Solar Power

With production of power through conventional methods—thermal and hydroelectric ailing to meet the ever-growing power requirement in the state, the Government of Assam has announced an ambitious plan to generate at least 648 MW of solar energy per day by 2026, with the task being entrusted to the Assam Power Generation Corporation Ltd. (APGCL). As reported by this newspaper in its Saturday edition, the government has three projects in the pipeline to fulfil this target. While there will be a 3-MW solar power generating project at Jagiroad, an APGCL-OIL joint venture at Namrup has been envisaged with an installed capacity of 25 MW. The third project, again planned as a joint venture between APGCL and OIL, is a large one with a generating capacity of 620 MW. While the first two projects have been given a target for completion by mid-2025, the third is scheduled to be set up by mid-2026. According to the Government of India, Assam has a renewable energy potential of 14,487 MW, with solar energy taking the largest share of 13,760 MW capacity, followed by biomass with 279 MW, wind energy with 246 MW, and small hydro projects with 202 MW capacities. Assam also has a large potential for generating solar power using unutilized space on rooftops and wastelands around buildings. Small quantities of power generated by each individual household, industrial building, commercial building, or any other type of building can be used to partly fulfil the requirements of the building occupants, and surplus, if any, can be fed into the grid. The roof-top SPV systems on a building’s roof space can be installed to replace DG generator sets for operation during load shedding. Moreover, tea gardens, too, have tremendous scope for generating solar power. It, however, depends on how the government looks at exploring this potential in order to make Assam self-sufficient in power. Though the unbundling of the erstwhile Assam State Electricity Board a few years ago failed to produce the desired result, it is a fact that the state cannot afford to remain in a power-deficit mode forever.