May 1, 2015: The Government has rolled out a scheme for development of Solar Parks and Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects in December 2014 which envisages supporting the States in setting up solar parks at various locations in the country with a view to create required infrastructure for setting up of Solar Power Projects. This was stated by Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal & New and Renewable Energy in the parliament.. The solar parks will have suitable developed land with all clearances, transmission system, water access, road connectivity, communication network, etc. This scheme will facilitate and speed up installation of grid connected solar power projects for electricity generation on a large scale. All the States and Union Territories are eligible for benefits under the scheme.
The Minister further stated that the number of Solar Parks coming up in the States are as under:
| Sl.No. | State | No. of Solar Parks and Capacity (MW) | |
| 1. | Gujarat | One solar park of 700 MW | |
| 2. | Andhra Pradesh | Two solar parks of 1500 MW & 1000 MW | |
| 3. | Uttar Pradesh | One solar park of 600 MW | |
| 4. | Meghalaya | One solar park of 20 MW | |
| 5. | Rajasthan | Three solar parks of 680 MW, 1000 MW & 1000 MW | |
| 6. | Madhya Pradesh | Two solar parks of 750 MW each | |
| 7. | Karnataka | One solar park of 2000 MW | |
| 8. | Tamil Nadu | One solar park of 500 MW | |
| 9. | Punjab | Two solar parks of 500 MW each | |
| 10. | Telangana | One solar park of 1000 MW | |
| 11 | Kerala | One solar park of 200 MW | |
| 12 | Uttarakhand | One solar park of 39 MW | |
| Total | 17 solar parks of 12739 MW | ||
The Minister further stated that the scheme provides for setting up at least 25 Solar Parks and Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects targeting over 20,000 MW of solar power installed capacity within a span of 5 years starting from 2014-15. The Ministry provides Central Financial Assistance (CFA) of Rs. 2.5 million per solar park for preparation of Detailed Project Report, for conducting surveys, etc. Beside this, CFA of up to Rs.2 million per MW or 30 per cent of the project cost, including grid-connectivity cost, whichever is lower, is also provided on achieving the milestones under the scheme. besides, government also grants concessional customs duty/ excise duty exemption for setting up solar power plants, accelerated depreciation and tax Holidays.
The Minister further stated that Land for the setting up of the solar park is identified by the state government unless the implementing agency has its own land. It is the responsibility of the state government to make the land available, the minister added.
