The ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) which had introduced generation-based incentive scheme for a maximum of 49 mw for wind power and 50 mw for solar energy is now planning to remove ceilings to unlock the full potential of renewable energy in the country.

Deepak Gupta, secretary MNRE told the International Congress on Renewable Energy (ICORE 2008), organised by the Solar Society of India (SESI), here on Thursday, that the government was planning to scale up the generation-based incentive scheme for renewable energy generation. He said plant load factor (PLF) would be the guiding principle for future incentives.

The ministry has plans to attract large investments in the wind energy sector from independent power producers by offering a generation-based incentive. It would be a boon to the investors who would not be able to avail of the accelerated depreciation benefit.

However, the incentive was fixed at 0.50 paise a unit and the total power production eligible for this was only 49 mw a year. Now the ministry wants to lift this ceiling and offer incentives without limit to boost wind energy generation. The proposal is with the Planning Commission.

In order to develop and showcase the technical viability and performance of grid interactive solar power, MNRE had announced a programme in January 2008 to support a total of 50 mw of grid connected solar photovoltaic power and solar thermal power. The limit for an individual State was a maximum of 10 mw.

MNRE, under the programme , offered to give a generation-based incentive of Rs12 per unit of solar photovoltaic power and Rs 10 a unit for solar thermal power. This was in addition to the tariff rate the state utilities were to give. Gupta said the ministry was planning to lift this 50 mw ceiling to make the investors and states to think big and go for greater capacity installations. The solar mission has been working out a framework for creating facilities to generate 1,000 mw from solar energy in the next decade.

MNRE also wanted to develop at least 60 green cities in the country with green buildings generating their own electricity, homes with solar power and water heaters, municipal corporations that produce electricity from all sources and convert waste to energy, he said.