Solar Cities

The government has approved a proposed master plan to develop 50 solar cities, for which master plans have been prepared for 46. Three of these cities under the programme are planned to be set up the national capital region, the ministry of new and renewable energy said in a status note. "At least one city in each state to a maximum of five cities in a state may be supported by the ministry," it said.

The criteria set for identification of such cities include a population between 50,000 to 50 lakh (with relaxation given to special category states including northeast states), initiatives and regulatory measures already taken along with a high level of commitment in promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy. Relaxation could be considered for special category states including North-Eastern States.

Financial support up to of Rs. 50 lakh for each city may be provided for preparation of the Master Plan alongwith few DPR (up to Rs. 10 lakh), oversight of its implementation (up to Rs 10 lakh), setting up and functioning of Solar City Cell in the city (up to Rs 10 lakh) and organizing promotional activities (up to Rs 20 lakh).

India has targeted 100 GW of solar power generation by 2022. Mercom Capital Group's latest quaterly report on India revised its forecasts, expecting the country to install 2.5GW of solar in 2015. Out of the proposed 60 solar cities, sanctions have been issued for 50 cities that include New Delhi, Agra, Chandigarh, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Amritsar, New Town (Kolkata), Howrah, Madhyamgram, Kochi, and Bhopal.

Master plans have been prepared for 46, including Agra, Gandhinagar, Rajkot, Surat, Thane, Shirdi, Nagpur, Aurangabad, Imphal, Chandigarh, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Bilaspur, Raipur, Agartala, Guwahati, Jorhat, Mysore, Shimla, Hamirpur, Jodhpur, Vijayawada, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Dehradun, Panaji and New Delhi (NDMC area), the report said.

Further, in-principle approvals have been given to five cities - Thiruvananthapuram, Jaipur, Indore, Leh and Mahabubnagar. Eight cities are to be developed as "Model Solar Cities" and fifteen cities will be developed as "Pilot Solar Cities." On 16 May 2011, India’s first 5 MW of installed capacity solar power project was registered under the Clean Development Mechanism. The project is in Sivagangai village in Sivaganga district in Tamil Nadu.