Tuesday, October 07, 2014: Power sector reforms are rapidly taking place in the state of Odisha and the state is the first one to involve in power reforms in India. A lot of negligence has been recorded in case of solar power and similar non-conventional energy generation projects in this state, though. Prolonged power cuts are daily affair in the state as energy production cannot cope up with increasing demand in the power sector.
But Odisha state is in a favourable position when it comes to geographic location as the state receives solar radiation of about 5 kmh/sqm/day. Now, under special incentives by the state government, 8 solar projects are underway by private players which can generate power up to 8MW in total. Youth for Social Development (YSD), a non-government organization based in Berhampur, Odisha, conducted a review of solar energy sector in Odisha, using the diagnostic toolkit developed by World Resources Institute (WRI). This toolkit focuses on finances, administration, monitoring‐revision‐reporting, compliance and enforcement – which are the main functions of policy making and implementation.
Till 2010, Odisha had excess power availability. But still around 10,000 villages in Odisha have no electricity. While power supply is facing challenges every new day, power facility expansion to villages is creating more problems for power suppliers as demand is increasing without any solution to increase supply accordingly. So the Odisha government must encourage more renewable energy projects in the state, with main focus on solar power. Government of India is also in favour of solar power projects and Independent Power Producers (IPPs) are receiving special encouragement from the government too. Though there are numbers of solar plants, already installed in Odisha, the sector is facing continous problems from issues like high cost, lack of awareness, lack of funds, improper policy implementation and so on.
A draft has been formulated for a solar policy in the state but it’s not yet finalised. The review by the NGO recommends urgent policy suggestions so that solar energy potential is fully met in the state of Odisha. Solar energy issues require more discussion so that specific policy suggestions could be made and the state government is compelled to draft a proper solar energy policy to identify all the policy gaps and bridge the same. A civil society consultation programme has been organised to discuss all the key issues and take the same to the higher level.
