Andhra Pradesh Solar Power Policy, 2015

• Andhra Pradesh State has announced a new solar power policy to avoid the power crisis by utilizing solar power in the state.
• The state is poised for rapid industrial growth driven by infrastructure investments and has also been selected by Ministry of Power as one of the pilot states for implementation of the 24X7 – Power for All (PFA) scheme.

Factors

• Availability of about 300 sunny days in a year.
• Amongst the best performing power distributing companies in India.
• An efficient and strong evacuation infrastructure.

Vision

• The state at present generates 127 MW of solar energy, aims to make state no. 1 in solar energy with the target to make to 5,000 MW in five years.
• Single window system, easy permissions and treatment like industries for according clearances are some of the salient features of the solar and wind energy policies approved by the Andhra Pradesh government.
• Andhra Pradesh by establishing the REC (Renewable Energy Certificate) mechanism aims at attracting investments in solar power plants, in the setup of manufacturing facilities, to promote off-grid solar applications to meet the power needs on a stand-alone basis.
• To deploy solar powered agricultural pumpsets and meet power requirements of farmers during day time.
• To promote local manufacturing facilities which will generate employment in the state.

Insights

• The government has released the detailed list of qualified bidders for 500 MW solar projects, 63 bids qualified the selection criteria, totalling up to 1291 MW.
• To boost the Solar energy sector, the government plans to facilitate installation of about 5,000 MW of solar power generation by 2019.
• For a period of seven years there will be no charges for the wheeling and transmission of power from the PV plants to consumer.
• The flexibility and facilities in the policies do not exist in other states, said by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
• Single window method has been introduced for giving permissions for solar parks and wind power facilities, and they would be treated on par with industries as far as clearances are concerned, said Naidu.
  
• Metering facility will be extended to all eligible developers who intend to set up solar photovoltaic plants on their premises.
• Projects with a capacity of upto 1,000 KWp will be permitted at a single location and eligible developers who wish to avail the metering facility should apply online to Discoms either through their respective websites or through designated Mee Seva centres.
• The whole programme is valid until March 2017.

Source: BusinessStandard, TheHindu