 penalty, considering that these are the first kind of projects for the country. The extended deadline commissions another 10 months for completion.
The contracts for the projects had been awarded in the month of December, 2010 and came with a 2.3 billion late penalties, provided the deadline was missed. Tarun Kapoor, the joint secretary of MNRE says that this is the first time solar-thermal projects have been initiated in the country and this may be taken as a learning curve for the developers. While the technology is new, the completion of the projects is highly awaited. The main reason for the delay was supply components like heat fluid transfer and mirrors.
Only the 50 MW Godavari Green Energy project is on schedule, while for others, lack of accurate ground measurement procedures have been a hindrance. Besides, the developers also feel that the initial deadline was over-ambitious. The delayed projects include:
*100 MW Diwakar Solar by Lanco Infratech delayed by 14 months.
*100 MW KVK Energy by Lanco Infratech delayed by 14 months.
*100 MW Rajsun Technies Pvt Ltd delayed by 4 months.
*50 MW Corporate Ispat delayed by 7 months.
