FIELD LEVEL CHALLENGES FOR SOLAR PARKS IN INDIA

TARGET OF SOLAR PV CAPACITY BY 2022 Target of setting up 100 GW of solar PV capacity by 2022, comprising 60 GW ground mounted and 40 GW Rooftop Solar PV.

Out of the total target of 100 GW, 20 GW has been allocated to solar parks. India has approved 34 solar parks in different states of total capacity of 20 GW as listed below.

List of Approved Solar Parks --- contd.

List of Approved Solar Parks --- contd.

ADVANTAGES OF SOLAR PARK Solar Park is one shop stop for Solar Developers. These solar parks are with proper infrastructure and access to amenities and where the risk of setting up of Solar projects is minimized and also it facilitates developers by reducing the number of required approvals. A solar power developer can get levelled land, roads, water, security, fencing, evacuation and communication facilities required for commissioning and operating the solar plants. Centralized Weather Monitoring Stations set-up by the implementing agency so as to provide weather data to the projects in the solar parks.

Fields Level Challenges for solar parks in India Availability and Acquisition of Land Access to basic infrastructure Availability of good quality of Water Power Evacuation & Grid Management Non Availability of construction Materials Operation & Maintenance issues Skilled labour

Availability and Acquisition of Land Solar park of 1 GW capacity would require about 4000 acre of contiguous land. Acquiring of suitable and contiguous land for the project and the project implementation are great challenges due to land acquisition issues. Such a huge land parcels are normally available only in the remote areas. Such remote locations often face severe climatic conditions which make project installation and maintenance a challenging task. The biggest challenge of Preparation and development of a most feasible, economically viable master Plan without encroaching and affecting the locals and private lands. The scheme of solar parks of different states are mainly getting delayed due to hurdles in land acquisition.

Access to basic infrastructure Due to unavailability of land, the majority of the proposed solar parks are likely to be built in the remote areas, so the possibility of execution delays as the remote locations still lack of access to basic infrastructure like roads, rails, power availability etc. As the project sites are in remote areas, the connectivity to project sites will be poor and especially during the monsoon accessing the site and the village is very difficult. The trucks carrying construction equipment and resources is likely to get struck in the road, hence safe accessibility to the project site is a biggest challenge. Existing roads are to be upgraded to better motorable standard to have good connectivity to project sites

Access to basic infrastructure

Availability of Water Water is required during construction of the plant and subsequently for cleaning of solar modules and O&M personnel. As the project sites selected for the Solar Park is likely to be in remote locations such as in deserts, near sea beds or dry lands. Hence, let alone the surface water, even the underground water up to a depth of 800 to 1000 feet will be highly Saline with TDS contents upto 6000 PPM. Availability of potable water for drinking, construction activity, including Operation and Maintenance will be difficult and hence it will be a major challenge for the project planners and the developers to address this issue. This water issue has to addressed by Importing the water from near by canals by having a dedicated raw water pipeline or creation of storage reservoir and rain water harvesting on a large scale

Power evacuation & Grid Management During the peak time at implementation stage of solar park activity of about 10,000 people are likely to work and would require huge amount of power for the construction activity. Besides this, evacuation of the power from individual developers site by having a network of underground cable and construction of sub-stations are the major challenge. Right of way issues for constructing Transmission line Construction of 220 KV and 440 KV Sub Stations.

NON AVAILABILITY OF CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL As the project site is likely to be in remote area, there will be no major industries in the vicinity of the site. The connectivity will be the major problem, availability of good quality construction material, man power resources, equipment is of great concern.

Skilled labour Skilled workforce required for cleaning and maintenance are not available in the areas and so companies have to bring them from other areas and have to train them. All this results into higher operational costs but solar tariffs in India have fallen tremendously which pose a future risk for the industry. The companies in India are beginning to employ new technologies to counter the dust problem. For example anti-soiling technology like dust-free glass with self- cleaning hydrophobic nano-coating which stops dust from sticking to the glass of the module.

Grid Management Renewable energy sources such as Solar are intermittent in nature So, it is a challenging task to integrate renewable energy resources into the power grid. Challenges and issues with Solar PV integration can be broadly classified as Technical Issues: Power Quality Harmonics Frequency and voltage fluctuation Power Fluctuation Small time power fluctuations Long time or seasonal power fluctuations Storage Protection issues Optimal placement of RES Islanding Non- Technical Issues: Lack of technical skilled workers. Less availability of transmission line and substation capacity to accommodate Solar Power.

Rabindra Kumar Satpathy CEO- Renewable Power Emami Power Limited THANK YOU Rabindra Kumar Satpathy CEO- Renewable Power Emami Power Limited