Perk Up: Renewable Energy Policy to Address Power Woes in Uttar Pradesh, India: ASSOCHAM

There is a need to upscale the renewable energy policy of Uttar Pradesh in order to mitigate the growing power shortage in the state, according to industry body ASSOCHAM.

"A clear roadmap with targets for development of renewable energy technologies based on overall resource potential is imperative to perk up renewable energy sector in UP", Secretary General of ASSOCHAM D S Rawat said while releasing a chamber paper here.

There is a huge scope to upscale renewable energy for meeting both electricity and thermal energy requirements in UP, said the paper titled 'Roadmap for tapping renewable energy potential in Uttar Pradesh'.

"UP is slated to deploy 10,697 mega watt (MW) of solar power, 3,500 MW of biomass cogeneration and 25 MW of small hydro power project totaling at 14,194 MW of renewable capacity by 2022, as such there is a grave need to mobilize huge investments for the industry to realize its true potential," Rawat said.

Renewable energy policy of the state must focus on bottleneck areas like mandatory net metering, feed-in tariff for rooftop solar photovoltaic, grid integration and evacuation.

Besides, the policy should also look into restructured and enforceable renewable purchase obligation (RPO). These will ensure compliance and develop a solution for better forecasting of renewable energy generation in the state, it suggested.

It also recommended for providing support mechanism for compliance and timely implementation of the policy.

"There should be a one-stop-shop for financial support, investor grievance redressal and time-bound clearance processes," Rawat said.

ASSOCHAM said that renewable energy policy of the state should address the land acquisition issue also.

"Pre-identified government land at district level committee (DLC) rate for usage by industry for solar powerprojects will boost deployment of solar power capacity in the state as it would minimize delays on account of land acquisition process", he said.

The paper also suggested the UP government to implement a dedicated cooking energy mission to accelerate use of modern sources of energy including sustainable and clear cooking system backed by fuel supply chain.

Source