Green Energy Development Corporation of Odisha Limited (GEDCOL) has requested the government to earmark at least 500 acres of land each in Boudh, Bolangir and Kalahandi districts for solar power development in the State.
GEDCOL, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Odisha Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC), would develop basic infrastructure linking with the identified patches of land while solar power plants would be put up by private players.
Addressing Odisha Solar Conference here on Friday, OHPC Managing Director Sahadev Khatua said, “GEDCOL has identified patches of land in Kalahandi, Boudh and Bolangir district for solar power development in the initial phase. It is estimated that close to 270 mw of solar power could be generated by setting up projects on these identified land patches.”
Once land bank with basic infrastructure is ready, process of developers’ selection through bidding route would be initiated, Mr. Khatua said.
In Boudh district, GEDCOL has zeroed in on 300 acres of land at Manmuda and urged the Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) to make the land available to it.
Besides, the OHPC has about 700 acres of land lying unused with it. “A patch of 200 acres of land is readily available with us at Khatiguda in Kalahandi district. We are also in process of aggregating other usable lands available with us across the State,” the OHPC MD said.
As per Odisha Renewable Energy Development Agency, the State has potential to generate 14,000 mw of solar energy. However, as of now the State could achieve solar power generation capacity to the tune of 18 mw only.
Rooftop solar projects
GEDCOL has also made decent progress towards tapping sunshine by putting up rooftop solar projects in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. “A fortnight ago, International Finance Corporation has started preparing detail project report for harnessing sunshine in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. We will first eye at government buildings for the rooftop solar projects which are expected to contribute about 10 mw,” said Mr. Khatua.
“Based on the success of rooftop solar projects on government offices in the twin city, we would move to private commercial buildings and individual households,” said the OHPC MD.
Inquiries
He said the newly set up corporation was receiving a large number of inquiries from government and private colleges and commercial establishments for setting up of rooftop projects.
“A team of experts from GEDCOL would visit Sanskrit University in Puri to assess the prospects of setting up rooftop solar project. Besides, a proposal for similar project in Utkal University is also under consideration,” he said.
Earlier speaking on the occasion, State Forest and Environment Minister Bijoyshree Routray said, “Odisha’s energy basked is mixed with both conventional and nonconventional energy sources.
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