Rajasthan CM Bhajanlal Sharma on Sunday, June 16, approved the proposal to allot 4,780 hectares of land for setting up four solar projects. The official statement claimed that the approval is aligned with the aim to make Rajasthan self-reliant and ‘leader’ in the energy sector.

According to the statement, the state government signed memorandum of understanding (MoU)s worth Rs 1.5 lakh crore on March 10 between Rajasthan State Electricity Generation Corporation Ltd, NTPC Ltd, NTPC Green Energy Ltd, Coal India Ltd and NLC India Ltd to set up 3,325 MW thermal projects and 28,500 MW renewable energy projects under joint venture. 

As per the proposal raised, Rajasthan Solar Park Development Company has been allotted 4,780 hectares of land. The company will set up three solar parks in Bikaner district of 2,450 MW while NTPC will set up a solar project in Phalodi district of 500 MW. For this, NTPC has been allotted 910 hectares of land in Bhadla village of Phalodi district.

In Bikaner, two solar parks are planned for 1,000 MW however, one will be of 450 MW. As per the official statement, approval has been given for allotment of about 1,881 hectares in Surasar village of Pugal tehsil for the first solar park. In addition to this, 2,000 hectares will be allotted for the second solar park of 1,000 MW, of which 1,194 hectares are in Surasar, and remaining 807 hectares are in Bhanavatawala village.

Furthermore, the third solar park will be set up in Sardarpura village of Bikaner and for this the allotment approval of 900 hectares has been given. 

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If believed to the statement, the solar parks will be developed by Rajasthan Akshay Urja Nigam in three phases under the Solar Park Scheme of the central government’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. 

The chief minister said that these projects will create employment opportunities at the local level and give new impetus to economic activities in the region. He further emphasised that these solar projects will also play an important role in environmental protection and will reduce carbon emissions by about 2 lakh tonnes annually. Through these projects, an investment of about Rs 10,000 crore will be made in the state, the CM said.

(with inputs from PTI)