Bangalore: Energy-starved Karnataka plans to generate 2,000 megawatt of solar power over the next seven-eight years through public-private partnership, as the state is blessed with about 300 days of good solar radiation in a year, state Energy Minister D K Shivakumar said here yesterday.
“We have revised the solar energy policy recently to give thrust to renewable energy and encourage even farmers to set up small solar power plants in their fields to produce 1-3MW of clean energy and sell it to distribution companies (escoms),” Shivakumar told a conference.
In order to tap the huge potential of solar energy, the minister said the state government would facilitate financial support to the private sector to set up solar plants on private lands.
“The policy envisages allotting farm lands to investors on rental basis or relaxing norms to purchase farm lands for setting up solar plants by investors,” Shivakumar said at the Green Summit 2014, organised by the state government in association with the Federation of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FKCCI).
IANS
