Government extends solar parks scheme till March 2026

The solar parks scheme was scheduled to end in March 2024.

The union ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) has extended its scheme for Development of Solar Parks and Ultra Mega Solar Park Projects till FY26.

Bhupinder Singh Bhalla, secretary, MNRE told Moneycontrol that the government has widened the scope of solar parks to include floating solar and hybrid power as well. "We have sanctioned 40 gigawatt (GW) of capacity under the solar parks scheme, they are in the process. At least 10 GW have already come out (commissioned). We are looking for a plug-and-play system for these parks. So, instead of solar, we'll say RE (renewable energy) Parks, which means it could be a wind-solar combination. It could have floating solar also. It could be any RE for that matter," he said.

Launched in December 2014 to support states to set up solar parks, the scheme was scheduled to end in March 2024. With the notification released on June 21, the ministry has now said that the extension will be till March 31, 2026 and would not entail any additional financial implication.

As per Union Minister for Power and Renewable Energy RK Singh's response to a question in the Parliament in March, the government has approved 57 solar parks with an aggregate capacity 39.28 GW, as on February, 28, 2023. Out of these solar parks, 9 parks are fully complete and additional 8 parks are partially complete, with a cumulative capacity of 10,117 MW solar projects commissioned in these parks.

"The reasons for the delay in establishing Solar Parks include challenges in acquisition of clear land, mismatch in timelines between solar projects and power evacuation infrastructure, environmental issues like Great Indian Bustard (GIB) issue, regulatory challenges like non-approval of solar tariff by SERCs, etc," the minister stated in his response to the Parliament.