Solar Energy in Rajasthan :

Rajasthan has a huge potential of solar energy, the climatic conditions of state makes it ideal for capturing the solar rays in sufficiency. The climate of Rajasthan is semi-arid; the desert of Thar is spreads on the 66.66 % of total area of state. These climatic specialties makes it suitable to receive almost 300- 325 sunny days in a year and 6-6.4kwh/m2 / sun radiation per day, which is second highest amount of sun radiation all over the world. The average temperature of western cities of Rajasthan is between 35-40 degree, and in summer, it reaches above 45 degree. The availability of solar energy in Rajasthan is 6 to 7 kw/km2 , which provides the potential of 100000MW electricity yearly, out of which only 442.25 MW is currently being produced. Certainly, it is not a satisfactory situation.

Rajasthan, the largest state of India constitutes about 10.4% geo-graphical area of India. Notwithstanding the recently discovered large hydrocarbon reserves of more than State . Daily average radiation ranges between 5kWh/m2 in north-eastern hilly areas and 7kWh/m2 in western regions. Reliance and Moser Bear both are developing solar power plants of 1 to 5 MW each. Rajasthan, the largest state in India receives maximum solar radiation intensity in India. According to US Department of Energy, Rajasthan receives the second largest amount of solar radiation in the world. Rajasthan is best suited for solar power generation since average rain fall is very low. Solar radiation in Rajasthan is similar to California and Nevada in USA .

Initiatives :

 Solar energy industry is still in its initial stage. However, the government of Rajasthan is encouraging private sector investment through various fiscal and promotional incentives these incentives given for both solar thermal and SPV projects.

1. The state government has made a project to develop Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Barmer as Solar Energy Enterprises Zone (SEEZ). The Mathania solar power project (140MW) is a milestone in this field, as it is the first solar/thermal hybrid power plant of country. This project is based on integrated solar combined cycle (ISCC) technology, it will use parabolic trough mirrors to focus sun heat and further drive the turbine to generate power. This plant will produce 40MW energy, which will cost 1 million/MW and still cheaper than other methods like SPV.

2. Besides these steps, few more small solar power based projects are working successfully, such as, 100KW capacity power plant in Gourir ( Jhunjhunu), which is first of its kind in country, a solar energy driven refrigerator in Balesar (Jodhpur), state’s first totally solar energy electrified village in Jaipur etc. In private sector, many companies are taking interest in solar energy.

3. Reliance and Moser Bear both are developing solar power plants of 1 to 5 MW each. In which Moser Bear’s project will be the largest grid connected solar farm in India. The Rajasthan government has signed a memorandum with Clinton foundation on January 2010.

4. To provide encouragement in solar sector, Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (RERC) issued orders on 2nd April 2008, first time in India, imposing solar specific renewable procurement obligation (RPO) for Discom in Rajasthan. To meet out RPO requirement, the State Government approved Solar Projects of 11 private sector developers for setting up of 66 MW capacities utilizing all available technologies in solar photovoltaic and concentrated solar thermal.

5. In the Bhadla village of Rajasthan, a solar power plant has been set up which currently has a capacity of 480 MW and once it is fully operational, it will have a total capacity of 2,255 MW which will be enough for Rajasthan total demand of power.

6. In April 2017, Vikram Solar, the country’s leading PV EPC and module manufacturer commissioned a 130MW PV power plant for the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) in Bhadla, Rajasthan.

Target in Rajasthan for solar energy development  :

 As Rajasthan has a huge potential for Solar Energy development for this, it has its own target to generate the maximum energy form solar radiation. Target is divided in two parts one is under National Solar Mission and second one is under State Solar Policy.

under utility grid power including rooftop Rajasthan has 1100 MW for financial year 2013, 4000 MW for financial year 2017 and 20000 MW for financial year 2022 respectively. This is 200MW, 400MW and 2000MW for financial year 2013, 2017 and 2022 respectively under off grid installation. Similarly these targets are 7, 15 and 20 Million square meter under solar collector.

Current status :

Rajasthan is leader in utilisation of solar radiation for power generation, number of projects has been installed in western part of Rajasthan particularly in Jodhpur. Jasalmer, Bikaner, Barmer and in reaming part of state. As we have shown in table III the total installed capacity as on 9th March 2013 was 442.25MW and many projects are in pipelined in Rajasthan.

Rajasthan is targeting to increase its solar power generation to 3,780 MW by April 2019 to achieve the goal of 7 GW clean energy capacity in the next four years. According to Mercom's India Solar Project Tracker, Rajasthan has an installed solar capacity of ~2.3 GW and a solar project pipeline of ~1.5 MW.

Major project owner are Dahanu Solar Power, SEI Solar Power Ltd, Azure Solar Pvt Ltd, Welspun Solar AP Pvt Ltd, Mahindra Suryapraksh Pvt Ltd, Solarfield Energy Two Pvt Ltd, Azure Solar Pvt Ltd, Welspun Solar AP Pvt Ltd and Fonroche saaras Energy etc.

Challenges :

 Rajasthan is a favourable destination due to the high radiation and almost 325 days sunny days, but the array soling losses is high due to the dust and due to the extreme high temperature Photovoltaic losses is very high. Another challenge is price of solar energy versus conventional power means the higher per unit cost and renewable purchase obligations enforcement due to this private solar developer are being discouraged. Grid availability and open access and wheeling charges are also a major issue for solar project development in Rajasthan. Finally project implementation challenges also delay some project these challenges are land acquisition and statutory approvals.

                                               Rajasthan has a huge potential to develop solar power. The availability of solar energy in Rajasthan is 6 to 7 kw/km2, which gives potential of 10000MW solar energy commercial production. Rajasthan has set quit good targets for electricity production form solar energy, it has 1300 MW, 5000MW and 22000MW for financial year 2013, 2017 and 2022 respectively. Currently there are many organizations working in the field of solar energy development major developers are Dahanu Solar Power, SEI Solar Power Ltd, Azure Solar Pvt Ltd, Welspun Solar AP Pvt Ltd, Mahindra Suryapraksh Pvt Ltd. A report published by MNRE show that Rajasthan current producing 442.25MW electricity form solar energy and this is a quite disappointing for Rajasthan. There are some challenges also like soling losses and temperature losses due to the high temperature in western part of Rajasthan. Private developer facing some challenges like finance, statutory obligations and Renewable Energy Certificate (REC). There is a pressing need to accelerate the power generation form solar energy to achieve its solar power targets.